SPRING HAS SPRUNG AT FODDER
GREAT SEASONAL PRODUCE AND IDEAS FOR ENJOYING IT
SPRING has well and truly arrived – and Fodder is celebrating with a month of events devoted to the very best of Yorkshire produce, from asparagus to exciting new ideas for the barbecue.
One of the great seasonal delights of the year, Yorkshire asparagus, is now available, picked fresh every day and delivered straight from the field to Fodder.
Asparagus grown just two miles from the award-winning shop and cafe at the Great Yorkshire Showground is arriving every morning, thanks to the hard work of one of Fodder’s longest-standing suppliers.
Farmer Malcolm Ingleby will be working flat-out, seven days a week for the next two months to make the most of the brief season for the tender asparagus shoots.
It’s a race against time for Malcolm, who has been supplying Fodder with asparagus since the shop opened almost five years ago, and growing it at Plompton, near Harrogate, for more than 20 years.
“If it’s warm, it grows faster than you can pick it,” he said. “It’s picked every day, seven days a week.
“The quality is second to none, according to the people who buy it regularly.”
And it’s looking like a great year for Malcolm’s asparagus. He said: “It’s about 10 days earlier than last year, and it’ll do very well provided the weather keeps warm for the next month. It doesn’t like the cold, but if it’s warm like it is at the moment, it grows like hell.”
One of the best friends farmers like Malcolm, have is the humble bee – and the honey they produce is the focus of another taste of spring, being celebrated at Fodder by Honey Week, from May 5 to 11.
Honey Week is a perfect fit for a shop that sets out to help farmers – but it’s been a difficult few years for the bee population, with disease and poor weather both taking their toll. Happily the outlook this year is much brighter, according to another long-standing Fodder supplier, Liz Joyce.
Liz and her husband, Michael, are surrounded by six million bees at their apiary of 100 hives in Bradford – but there’s a real sting in her tale because she’s so allergic to them that a single one could prove fatal to her.
She said: “If I got stung by one of them I could die, and I’m treated every six weeks by an immunologist for it. So I don’t go near the bees. Michael’s the bee man and I’m the honey lady. He extracts it, and I do all the bottling and labelling and the delivery.”
Liz and Michael have been supplying Fodder since it opened, and Honey Week will be a showcase for their products, which include hard-to-get honeycomb, and honey with added pollen, which some hayfever sufferers find eases their problems.
Spring means the first chance to enjoy a tipple outdoors, and Fodder will be putting the spotlight on the increasingly successful Yorkshire wine producers during English Wine Week from May 24 to June 1.
Fodder stocks wine from two award-winning producers, Leventhorpe Vineyard, in Leeds, and Ryedale Vineyards, near Malton.
George Bowden, of Leventhorpe Vineyard, has been in business for 30 years, and his wines, including whites, reds and a sparkling wine, have been praised by experts in the Daily Telegraph, The Times, Financial Times and The Observer amongst others. Wine expert Oz Clarke and TV chef Rick Stein are fans.
In February2013, George’s wine was requested for a London banquet of the Worshipful Company of Vintners, one of the 12 great City of London Livery Companies, which was celebrating its 650th anniversary. He has also supplied the BBC Sports Personality of the Year gala event.
He’s enthusiastic about English Wine Week. “The future looks rosy for English wine. Slowly does it, as we expand on a steady basis. I’ve been doing English Wine Week for a good 10 or 12 years now, and what it does is let people know what we’re doing.”
Elizabeth and Stuart Smith from Ryedale Vineyards are also looking forward to English Wine Week at Fodder. “Fodder has been a brilliant outlet for us,” said Elizabeth.
The vineyard was planted by Stuart and Elizabeth Smith eight years ago, and produces whites, reds, roses and an award-winning pink sparkling wine, A Taste of Paradise.
Elizabeth also thinks the outlook for Yorkshire wines is bright. “Last year we had a brilliant summer and a brilliant harvest,” she said.
And of course, spring means it’s time to get the barbecue out, so Fodder has come up with a great new range of recipes guaranteed to ensure that al fresco eating never tasted so good.
BBQ Week from May 26 to June 1 will showcase the mouth-watering results of months of work by our butchers and chefs to come up with exciting new ideas.
Other butchers may use ready-mixed flavours. We don’t. We’ve debated, blended, cooked and tasted using only fresh ingredients until we’ve produced our own sausages and burgers with unforgettably delicious results.
It’s not just delicious – it’s made in Yorkshire. Every sausage is from free-range outdoor pigs and every burger from locally-sourced, fully traceable meat kept to the very highest standards of welfare. Fodder’s butchers know every farm our meat comes from, and they have selected everything that goes on to your barbecue.
There’s a great choice to suit every taste. If it’s sausages you fancy, will it be Spinach and Fennel, Abbots Gold Cheese and Caramelised Onion, Chorizo and Ham Hock, Pork and Yorkshire Blue Cheese, Yorkshire Dragon, or Merguez with lamb, chilli and paprika.
Exciting flavours also make the burgers deliciously different. Besides our classic beef, there is Moroccan Mint Lamb, Pork and Apple, Venison and Ham Hock and Apricot.
And in the Gourmet Burger range, try Handmade Steak hiding a melting centre of Cheddar Cheese or Harrogate Blue Cheese.
There’s much more besides – marinated chicken, boneless pork chops, pork king ribs, lamb koftas, kebabs, and spatchock chicken.
And to help everyone get the most from their outdoor barbecues, Fodder’s head butcher, Paul Nicholson, and head chef, Mehdi Boukemach, will be giving expert advice on what to cook and how to get the very best from it at a demonstration evening on Thursday June 19.
Judy Thompson, PR Manager, Yorkshire Agricultural Society on 01423 546215 or email judyt@yas.co.uk
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Fodder is at the Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate HG2 8NZ, telephone 01423 546111 and at www.fodder.co.uk
All profits from Fodder go to fund the work of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, the charity at the heart of the county’s rural life.
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