All posts tagged food

Pure Flavour Ready Meals

Pure Flavour has launched a range of ten delicious seasonal, home-made ready meals made with super-fresh, locally sourced vegetables and meat from farmers they know and trust, and with fish from MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) certified sustainable sources. The wholesome, local ingredients are then put together by Pure Flavour’s Roux brothers-trained chef into a range of dishes suitable for all palates, and blast frozen to preserve quality and flavour. Available from farm shops (listed in Notes) and www.pureflavour.co.uk for £5.99 each, deliveries can be made anywhere in UK within 5 working days of order (£7.50 delivery charge for orders up to £75 and thereafter free delivery).

Pure flavour has created delicious frozen ready meals to suit our busy lives with ingredients we would choose to buy from farmers markets, farm shops and local producers. Meaning that you can feed your family delicious, wholesome meals on those days when the pressures of work or other commitments mean that you don’t have the time to cook.

Local is a key ingredient in the Pure Flavour range, a philosophy that Founder, Emma & Chef, Nicci pursue themselves, having worked with many of their suppliers they are really excited about the growing list of local producers from Stratta’s Red Currant Vinegar, Quex Park Rapeseed Oil and the famous Biddenden Cider. Locally grazed Aberdeen Angus beef, Kent Lamb and free range chickens come from Farmer Palmer, in Smarden up the road from Pure Flavours Kent Country Kitchen, and every meal has at least one portion of the recommended 5 portions a day of vegetables. Nicci either uses vegetables from her small holding or calls David Catt & Son’s to check what has come in from local farmers this week, ensuring really seasonable meals.

With meals ranging from English classics, to the more geographically adventurous, Pure Flavour have created something for every taste.

∗ Kent Free Range Chicken, Seasonal Herb and Field Mushroom Pie
∗ Kent Free Range Chicken in a Creamy Biddenden Cider and Seasonal Vegetable Sauce
∗ Creamy Fish Pie using Sustainable Fish and Seasonal Vegetables
∗ Sustainable Pollock baked in our Creamed Local Chard
∗ Kent Lamb Stifado with Puy Lentils
∗ Kent Lamb Nirah Masala with Seasonal Vegetables
∗ Kent Aberdeen Angus Classic Beef Lasagne
∗ Kent Aberdeen Angus Beef Stew with Crispy Dumplings and Seasonal Vegetables
∗ Kent Seasonal Vegetable Lasagne
∗ Thai Green Curry using Kent Seasonal Vegetables

Pure Flavour’s history of ‘free from food’ means that all the meals cater for food intolerances, thereby ensuring that all the family can enjoy the meals, including those with wheat, gluten and dairy intolerances. Pure Flavour has recently partnered with Oatly milk, a delicious milk alternative made from oats, to produce even more dishes that are tasty, healthy and also dairy free.

Emma Slinn, Founder and Managing Director of ‘Pure Flavour’ talking about the idea behind the Ready Meals said, “With so many time-starved people, eating healthily often takes a back seat to take aways or ready meals that contain poor ingredients. I knew that we could produce delicious meals, using fresh ingredients from our local farmers and producers, then blast freeze them which is a natural way of preserving. We were so excited by the tremendously positive response from our focus group when we blind tested all our meals against leading ready meals brands – look out for Pure Flavour ready meals in a farm shop near you soon!”

Pure Flavour ready meals can be purchased online via their website.


Whisky – the perfect Christmas accompaniment

balvenie_whisky_videoWe all know that champagne sets off canapés perfectly, and that white wine and fish is the perfect partnership, but how many of us know what foods should be consumed with whisky?

Made from malted barley, water and yeast, single malt whiskies like The Balvenie have long been drunk in the festive season. But it’s not just an after-dinner drink – whisky complements starters, main courses and desserts equally well, as long as you pair it up correctly.

Different aged whiskies work better with some dishes than others and in the video below our guests explain how to get the best out of a whisky during all courses, from a smoked-salmon starter to the after-dinner chocolates. How much water, if any, should you add to your glass? What do the aromas tell you about the whisky, and how can they enhance the flavour of food?

In the following video, The Balvenie whisky expert Andrew Forrester guides you through the best dishes to pair various whiskies with, ensuring that the enjoyment of your Christmas dram doesn’t have to begin once the meal is over.

View Video: http://www.linkto.tv/iframe/show/uuid/CiVc7nfMdjw

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Tesco Launches Award Winning Goats Cheddar & Cranberry Cheese

Three New Cheeses from TescoTesco has announced the launch in-store of a range of exciting new cheeses from the Tesco Cheese Challenge Competition. Overall winner, Ashley Chase Goats Cheddar with Cranberries, will be available on Tesco deli counters nationwide during November follwing its win at the annual competition that took place earlier this year.

Priced at £1.35/100g, this unusal cheese is a perfect combination of creamy goats cheddar and cranberries. With a wonderfully flaky texture, fresh celan flavour and a honeyed aftertaste, the fruity richness of sweet cranberries makes this a superb dessert cheese with crackers.

The cheese is produced on the Ashly Chase estate, nestled in the beautiful Bride Valley in Dorset. MD Mike Pullin leads a dedicated team of cheese makers who produce West Country Framhouse Cheddars as well as a range of speciality cheeses including the latest development, Goat’s Cheddar with Cranberries. The farm has earned the PDO mark for maintaining traditional cheese-making mathods and Ashley Chase continues to win numerous awards for its high quality produce.

“Whilst it only takes a matter of hours to turn the milk into cheese our expertise is in the maturing process and waiting till it reaches its optimum flavour level”, comments MIke Pullin, “It requires tremendous patience but it’s always worth the wait”.

The Tesco Cheese Challenge is now in its seventh year and is dedicated to finding great new British cheeses. The aim of the challenge is to help smaller producers by working with them to bring their cheese to a wider audience using Tesco’s experience and distribution capabilities. Previous winners incude the Wyfe of Bath Soft Cheese and Belton’s Traditional Double Gloucester.

  • Latvian ‘cheddar’ now outselling the original (telegraph.co.uk)
  • U.S. Cheesemakers Cross the Atlantic (online.wsj.com)
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gourmetKAZOO

gourmetKazooInnovation is making its way into the old-world of European artisan food production. Today gourmetKAZOO officially launches, giving traditional food producers across Europe a new way to share their stories and sell their products directly to international customers. By connecting traditional food-makers to the online world, gourmetKAZOO gives customers a way to order the freshest & most authentic European gourmet products available anywhere in the world.

On the surface, www.gourmetKAZOO.com is set up as an online marketplace, allowing customers to purchase products such as truffles, olive oils, cheeses & salamis from traditional producers located across Italy, France, Spain, the UK & Ireland. Behind the scenes, a complex order management, accounting & shipping system automates international paperwork for the producers who are left to simply package their products which are collected and sent directly to the customer’s door thanks to the gourmetKAZOO partnership with UPS.

Different from other websites, gourmetKAZOO focuses on the social element of food; giving producers & customers an interesting way to interact; similar to what has happened in village marketplaces for generations. Today more than ever, consumers want to know the history behind the foods they eat. At the same time, European producers are proud of their traditions and enjoy sharing their stories. To facilitate this personal interaction on a global scale, gourmetKAZOO gives producers a simple way to tell their stories online with text, pictures and video while encouraging interactive dialogue with customers through blogging and commenting sections.

Customers interested in French cheese will be able to purchase AOP Cantal, Salers & Bleu directly from the farm GRANGE DE LA HAUTE VALLEE, where the milk of 40 cows takes on the natural flavors of the wild flowers growing in the fields of the Auvergne region.

Or, customers looking for this season’s olive oil will be able to meet a French producer, a Spanish producer, and an Italian producer all currently involved with the olive harvest. In a matter of weeks, their new vintage will be pressed, bottled, and ready for purchase; sure to be the freshest olive oil found anywhere in the world!

With 30 producers participating in the initial launch, the specialty food world can discover an exciting range of products, from tea to truffles. In the coming months, gourmetKAZOO plans to add hundreds of high quality producers to the expanding social marketplace. There are thousands of specialty food products made by traditional producers all across Europe; gourmetKAZOO’s goal is to help consumers find them all.

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Liberty Welcomes The First Pop-Up Cafe From Nescafe

liberty_nescafe_popup_shopThis November, Liberty will throw open its doors to Christmas shoppers with its first ever pop-up café from NESCAFÉ, serving complimentary coffee and demonstrating to visitors that its coffee is 100% real coffee made from pure and natural coffee beans and nothing else.

Christmas shoppers will be able to choose from a range of freshly made NESCAFÉ coffees all served in exquisite bone china cups and treat themselves to deliciously decadent cup cakes whilst relaxing in the surroundings of one of London’s top destination stores.

NESCAFÉ coffee experts will be on hand all week to take visitors through the journey a bean takes from plant to jar and the unique steps that NESCAFÉ takes to capture what nature provides.

Running from Monday 23rd November until Friday 27th November, the NESCAFÉ
pop-up café will be nestled on the third floor of Liberty and open from 11.00 until 18.00 with a special late night opening (21.00) on Thursday 26th November.

NESCAFÉ, like Liberty, is an iconic British brand with a long tradition of excellence. The nation’s favourite coffee brand has over 70 years experience of making coffee and as part of its own unique quality guarantee ensures that all of its coffees have been taste tested a minimum of six times on the journey from plant to jar.

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