Organic chicken - special offer - 15% off until the end of September
This fantastic offer continues to the end of the month so stock up the freezer.
As always, Riverford Farm Shop supports Organic Fortnight with an extensive selection of fresh organic fruit, meat, vegetables and salad stuffs as well as a large list of organic products - much if it from local sources.
Riverford Goes to Town - featured in the Independent's 'Top 50 Delis' - they said...
Known for its organic veg and meat boxes, this is "the friendly high-street face of a tidy little empire in the West Country", according to Matthew. Strong relationships with producers, a focus on organic produce and a farm-to-plate ethos, with excellent control over the provenance of their produce, helps draw customers in at the company's first town-based outlet (it also runs several farm shops).
Where: 38 High St, Totnes, Devon 01803 863959; www.riverfordfarmshop.co.uk
Welcome to Riverford Farm Shop - proudly providing real, local and organic food
Some September reflections on food matters from Ben Watson, a.k.a. Mr Riverford Farm Shop
After the summer we have had September comes as something of a relief. No doubt the sun will shine now that the kids are back at school after suffering a month of cabin fever. In the food and farming world September is a fantastic month with the last of the summer produce crossing over with the start of autumn and winter. The vegetable department always has a harvest festival feel to it with corn on the cob, squash, English apples etc piled high. Lamb and beef, having benefited from a summer of succulent grass and warm weather will be at their prime and pork and poultry will also have enjoyed the warmer weather. Take this into account and you can see the logic of having Organic Fortnight (6-21 September) and British Food Fortnight (20 September - 5 Oct) one after the other.
Sidmouth open day for British and Organic
The weekend of Saturday, 20th September is the change over from one to the other and to celebrate we are holding an open day at Riverford at Sidmouth. As well as the usual tasters and barbecue several of our suppliers will be turning up with their wares and we will also be doing some, as yet to be decided, special offers. Town Mill Bakery will be there with their bread and Aidan, their master baker, will be giving some seasonal Focaccia and pizza demos and suggestions. We may also have a couple of local food celebrities with us to sell and sign their books and we have been promised a visit from Willie Harcourt-Cooze and his Venezuelan Black chocolate. He'll be with us from 10.30am with some truffles he's made from his Venezuelan Black Rio Caribe and Venezuelan Black Carenero bars, so you'll be able to taste the goods. I have to confess that I don't fancy it with Parmesan in a risotto - but that doesn't mean it isn't a truly fantastic product.
Willie Harcourt-Cooze of Channel 4's 'Willie's Wonky Chocolate Factory' documentary.
By the time you read this baking should have started again at Riverford as a Town Mill Bakery franchise. I know some of you have been unhappy with the bread on offer but most of the adverse comments have centred around the lack of a tinned loaf for sandwiches and toast and denser wholemeal and sunflower seed loaves. All of these things we hope to put right but one thing that won't be changing is going back to putting the industrially accepted amount of salt and fat in the bread. Like many, I found the basic bread bland for the first week but now my taste buds have adjusted the true flavours really come through. All the bread benefits from a long fermentation, first overnight as a 'sponge', then after mixing into a dough and finally after being scaled and moulded. This lowers the acidity, breaks down the gluten and makes it far more digestible. Some of the fancier breads, particularly the rye and wheat sourdoughs are a meal in themselves. Cheese on toast with a splash of Worcester sauce becomes a gastronomic treat rather than a quick snack.
TOWN MILL BAKERY
Of course the cheese makes a difference and we have been lucky enough to secure a small allocation of Montgomery's Cheddar, the king of English cheeses. For depth of flavour you can't beat it. They also make Ogle Shield - a fantastic, semi-hard, lightly rind-washed Jersey milk cheese. If you have been put off smelly cheeses by the likes of Stinking Bishop please give this a try, it really is a different animal altogether. We also have some new cheeses from the Bartlett brothers at Wootton Organic Dairy in Somerset. Millstone (hard) and Little Ryding (soft), are sheep's milk cheeses and Ringwell is a delicious, hard, Jersey milk offering. All three are organic and unpasteurised. My one culinary triumph this summer, of the non-barbecue kind, has been a kind of fusion Welsh rarebit. Leeks cooked in butter, Montgomery's Cheddar and fried chorizo on Town Mill Malted Bloomer toast. Keep the chorizo oil and dribble/drizzle over before it goes in the oven or under the grill. Make sure the toast is fairly dry or it will go soggy. I know it sounds simple but it really works.
Geese - a mammoth 35% discount!
Christmas 2007 was not a good one for us. The big day falling on a Tuesday meant the last delivery day for home delivery/mail order business was the Friday which, understandably didn’t float most people’s boat. The result was quite a few geese went into the freezer. Rather than be faced with the temptation of offering frozen rather than fresh geese this Christmas we have decided to cut our losses and offer them at a massive 35% discount which is quite a bit less than we paid for them. Obviously you are welcome to buy and keep frozen for Christmas and New Year but we hope you will look at them in the gloriously indulgent Sunday lunch vein or even to make your own confit de …
Soler Romero Organic Olive Oil - £22.50 per 3litre tin
The importers describe it as having a ‘deep citrus aroma with light pepper and fruit’. I wouldn’t disagree but it is also a great value, medium bodied Spanish oil suitable for cooking and good enough for dressings and finishing hummus and pesto.
Also from Olives et al we have their Thick & Thins - Dorset Blue Vinny Cheese and Kalamata Olive biscuits in two styles, thick & thin in just one box. Try them with cheese or dips - just keep them handy! They've just won a Great Taste Award Gold Star. They are made from only 4 ingredients - all 100% Dorset; Blue Vinny Cheese from Stock Gaylard, the Seed Company Rapeseed Oil from Sherborne, wholemeal wheat from Nether Cerne Farm and Olives Et Al’s very own Dorset prepared Kalamata Olives. OK, calling the olives local might be pushing it a bit but the biscuits are great and available BOGOF (two for one) throughout September.
Senoria de Arrieza, Navarrsotillo - special offer - £5.99 per bottle
Also new are a pair of Riojas from Senoria de Arrieza, Navarrsotillo. I had never heard of them either. White Rioja is a sadly undervalued wine; this one is lovely either by itself or with many light foods, while the red is very much in the new style; unoaked and full of fruit - a perfect partner for lamb chops. Both will be on offer at £5.99 (normally £6.49) until the end of September.
