News and Views
Here I am going to write occasional reports: things we are up to, places we've been or enjoyed, mentions of stockists working on promoting our products... no promises about regularity but an opportunity to keep up to date in more than the 140 characters that Twitter allows me!
ONION RELISH
KEA PLUM & CATSHEAD APPLE CHEESE
AWARDED ONE GOLD STAR AT GREAT TASTE AWARDS
The Guild of Fine Food run the Great Taste Awards annually the judging is rigorous with between 5 and 25 judges from a cross section of food backgrounds tasting well over 7,000 products. This is the fourth year running we have been successful in winning some awards. The classes change annually to match current trends and we are always delighted when we reach the standards required. No more so than this year when we entered Kea Plum & Catshead Apple Cheese for the first time.
Kea Plum & Catshead Cheese is one of our rarer products, made in tiny jars from local damsons and apples grown in a tiny private orchard in Gerrans near Portscatho it is intended to accompany dairy cheese on the plate. Fruit Cheeses are a traditional preserve using up all the fruit, except the stones, by milling them together adding sugar and cooking until thick. Then bottled into wide necked jars it can be 'turned out' to sit on a cheese platter for slicing. It is a stiff product with a remarkable intensity of flavour.
Onion Relish is a relative newcomer to the Crellow list and it too deserves it's award. We'd long shied away from an 'onion' marmalade product because all our competitors do them. This is different in texture, long thin slices of red and white onions with mellow vinegar and lots of caramel flavour, the whole mix is lifted by the lime juice and zest. It has mustard seeds in it for texture, although we will be listening to feedback from the judges who felt there were too many!
26 FLAVOURS OF CORNWALL
- A FIRST FOR US IN SPONSORSHIP -
Design has long been an interest of mine, growing up with the illustrations of Edward Bawden has a lot to answer for! From the start Crellow invested heavily in professional design hoping to give our small business a good start in an extremely very competitive market, despite the scepticism of experience we were proved right the vibrant Crellow packaging has drawn people to our business in abundance and is responsible for a huge chunk of our success. It wasn't surprising then when I was asked back in the spring if we would like to be a sponsor for this project I jumped at the chance without thinking too hard about anything other than the cash flow. I just liked the idea, sometimes even still heart rules the head I've not learned a lot!
The exhibition, currently running at Trebah Gardens is the result of a collaboration between 26 a professional writers co-operative, local artists, designers, writers and students from University College Falmouth Professional Writing Course under the leadership of Tom Scott. It opened on 2nd July and runs until the end of the month. The website http://www.26flavours.com/ has the back story but i's the 'shock' of the extent of the talent here on our doorstep that lingers after the evening opening.
Our 'flavour' is Kea Plums, we make a number of products using these curiously Cornish globes. Our children had gone to primary school at Kea a quiet extensive parish on the western banks of the Fal estuary. It is the home of the lovely Halwyn tea gardens and Nigel and Rosemary Baker's orchards where we get our plums are just beyond Kea at Coombe was in full flower when the 'brains' behind the 26 project Tom Scott (and our 'writer') rang to arrange the visits - it was perfect blossom time as he records in this lovely piece of writing. Tom took time to explain to me his love of haiku had come from time he spent in Japan and this 'small but perfectly formed' poetry matched the small but perfectly formed Kea Plum.... and the blossom in the orchards at Kea reminded him of the beautiful blossom he'd seen in Japan too. Thank you Tom for all you've done!
My other favourite 'flavours' depicted in the exhibition were the pasty and ice-cream but I was also taken with the fashion approach depicting the pilchards, these unusual combinations are so inspiring: I've be well and truly challenged to spend more time looking at the art, design and creativity on our doorstep here. Years of farming, children and chutney making and selling have led me to too much looking down the funnel constricting my view. 26 Flavours has inspired me to look again, up the funnel at the breadth and diversity we have in Cornwall.
FRESHLY HARVESTED KEA PLUMS - actual sizes!
Test News
May 2011 - some news summary details for the news story more »
