A Cambeltown malt whisky which is peaty but also oily. The other is Springbank which is light but with a very full palate.
The globe artichoke is a plant which bears a resemblance to a giant thistle. The edible part is the flower which is cut from the stem and generally cooked. The most desirable part of this vegetable is the fond, base or bottom. This can be reached by removing the "leaves", actually the petals, one at a time, dipping the base of them into melted butter, and nibbling the soft edible part there. Finally, a hairy mound of unripened petals and stamens is reached. This is the choke and should be carefully removed to reveal the base.
A very large variety of green cooking apple which may have been risen in North American or Germany. There are records in the United States in 1804. It was introduced commercially into the United Kingdom in 1817. This late-season variety is harvested from early October in South-East England and is at its best from October to December. It cooks to a dark golden purée.
A name for Ribston Pippin, a medium-sized dessert apple, green to golden-yellow with crimson red cheeks. One of the great apples, it as crisp flesh with great depth of flavour and aroma. It is thought to have been raised in 1707 by Sir Henry Goodricke of Ribston Hall near Knaresborough in Yorkshire from a seed brought from Rouen in 1688. It received the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit in 1962 and the Award of Garden Merit in 1993. This late-season variety is harvested from late September in South-East England and is at is best from October to January. It is a parent of Cox's Orange Pippin.
Gloucester cheeses, which come as single and double. Traditionally, only the evening's raw milk was used for Single Gloucester. This was then skimmed and mixed with whole milk from the following morning's milking. Now, it is generally made from skimmed milk from either or both milkings. There are still farm produced versions available. (PDO). Double Gloucester is made from the whole milk of both evening and morning milkings, In an ideal world this should come from the milk of the lovely G|loucester cow. The secret was that the rennet was added before it cooled after milking. If you can find farm-made cheeses they have a lovely natural orange colour but generally they are coloured with anatto. (PDO).
A rare breed of cattle with a truly distinctive flavour and the producers of the milk from which Double Gloucester and Stinking Bishop cheeses are made. Cattle are dark lustrous brown to black, with a white line along their backs and down to their rear legs. Their horns are quite sharp and glossy. They are truly beautiful cattle and it was a delight to find a herd at Wimpole. I was brought up in the Berkeley Vale in Gloucestershire and remember the famous herd there and it felt like meeting old friends to find these in Cambridgeshire. Gloucesters are one of Britain's longest-established breeds. Gloucester-type cattle were numerous in the Cotswold Hills and the Severn Valley as early as the 13th century. In the last two centuries however, outbreaks of disease, the introduction of other breeds and the development of intensive farming have led to a dramatic reduction in their numbers. By 1972 only one significant herd remained and the breed was in danger of dying out. Following the dispersal sale of this herd, a small group of purchasers was determined that the breed should survive. As a result, the Gloucester Cattle Society was revived and the breed has moved from near extinction to there being over 650 registered females. More details of their history may be found at their lovely website (see below).
