The Cornwall Food & Drink Festival

~  Menu  ~

A small cup of Spicy Curry Sauce
Bits of Blue Cheese plus Bits of Pink Cheese
Cornish Yarg
Pieces of Fabulous Bread
Small tastes of various smoked fish
Cornish Crisps of various flavours – especially the chilli ones Occasional sips of Healey’s various wonderful ciders
Cornish Stingers - a light, refreshing and alcoholic drink made of nettles
Some strange and delicious raw chocolate products
Furniss Cornish Fairings and Clotted Cream Shortbread

Today’s lunch wasn’t so much sudden as sporadic and also I didn’t make it myself. I spent the day in Truro at The Cornwall Food & Drink Festival 2010. It was very crowded but the products at the show were all fantastic with many stalls offering generous tasters. 

The blue and pink cheeses mentioned above are made by Treveador Farm Dairy in Helston and were both seriously toothsome. The blue cheese is called Blue Horizon and is soft and creamy, the pink cheese, called Helford White, has a lovely coral coloured edible skin and is white and creamy with an appealing tang to it.

Cornish Yarg is another delectable Cornish cheese, sort of creamy and sort of crumbly. It is wrapped in nettles which gives a unique fresh and yummy taste and makes for a very pretty truckle. I tried both the “plain” Yarg and the excellent Wild Garlic Yarg. These are produced by Lynher Dairies in Ponsanooth.

I love cheese and Cornwall produces some humdingers. 

The fabulous bread, Vicky’s Bread, has to be the best I have ever tasted. I brought a large loaf of Organic Multigrain home with me. I’d have liked to have bought loads but travelling on the bus I couldn’t manage it. I have vowed to buy Vicky’s bread whenever I get the chance for the rest of my life! They are hand-made, slow-rise, organic and utterly outrageously moreish breads. The very eye catching stall and the very friendly and helpful staff are an added bonus.

Healey’s Cornish Rattler has been my beverage of choice in the pub since my first sip about 2 years ago, a gorgeous and, incidentally, potent cider. I was pleased to try their pear version and also their berry cider which were both great. 

I also drank some Cornish Stingers which I had never heard of but I’m glad I have now. It was a pleasant surprise; a refreshing, sparkling, slightly alcoholic (4% I think the man said) stinging nettle “beer” with a light summery taste. 

The raw chocolate bars, or pies as the company (Living Food of St. Ives) calls them, were strange and wonderful. I have made ice cream with cocoa or, more correctly, cacao nibs and it is good but I had not imagined that raw chocolate, in fact healthy raw chocolate without dairy, sugar or gluten, could be so utterly delicious. I tried all the varieties and had set my heart on buying a bar of the Raw Chocolate and Chilli Pie but it was sold out. I bought a naked bar so that my love interest might be tempted to try a morsel – in fact that’s all he’s getting. 

There were lots of other stalls all exhibiting and selling tempting foods and drinks; Cornish clotted cream, excellent chocolates, fresh organic produce, micro breweries etc. but I have only written about the most unusual things here. There was a stall selling smoked goods, a lot of smoked cheeses, and I brought home some smoked pigeon breasts to try. 

From Swannacott Manor Meats I bought two rib eye steaks, hung for 3 weeks, for me man and he’s already eaten one! He said it was “alreet” which, believe me, is quite a compliment from a Geordie.  There were of course a wide range of Cornish Pasties on sale … 

… but I didn’t try one being too full of cheese, chocolate and cider.  

Cornwall produces splendid lunch components!