Thoughts

A hogget is a sheep that is between a year and two years old.  Older than lamb, but younger than mutton. (Never thought I'd identify so much....)  But hogget is arguably the best of both worlds - a lot of the rich flavour...

Not all olive oils are equal. And I don’t just mean the importance of buying Organic, Extra Virgin and so on. I’m talking about freshness. Because what I didn’t realise until I went to live in Spain is that olive oil diminishes with...

There are two schools of thought as to the origins of the word ‘larder’. One is that it’s an anglicization of the German word ‘lager’ (which for speakers of the language of Goethe means ‘store’ or ‘store room’, not fizzy beer). The...

Twice in the last month I’ve been asked by pals precisely what it means when a vinegar comes ‘with the mother’.  They were both (un)lucky enough to be in my house, so I’d showed ‘em.  I’ve been making my own vinegar for...

No, not like that. Honestly. I’m talking about soil. (Obviously.) We have the enormous luck to live on a planet that has a six inch layer of topsoil. Along with the rain, those six inches are literally what keeps us alive. I bang on a...

Elf Dalla. Much as this might sound like one of the little magical folk who helped Father Christmas dish out the toys last week, it ain’t. It’s advice. A mnemonic, in fact. Over breakfast with a family member last month, I asked how...

Recently I’ve been defaulting to dripping.  Using it to fry an egg. To soften the onions for a stew. Spreading it on toast.  Where I might previously have used olive oil or butter without a second thought, I now stop to wonder...

The revolution will not be televised.  It will be quiet, thoughtful.  And it has already started.  You know that, because you’re part of it.  Together, we are beginning to change the way that food in this country is bought and sold.  Together, we are saying...

You wouldn’t think that a pig farm would be quiet, would you?  ‘They’re quiet because they’re content’, Helen’s husband Sam told me when I visited them on Thursday.  I was going to write a long explanation as to why their beautiful pigs...

Who doesn’t love a home cooked ham at Christmas?  I have totally fallen for this ginger glaze recipe by Nigella.  Remember that if you fancy doing one for yourself, our Christmas Market is open right now.  As well as organic gammon, there’s turkey...

At the end of a narrow, potholed and - on Thursday at least - exceptionally muddy track on the edge of Dartmoor is a farm. And on that farm lives John.  John is an organic turkey farmer. A young man on a mission,...

Charlie’s brilliant. She joined the Wylde team this week, and so I asked her what she tends to cook at home. Ramen, was the answer. You’re gonna fit in just fine, I thought. Ramen is such a fabulous dish on so many levels. It’s so...