Blog

What can I say? It was great…..

Thankyou to everyone who exhibited – your stands looked fantastic and the choice of food and drink to sample was delightful.

Thankyou to everyone who visited the show – you came ready to try and ready to buy.

As a team we enjoyed working with you all and have ended the week satisfied with our achievements, basking in your positive comments and EXHAUSTED!!

I know that for some of you the show is just the start of the work and the exciting opportunities to come, but for us at least, this weekend is a chance to put our feet up and relax!

With only days to go until the show opens we’re finally letting you in on the big secret. Who are the Newcomers?

These are first time exhibitors at the show who have been trading for less than 18 months and produce food or drink in the South West (Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire).

Although you may have come across some of these products before, we guarantee you won’t have seen them all!

Our savoury selection…

Cornish Charcuterie (Stand C26, www.cornishcharcuterie.co.uk) is a rising star in the fledgling UK charcuterie market.  Their award winning artisan pates and pork pies and their rillettes, hams, bacon and salt-beef are produced from free ranging animals raised on their farm and other locally sourced ingredients.

Cornish Charcuterie

Dressit

Stainswick Farm Oil

My First World Food

My First World Food (Stand D29, www.myfirstworldfood.co.uk) . Designer range of restaurant curries – Ready in 12 minutes – No chopping – Add meat, vegetables and water.  All have no chilli heat.  You decide hot or not!  Add the chilli Hotshots inside each pack to suit individual tastes.

Dressit (Stand E29) make a delicious range of dressings, sauces, mayonnaise and apple vinegars, having planted over 35 varieties of local heritage apples.  “We use a wonderful English cold-pressed rapeseed oil.  We make all of our products only using our own recipes.”

Stainswick Farm (Stand F29, www.stainswickfarm.co.uk) Cold pressed rapeseed oil has half the saturated fat of olive oil and a delicious subtle nutty flavour making it ideal for all cooking purposes.  Its high smoke point makes it ideal for high temperature cooking.

For desert we have…

House of th Rising Bun

Dutch Farm Fruits

House of the Rising Bun (Stand E22, www.houseoftherisingbun.co.uk) produces a range of delicious and totally natural cake mixes and sprinkles.  “Our mixes are for people who love baking, appreciate good ingredients and want to take a home baked cake out of the oven.”

Dutch Farm Fruits (Stand F27, www.dutchfarmfruits.co.uk) based in Yeovil.  “We make jam, apple compotes and preserved fruits in brandy and rum.  Our ideal customer is the professional and the small retailer, we hope to meet you at stand F27.”

Yumble Crumle

Offering a bit of both…

Yumble Crumble (Stand D28, www.yumblecrumble.co.uk) make a range of sweet and savoury crumbles, by hand, in Somerset, with local and seasonal ingredients.  Chilled or frozen, Yumble crumbles are the ideal solution for people who love good food but don’t always have time to cook.

To wet your whistle…

Masters Blackdown Brewery

The Rebel Brewing Co Ltd

Masters Blackdown Brewery (Stand D25, www.mastersbrewery.co.uk). ” Innovative and exciting, we are pushing the boundaries from traditional and bespoke beers and ales to “brewing experience” or “come and try” sessions for both public and trade alike.  Quality cask ales supplied for a wide variety of functions.”

The Rebel Brewing Co Ltd (Stand E25) brew not just fine English ales but also unique and rarely seen world beers such as Belgian spiced wheat beer and Japanese rice beer.  “We also strive to do it in the most eco-friendly and socially conscious way possible.”

And finally coffee…

Owens Coffee

Owens Coffee (Stand D24, www.owenscoffee.com). ” Freshly hand roasted in Devon, our Fairtrade, organic coffees are created for consistent, exceptional flavour.  Savour our unique range in select cafés and restaurants, and at home.  Or contact us to purchase local coffee trade supplies, for customers with truly distinctive taste.”

So if you want to get ahead of the game, gain new ideas and fresh inspiration, you know what to do! Sample some of the above,  then start offer them to your customers. Differentiate yourself from the rest of the marketplace!

As the show gets even closer we’ve more news coming in from our exhibitors. Many of them will be sharing new recipes with you, such as Mike’s Smokehouse (Stand G22, www.mikes-smokehouse.co.uk) with their new Smoked Tomatoes in Basil Oil.

Chunk of Devon Ltd (Stand D23, www.takeachunk.com) also has fabulous new recipes for 2012 including; Steak Pie with red wine, bacon and baby onions; Chicken Pie with mushroom, tarragon and white wine; Chicken Pie with leek & bacon; and Sheep Pie “ A Roast in a Pie”.

Do you remember the new range of gourmet beef burgers promised us by Burrow Farm Red Ruby Beef ? (Stand D2, www.burrowfarm.com) Well I’ve just got my hands on some images of the range using the top cuts of their red ruby beef combined with other west country flavours from local producers.

Chilli burger

Classic burger

Cheddar & caramelised onion

First time exhibitors with us Dutch Farm Fruits (Stand F27, www.dutchfarmfruits.co.uk) have widened their appeal with their new 1litre containers for the professionals on all their apple compotes and jams.

There’s big news from Lyme Bay Winery (Stand E14, www.lymebaywinery.co.uk) who are investing in a new 6000 feet square production plant, with initial production envisaged to be around 65,000 bottles per year. This is being fuelled by the company’s decision to make it’s own grape wines after planting 25,000 vines on land at Cotleigh and Watchcombe, near Colyton. This means that a new winery and storage/warehousing, along with extra parking, is required, with the new building becoming the main production facility, enabling the existing building to revert to the bottling plant. The first crop from the vines will be harvested in this autumn. A blend of Pinot Noir and Sayval Blanc grapes will be used to create a sparkling wine, while Bacchus grapes will produce a still, dry, white wine.

And finally we’d like to say hello to the new owners, Jean Allen and Amanda Stansfield, of Granny Gothards (Stand G3, www.grannygothards.co.uk). Their belief is that, “to satisfy our customers is not enough, we aim to delight them. With a product as fantastic as Granny Gothards this will not be difficult as the taste does all the work for us!” Welcome and hope you all have a great show!

We’ve got some great exhibitors lined up for you this year. Not only have most of them got new flavours and products to share but many of them have achieved more awards since we last saw them.

Somerset Cheese Co

Protected Designation of Origin status has been awarded to Cornish Clotted Cream and it will be on show from A E Rodda and Sons  (Stand C5)  www.roddas.co.uk who have been crafting it in the same way for 120 years. This established and successful organisation also won Dairy Manufacturer of the Year at the Food Manufacturing Excellence Awards in November where the judges were particularly impressed with how Rodda’s took a “truly holistic approach to raising standards, both of its people and facilities”.

The Somerset Cheese Company (Stand D37) www.somersetcheese.co.uk will be showing it’s award winning ‘Six Spires’, unpasteurised cow’s milk hard cheese (won ‘Best Speciality Cheese’ at The Global Cheese Awards at Frome Cheese show 2011), and Goat’s Milk ‘Pennard Ridge’ semi hard cheese (won ‘3 Gold Stars’ at Great Taste Awards 2011). Anita Robinson says: “We plan to launch two new Cheddars at the show; one with chilli & cracked pepper, and another with herbs, garlic and cider”.

Scarlet Angel Ltd

Scarlet Angel (Stand B13) www.scarlet-angel.co.uk has been trading for less than a year and founder Mrs Bronwen Ramsay prepares her salad dressings with organic ingredients, on her Soil Association registered organic smallholding in Wales. Her three award winning flavours are: ‘Sweet Pepper & Chilli’, ‘Lime, Ginger & Coriander’, ‘Lemon & Black Pepper’.

Burrow Farm Red Ruby Beef

As National Trust tenant farmers on the Killerton Estate, Burrow Farm Red Ruby Beef  (Stand D2) www.burrowfarm.com, were able to enter their Red Ruby beef into the National Trust Fine Farm Produce awards last year. In September they were delighted to win awards for their rump steak, mince and topside joints. They were so pleased to win a national award for their beef within their first year of business and they are hoping to trial their new homemade gourmet beef burgers at the show. They are developing the range using the top cuts of red ruby beef combined with other west country flavours from local producers. The range includes: Mature west country cheddar and red onion chutney, devon blue and smokey bacon and a chilli burger and is aimed at pubs and restaurants.

Can’t wait to try!!

Only last week we welcomed back some chefs to our Demo Kitchen.

This week it’s the turn of our exhibitors….

We’ve lots of new companies booking in and some of them are not only new to this show but have never done a trade show before! We can’t wait to bring you news on these Newcomers, but we’re going to keep the suspense going just a little bit longer!!

So this week we’re going to welcome back some exhibitors from last year. And here they are….

….there’s no theme to this selection, they just happen to be the ones we received images from recently!!

Tideford Organic Foods

Quickes Traditional Ltd

Skinner's Brewing Company Ltd

Bramley & Gage Ltd

As we approach the end of February we’ve got four great chefs confimed for our Demo Kitchen.

We will be welcoming back, Lee Maycock of the Craft Guild of Chefs and Game to Eat and Dez Turland of the Craft Guild of Chefs and Brend Hotels.

Also joining us will be Richard Hunt, Executive Chef from the Grand Hotel, Torquay and Tom Scade South West Chef of the year (pictured).

Tom Scade, South West Chef of the Year

If you want to see shots of Lee and Dez in action at last years show go to our Demo Kitchen section of Show Features.

Full details of the dishes the chef’s will prepare will be released nearer the time to all pre-registered visitors. And we might even spill the beans here!!

As the days start to lengthen some of our thoughts turn to spring and for some of us our thoughts turn to Source!

It’s now less than 3 months away and there’s a lot to do.

I spent some time this week looking through photos of last years show. This reminded me just how good it had been and got me excited about what we will be able to offer you this year.

Some of my favourite shots of the show are here….This small selection will hopefully whet your appetite for what’s to come!

It’s the darkest, coldest month of the year. We’ve all overindulged at Christmas and left our immune systems poorly supported and under stress. Lots of booze, fats and sugar – what can I say?! For the few of you out there that this doesn’t apply to , please feel very virtuous and stop reading, perhaps go for a run

For the rest of us it might be helpful to know how fantastic garlic is at boosting the immune system, as well as having cleansing and antibiotic properties.

One option is to walk around with it under the soles of your feet inside your socks where it will slowly be absorbed into your blood stream as you move around.

Alternatively, you could try some of the array of great offerings from the Garlic Farm on the Isle of Wight!

So today is  the last work day for us here before Christmas. I know that’s not true for all of you but I can only write with the perspective of us office types!

To mark the occasion we are having food and drinks while we enjoy the annual custom of ‘Secret Santa’. This is a chance to raise a smile by exchanging gifts with each other and perhaps raise a few more while trying to guess who bought what for whom! The specifics were all determined weeks before through a secret draw of names from a tub. This was followed by complete secrecy of purchase and wrapping, then camouflaging of handwriting on tags and finally furtive placement of parcels in the designated Santa sack.

Not only are we wondering what we will all get and who has been the most thoughtful, funny or clever? But, given we work on the best trade show to source excellent food and drink in the region, what victuals and morsels will there be on offer?

We only have to look through our exhibitors for 2012 to get suitable inspiration :-

Celtic Marches Beverages

Burts Chips

Frobishers

Now all we need is for one o’clock to hurry up and arrive!

I hope you all have similar festivities planned and that good food and drink are plentiful. There’s plenty of time for resolutions in January! Enjoy!!

The exciting news is that with five months to go to the show our new website is ready and here it is! What do you think? We’d love to hear your thoughts and definitely please point out any niggles or technical hitches we need to iron out.

One of our favourite bits, of the new look site, is the video of last year’s show. For those of you who joined us at the show, in Exeter last April, see if you can spot any familiar faces. Are you one of the couple clearly enjoying the pasties?! Perhaps you can see a friend or colleague? If so, don’t keep it to yourself, spread the word and share the link.

For those of you who weren’t at last year’s show, we hope the video brings it alive for you and gives you a taste of what this year’s show will have to offer…

There will be lots more news about the show in the coming months in the meantime have a look around the site and leave me a comment. Cheers!