Cocoa Mountain – Scotland’s Peak of Confection
The Munroes and Mountains of Scotland are justly famous and well known around the globe. There is however a new comer aiming to attain the highest peaks in the confectionery world – Cocoa Mountain.
Cocoa Mountain Ltd is a small gourmet chocolate enterprise based at Durness in northerly Sutherland. Cocoa Mountain already has awards from Eat Scotland in the 2009 Scotland Food and Drink Excellence Awards as well as a raft of glowing customer testimonials on its web site.
Offering a unique brand of chocolate truffles, chocolate coated fruit bars and other goodies to food lovers and tourists alike Cocoa Mountain deserve to be recognised for their innovative and toothsome truffle combinations. Chilli and lemongrass, orange and geranium, darkest whisky … that’s quite a collection.
Check out their website at www.cocoamountain.co.uk and let us know if their produce really do scale new heights.
Summer Harvest Rapeseed Oil wins Double Gold Star at Great Taste Awards 2010
I was delighted to find out that Summer Harvest Oils won a Double Gold star from this year’s Guild of Fine Food Great Taste Awards. Their Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil has been appearing at a lot of food events including Farmers Market, BBC Food Show, Taste Edinburgh and The Royal Highland Show.
I first encountered cold pressed rapeseed oil in our local Farm Foods outlet at Knowes Farm Foods in East Lothian. It doesn’t have the deep flavours and spicy kick that addicts me to some of the Spanish and Greek olive oils but as a local Scottish product with low food miles and a nice clean taste it is now a staple in the food cupboard. TIP: it mixes really well with balsamic and wine vinegars.
The Balmoral and Gleneagles present a Taste of Scotland
The Balmoral and Scotland’s 5 star Gleneagles resort have teamed up to provide their guests with a true Scottish gourmet experience – The Taste of Scotland package which offers a two-night stay in each hotel. An excellent demonstration of collaboration which we would like to see relicated amongst other likeminded establishments.
At The Balmoral in Edinburgh city centre, travelers will be welcomed into an upgraded executive room, complete with a bottle of Bollinger on ice. No doubt the will savour their champagne with a priceless view over the Capital’s historic skyline.They will dine in the Michelin-starred number one restaurant. Under the direction of Jeff Bland number one dishes have been created using only Scotland’s finest and freshest ingredients.
At Gleneagles in the Perthshire countryside, guests will relax in their luxurious estate room before a whisky tasting for two in the Gleneagles bar followed by dinner at the two Michelin-starred Andrew Fairlie’s restaurant. Andrew Fairlie received much of his chef’s training in the South West of France and consequently the cuisine is unashamedly French but with a Scottish twist.
The Balmoral’s general manager, Ivan Artolli, is quoted as saying, “Scotland is a truly unique and iconic nation bursting at its cosmopolitan and cultural seams. We wanted to place forward our guests the opportunity to explore and immerse themselves into two different sides of Scotland, and we felt Gleneagles was the perfect fit, offering the same ethos and standards as The Balmoral.”
The Taste of Scotland gourmet package is on offer until end of August 2010. The package includes the number one tasting menu, dinner at Andrew Fairlie, a full Scottish breakfast daily, a bottle of Bollinger upon arrival at The Balmoral, a whisky tasting for two at Gleneagles and guaranteed room upgrades. The price is £1200 for two people, with two nights at each hotel. Town and country with a gourmet twist.
http://www.gleneagles.com/prices-amp-offers/special-offers/a-taste-of-scotland
Fletchers of Auchtermuchty – Best British Small Meat Producer
Fletchers of Auchtermuchty, Scotland’s famous venison farm, scooped the award for Best Small Meat Producer at the prestigious Good Housekeeping Food Awards in London in May. (This post is a little late but still news worthy! Ed) The only Scottish Business among the 16 category winneres, Fletchers were chosen by a panel of experts in association with Slow Foods. Winners in other categories included big names like Tesco, Waitrose, Pizza Express, the BBC Masterchef programme, Nigel Slater and James Martin as well as other household names.
John and Nichola Fletcher started producing venison on their small hill farm in Fife 35 years ago. Their objective has always been to produce consistently tender and superb flavoured venison at an attactive price while at the same time upholding the ideals of high animal welfare – especially important to John as a vet.
Receiving the award on the night, John Fletcher is quoted as saying:
“Such a prestigious national award means a tremendous amount for a small business like ours. It’s wonderful to see venison from our little farm hitting the headlines and competing with such big players. Scottish deer farmers are especially disadvantaged by their government’s refusal to provide an award like this will allow us to keep growing and remind people how tasty and healthy venison is. Venison is definitely a mainstream meat now”
Fletchers’ venison ran the gamut of the Good Housekeeping professional tasting panel who pronounced Fletcher’s of Auchtermuchty venison steaks to be so delicious that they needed no additions. Nichola’s dry-cured venison carpaccio also received sinilar praise from the panel. Fletchers’ venison is described as the ‘complete nose to tail range’ including the increasingly popular venison offal including liver, kidney, heart and sweet breads. Customers can order on-line from Fletchers’ huge range of venison cuts and products at www.seriouslygoodvenison.co.uk where they can also find out about the farm and how to cook venison.
