Today is the first day of the oyster (dredging) season, hurrah. Pictured above are two of the Falmouth Working Boats; the only fleet of oyster dredgers allowed to use wind or manpower for dredging oysters.
Bring on the festival: 15 - 18 October 2009
Sorry... in relating my culinary adventures of the weekend I missed out one very important discovery. Being as obsessed with bread as I am I decided to buy a loaf from the health food shop in Falmouth yesterday, and stumbled upon Vicky's Bread.
I'll just say this; if you are in the area you should seek this out, it's absolutely delicious. Available in quite a few places - get some whilst you can!
I've just got back from a long weekend in Falmouth, and boy oh boy do they make some stinky cheese down there! Hailing from Penryn (or 'ryn to locals) Menallack Farm make some particularly fine cheese, as sampled by me from David's plate (sorry David), at Ratho.
I really like eating at Ratho as they always seem to go that little bit further than others. For example, in offering fine cheese made about 5 miles outside of Falmouth, served with handmade biscuits made on the premises - superb!
Sadly Menallack Farm do not seem to have a website, however they do offer a mail order service boasting a wopping 36 Cornish cheeses, 16 of which are made at the farm, in addition to another 5 from outside the county such as good ol' Montgomery's Cheddar.
No piccie, but I hope you'll forgive me... I seem to have been quite slack on the photo front recently, but promise to make it up to you.
On another note, dates for this year's Oyster Festival (again, in Falmouth) are 16-19 October. I should be teaching by then (all being well) so I do hope that falls in the half term!
I headed back to Falmouth this weekend as it was the Falmouth Oyster Festival. David and I stumbled upon this last year, and it was such good fun we decided it was definitely worth going again. It worked out particularly well as the Beer Festival was on at the same time.
I've been aware of the Oyster festival for years, but for some reason never managed to make it along until last year. It's absolutely top - lots of funny bands, cooking demonstrations, LOTS of drinking and of course Falmouth oysters and seafood. My particular favourite entertainment-wise was the Old Glory Creole jazz Band with Lee Adewole: a bunch of old slightly Grandad-type looking chaps in white shirts, black trousers and skippers hats, well worth checking out if you ever should happen upon them.
Food-wise we an excellent mature cheddar from Worthy Farm (based out towards St Just), the best Scotch Egg I have ever eaten from The Primrose Herd, smoked crevettes from The Cornish Smokehouse, and of course more seafood than I could possibly mention here.
The beer festival was also excellent, held up at Princess Pavilions away from town itself, there were over 150 real ales for tasting, along with a Perry and Cider bar. Believe it or not, not a drop of cider passed my lips, as I'd already been on the Knocker since lunchtime, and was worried about peaking before the rugby game. Still, Helford River from Lizard Ales was particularly fine.
All in all it was a mighty fine weekend. I feel so proud to see Cornwall embracing good, local, fresh food in a way that seems only available to the few that can afford it elsewhere. Perhaps it's due to the distance it is from everywhere else, or the climate - people just seem to be so willing to give it a go, and be proud to produce something themselves.
Incidentally, picture-wise I realise there isn't an oyster in sight, but what can I say - I was happier eating them than taking pictures!
I can get away with this title (just), because I have actually been sailing twice in the last two weeks. Who cares if I don't know the difference between a tack and a jibe?
Anyway, sadly no piccies of food, as I didn't quite manage to coordinate camera with grub, but A LOT of good local food made it's way to my belly (along with a considerable amount of pints of ale). It's fairly safe to say my belly has grown to pasty proportions!
Highlights included a daily pint of Cornish Knocker from the Chainlocker, right on the water's edge. It's one of the nicest places to have a pint in Falmouth - a proper old Cornish pub, selling lots of good local ales from the likes of Skinners and Sharp's Breweries, Weston's Cider and all the right seaside trimmings (framed knot pictures, a ship's anchor outside, that kind of thing). At around 5pm you can sit outside on the benches and watch seals follow the fishing boats in for any leftovers.
Roskilly's ice cream; I've said it before and I'll say it again, the best ice cream I've ever eaten. Top flavours are Hokey Pokey and Blackcurrant Yoghurt.
Pasties from The Natural Store on High Street in Falmouth. Ok, they're organic and from a health food shop, so maybe not the most traditional, but still the pastry isn't over-cooked, there's a good meat/veg ratio, no deviation from the recipe with fancy veg and for £2.50 what more could you ask for?
The farmer's market; just about 4 stalls every Tuesday morning on The Moor in Falmouth. All very local farmers and producers - the antithesis of the London Farmer's Market I guess. Lots of good cheese such as Cornish Blue and Tresco; a softly smoked hard goat's cheese, local veggies and meat, Honey from the Lizard, and finally bread, flour and pasties from The Cornish Mill and Bakehouse. This one was a real winner for me as I've recently been reading bits from Elizabeth David's English Bread and Yeast Cookery (well worth the read if you're into bread like I am) and so was pleased to see that not only do they grow and mill their own wheat (stoneground not roller) they then use it to produce a loaf called 'Homegrown'. It's delicious, quite different from the usual fare, as more flavoursome, and slightly cakier due to the lack of Canadian 'Hard' wheat found in all commercial English bread. Definitely worth seeking out if you're in the area though - it makes the most fantastic toast.
Sadly, due to my lack of a) a driving license and b) a car my edible odyssey was confined to the area of Falmouth. I am planning to remedy this, so there'll be further explorations to come!
