Britain's First Ever Brewers' Market

26 July, Snape Maltings, Suffolk

Applying the idea of a Farmers' Market to beers, Britain’s first Brewer's Market will bring together 12 of East Anglia's best microbrewers at Snape Maltings, near Aldeburgh on Sunday 26 July. The event revives Snape’s long connection with brewing over 30 years after the site ceased malting barley for beer.

The Brewers’ Market will feature twelve microbreweries each selling their bottled beer to take home as well as to enjoy there and then. There’ll be the opportunity to meet the brewers themselves, and to discuss with them what makes their beer special. Sustenance will be provided by Snape’s resident Metfield Bakery who will serve sausages and freshly baked pizzas.

For anyone who wants to learn more about different beer styles and how to match beer with food, the day will be made all the more special by tutored beer tastings led by beer guru, Mark Dorber of Beer Academy and proprietor of The Anchor at Walberswick.Snape Brewer's Market runs from 12 - 6pm on Sunday, July 26th
Snape Maltings, near Aldeburgh, Suffolk, IP17 1SR
http://www.snapemaltings.co.uk/

Entry to the market is free. There is plenty of free parking available at Snape Maltings.

Tutored tastings with Mark Dorber will run at 12.00 and 3.00. Tickets cost £5 and should be booked in advance. Call Snape Maltings 01728 688303

Breweries will include:

• Elmtree Beers, Snetterton, Norfolk


• Iceni, Thetford, Norfolk


• Tipples, Acle, Norfolk


• Humpty Dumpty, Reedham, Norfolk


• Grain, Harleston, Norfolk


• Bartram's Brewery, Rougham, Suffolk


• Opa Hay Brewery, Beccles, Suffolk


• Cliff Quay Brewery, Ipswich, Suffolk


• St Peters, Suffolk


• Real Ale Shop, Suffolk

Wild food foraging - research trip

I spent a fascinating couple of hours today up at Henham Park, 3800 acres of parkland best known as the setting for the Latitude Festival, Suffolk's answer to Glastonbury and home of the charming and laid back Hektor Rous. But there's more to Henham than music and comedy - it's a wild food forager's paradise.

I was with Jacky Sutton-Adam, wild foraging expert (and fellow food blogger) to survey the best spots for Food Safari's upcoming Wild Food in a Day on 6 June which she will be leading. Jacky has been foraging seriously since 2004 and as we walked through the fields and woods, we talked about the role wild food can play in a healthy diet but also in bringing a whole new level of interest to simply being outdoors.

As we approached the lake Jacky enthused about what she sees as the 'premier league' of wild foods which are great to eat, good for you and by a stroke of natural fortune, abundant in Britain. These include nettles and dandelions which have outstanding antioxidant qualities and but also fat hen - a delicious alternative to spinach and chickweed.

Finding the perfect spot for a Food Safari's foray is harder than I'd expected - we were looking for a concentration of lots of interesting edible plants in a compact area to allow maximum gathering time. Finally close to The Stables, Henham's luxury b&b, Jacky spotted a particularly promising looking area of meadow. With a triumphant "I'll get my shears" Jacky headed off.

She identified at least 10 edible plants within about 15 minutes, some of which we tasted although Jacky advocated that in most cases it's better to take things home and cook with them than eat them raw. I can testify to this! We've been experimenting with some wild foraging of our own this spring around Framlingham, including alexanders which are related to celery and lovage. My husband enjoys eating the stems raw but the rest of us are more sceptical - apparently they are good cooked like asparagus. Jacky explained that by late summer the dry black seeds can also be used as a seasoning.

Later, over lunch with Mark Dorber at the Anchor in Walberswick we discussed the wild food menu to be served after the forage. There were lots of ideas including teaming mackerel with alexanders, making a fresh pasta dough with cooked nettles to add colour and flavour and elderflower panna cotta. There was real excitement about the possibilities especially because the nature of wild foraging is that what we find on the 6th June will be unpredictable!

Meet and eat Blythburgh Free Range Pork

In January Jamie Oliver challenged the British public to take more notice of the conditions in which pigs are kept, but very few pork farmers will let the public onto their farm to see conditions for themselves. But, one Suffolk farmer is so confident of the standards of his free range pigs that he has agreed to do just that on Food Safari’s Free Range Pork in a Day on Saturday May 16th.

Food Safari is a new venture which offers field to fork experiences and Free Range Pork in a Day will take attendees on a pork journey starting from a farm walk at Blythburgh Free Range Pork, to a butchery demonstration and hands-on sausage and charcuterie workshop and feast at The Anchor, Walberswick.

At Blythburgh Free Range Pork on the Suffolk coast near Southwold, attendees will see for themselves the high welfare standards of led by award-winning farmers, Jimmy and Alastair Butler, who are passionate about producing great tasting pork. Blythburgh pigs are free to roam in large paddocks giving them the space to display natural behaviours like rooting in the soil and playing. Not only does this improve their welfare but it also means they grow at a slower more natural rate and this in turn results in flavoursome, succulent meat.

Alastair Butler says: “We are firm believers that the future of British pork lies in the public understanding more about where their food comes from and then people can make informed decisions about what they eat. think Food Safari is a wonderful way to show people our farm and make the connection between farming and flavour. Remember a free range pig is a happy pig and a happy pig surely tastes better!”

Back at Food Safari’s base, The Anchor at Walberswick, traditional Suffolk butcher Ray Kent will who’ll show attendees how to tackle a pork carcass. Recent reports have suggested that there is a resurgence of interest in the forgotten cheaper cuts, like shoulder and belly, and Ray will show us all of these as well as suggesting their uses in the kitchen.

Following the butchery demonstration, Mike Keen, The Anchor’s Head Chef, will show attendees how to create their own sausage recipes which will be barbequed for lunch. Mike will also show participants how to create charcuterie and ham in your own kitchen. The day will wrap up with a relaxed pork lunch with beer and wine expertly selected by The Anchor’s own Mark Dorber.

Saturday May 16th , 10am-5pm

Cost: £150 per person, £250 per couple to include a pork lunch, drinks and your own butchery to take home.



**Book by Friday 24 April and get 20% off** email info@foodsafari.co.uk

Event report: Wild Meat in a Day

Sunday saw Food Safari's inaugural game day play to a packed house at The Anchor, Walberswick on the Suffolk coast, using the specially converted learning space as our base. After coffee and some gamey canapes we started the day by learning the nitty gritty of venison butchery from Ray Kent, a professional butcher with a lifetime's experience of getting the most out of a prime carcass. At least one of the group thought Ray was the "star of the show" as he deftly demonstrated how to tackle this amazing meat.


Ray showed of a stunning fillet which would have sold for £65-70 but there are more inexpensive cuts (venison burgers are are fantastic alternative to beef). The venison was supplied by our good friends at The Wild Meat Company who specialise in fine, humanely killed game, prepared to the highest standards. Robert Gooch, MD of the Wild Meat Company was on hand to provide his expert insights into the world of game.

The group was quickly up to speed and preparing joints of their own like pros. With a little basic tuition and some very sharp knives (German are best apparently but get them professionally sharpened from time to time to keep them in prime condition) it is perfectly possible to learn the craft of butchery at home.

Following the butchery demonstration, Mike Keen, head chef, demonstrated some delicious game recipes including my favourite - a spiced partridge dish with fenugreek and coconut milk providing a nod to the Eastern origins of this bird as well as a stunningly rich jugged hare. The Anchor's outdoor grill was put to unseasonally early good use and the wafts of grilling game drew quite a lot of attention from Walberswick passers-by. The group got stuck in to stuffing and chopping and by this time we were all getting pretty hungry.

The day concluded with a communal game feast around a huge table. Mark Dorber the charismatic proprietor of the Anchor and globe-trotting beer expert matched each dish with either a beer or a wine. There was a lot of smacking of lips when Mike served pheasant simply roasted with a stuffing of local Wonmill cheese and redcurrant jelly under the skin to keep the breast moist while allowing the skin to crisp to a succulent juiciness. By combining with the classic Belgian ale Duvel the dish was lifted even further. The fenugreek partridge met its match with unusual and very intense barrel fermented release from San Francisco's award-winning Anchor Brewing Company. The barrels had previously contained spirit (we couldn't agree whether gin or rum) that lent the beer increased gravity (strength) and flavour. This beer is pretty secret stuff - Mark had been sent a bottle to review for potential release to the UK market and it was the kind of one-off foodie moment that I love!

Thanks from the Food Safari team to all concerned for making this such a fantastic event. The game season returns in the autumn when we'll be exploring game birds as. Meanwhile we're back at The Anchor and nearby at Blythburgh Pork on 16 May with our very special take on Pork -Pig in a Day. See the Food Safari website for booking details.

Report: Beer Academy

How does the choice of ingredients and brewing process affect flavour and style? Why does beer get such a bad press while its supposedly more sophisticated cousin wine is seen as the natural choice to partner with food and growing steadily in popularity? How can beer find new audiences beyond lads and lasses swigging Stella on a big night out or beardy real ale drinkers?

These were some of the question that last week's Beer Academy course sought to answer. Aimed at people in the booze trade as well as beer enthusiasts looking for more of an educational experience than a typical brewery tour. I wasn't the only girl either!

The course was run by George Philliskirk, a beer expert who lives in what is apparently one of the epicentres of the beer universe: Burton on Trent (why - it's the high mineral content in the water there that gives the beers a refreshing edge apparently). George is a very charming, relaxed tutor with whom we'd had the privilege of dining with the night before in the company of Suffolk and Norfolk barley growers Teddy Maufe and Roger Middleditch of The Real Ale Shop. He knows his stuff from years in the industry and was about to head off to Australia to do a spot of beer judging. Nice work if you can get it.

The day covered the whole beer story in enough depth to come away with a much richer understanding of the topic:

• Beer ingredients (water, malted barley, hops, yeast are all you need for classic English real ale but you will find other grains like wheat and rice used for some styles and also herbs, spices and fruit added)
  
• Brewing process
  
• How to taste beer (just like tasting wine except you're not supposed to spit it out!)
• Beer and food matching
• History of beer and beer styles (what's the different between a stout and a porter?)
• Industry info: beer and health, the UK beer market

Some highlights for me included tasting some different types of malted barley: pale malt (just like Ovaltine or Grape Nuts), crystal malt (darker and more intense) and chocolate malt (the darkest of the three with a roasted coffee/chocolate aroma and flavour).

Beer and food matching was really interesting: try teaming chocolate with a Belgian Kriek (cherry) fruit beer - it's delicious. However this part of the course was a bit rushed and would merit a longer session. There are three key aspects to consider when teaming beer with food are:
1. Complement (a strong bitter with cheese)
2. Contrast (e.g. Kriek with chocolate)
3. Cut (think of a cold beer with a spicy curry)

Of the beers we tasted, those from the Meantime Brewery in Greenwich stood out as did Bluebird Bitter from the Coniston Brewery.

Now my months in Suffolk have confirmed a few things: that we are blessed with wonderful local producers, that there are plenty of good places to eat, and that I love a pint of Suffolk Ale be it Adnams or our local Earl Soham Victoria or Hektor's Pure which went down extremely well as the house bitter at the Latitude Festival last summer. It's probably fair to say that I was getting a bit complacent about beer. But Beer Academy revealed a whole world of different beer styles and ranged far and wide around the globe in search of good beers. We came away feeling much better informed about this amazing drink and with our tastebuds zinging.