We are Moving!

Yes indeed, after four years of being based jointly at Womersley in Yorkshire and the Cotswolds, we will be based solely in Chipping Norton in the Cotswolds from January.
The reasons are set out below:

News from Rupert Parsons - owner of Womersley Fruit & Herb Vinegars

Change of supplier

At the end of August, our production partner suddenly experienced insurmountable problems resulting in the immediate closure of their premises.

I am sure you will understand that the past few weeks have been very stressful for all of us at Womersley as we have strived to find solutions to the inevitable challenges arising. Fortunately we have already found a highly reputable production partner based in the South West of England. They have now started making our special fruit and herb vinegars by hand. We are very fortunate to find a supplier who already produces some of the UK’s leading food brands and has an excellent, longstanding reputation for high quality and reliability. The initial batches already taste better than ever!

Good News: 

our 5 most popular vinegars are back in full production and the remainder of the range will be produced from January.

Business relocation

With the totally unexpected need to move production to the South West, I have made the inevitable decision to manage Womersley from my office in the Cotswolds with effect from 8^th January 2014. Our Yorkshire office will remain open until the close of business for the Christmas/New Year break on Friday 20^th December.

We are looking forward to carrying on the family business from our home in the New Year. We are proud of the work that Wendy and Sue have done to help us build on our Yorkshire heritage and our new location will help us to spread the word about Womersley vinegars outside Yorkshire even more effectively. 

The future is bright

We are determined to turn adversity into advantage for everyone involved with Womersley. We are making further improvements to our already superb quality and consistency standards and we have an exciting new product development programme for 2014. We are also looking forward to providing recipe cards and a much better website to help you get the best from your favourite fruit vinegars.

If you would like to know any more about our plans or have any questions, please use our new contact details, below: 

Womersley Fruit & Herb Vinegars Ltd, 37 Park Road, Chipping Norton OX7 5PA

+44 (0)1608 646445       sales@womersleyfoods.co.uk        

In the meantime, we wish you a very fruity and Happy Christmas. 

 

NEWSFLASH

We are very sorry to report that, due to circumstances out of our control, we will be unable to exhibit at Abergavenny Food Festival on Sunday. 

If you would like to place an order with us instead, please either write to admin@womersleyfoods.co.uk or call us on 01132 865855.

This is a temporary situation and we really look forward to seeing you again next year. In the meantime, have a very Happy Christmas.

Telegraph Magazine

Tomorrow, we will be featured in the Telegraph Magazine! The Blackberry harvest has been good this year and the Telegraph are showing a small family business who use blackberries for such a delicious vinegar.

The online version is already available on the Telegraph site if you would like to have a read. The photographer came to take pictures of me in my home town of Chipping Norton and used one of me in front of the Soda deli for the article, my local Womersley stockist.
We have a few great online shops if this article inspires you enough to want to buy a bottle and you will find those on our Where to Buy page. We also have over 400 outlets around the UK and you can find your nearest using the map on our website. From next Spring, we hope to have our own online shop. Do sign up to our Newsletter if you would like to be kept in touch with the timing for that.

Lastly, do rest assured that, unlike the wording in the article, we don't just "chuck all the ingredients into a bucket," we put them in very carefully...

 

Abergavenny and Thame Food Festivals

It is that time of year again, when we brave the Autumn weather to see you all at two of the best food festivals. Next weekend is the very popular Abergavenny Food Festival and then, on Saturday 28th, it is Thame Food Festival. See you there, all fruity and vinegared!

Yorkshire Day

Join us for a spot of welly-wanging and flat cap flinging as well as some excellent chef demos on Yorkshire day at Wentbridge House this Thursday. You can stock up on vinegars for the Summer, too!

CLA GAME FAIR

CLA GAMEFAIR 2013

Last year's show was rained off, but this year's looks like being hot and sunny. Just as we did when the show was at Blenheim in 2011, we will be showing our fruit vinegars with Cotswold Gold rapeseed oil. Charlie from Cotswold Gold has just been awarded Cotswold Food Hero at the Cotswold Life Food Awards, so we are very proud to be sharing with him.

The show is from 19th-21st July at Ragley Hall, Alcester not far from Stratford-upon-Avon

Raw Asparagus Salad Recipe

Unlike last year, the busiest time in the Summer food show season is being blessed with golden English sunshine. So, it was with a cheery bounce in my step that I recently set off for the inaugural Newbury Food Festival.

I knew that this show would be special since I had already arranged a cookery demonstration with our Lemon, Basil, Bay & Juniper Vinegar. Having corresponded a few times over the years with award-winning blogger, Caroline Taylor, this was the first opportunity we had to meet and for me to introduce Caroline to our whole range. Do take a look at her site, All that I'm Eating, where you will find some beautiful food photography doing justice to some interesting recipes like Elderberry and Apple Turnovers and Spring Green and Bacon Potato cakes. Also there is an asparagus recipe which Caroline adapted to take advantage of the depth of flavour of our vinegar, thus:

Raw Asparagus Salad with

Lemon, Basil, Bay & Juniper Vinegar

Photo courtesy of Caroline Taylor

You will need (for two):

A bunch of asparagus

Rapeseed Oil

Old Winchester (or Parmesan)

Womersley Lemon, Bay, Basil and Juniper Vinegar

Black pepper

Remove the woody ends of the asparagus but leave enough to hold on to. 

Peel the asparagus from stem to tip, keep the stems (non woody) for making into a soup, or if you’re feeling really adventurous a soufflé or sorbet. 

Pile all your peelings into a bowl, drizzle over some rapeseed oil, the Womersley vinegar, pepper and a healthy shaving of Old Winchester. 

Serve. 

 

Ceviche in Cheltenham

Grandfa and Oliver

Food shows come and food shows go. As an exhibitor, you don't always know what to expect: plenty of opportunity to catch up with fellow exhibitors, a mad panic to protect your stock from being ruined in a downpour of English weather or lots of enthusiastic people eager to talk about artisan food production.  And so it was in Cheltenham last weekend where I attended the Food Festival for the first time...

On the way there very early on the first morning of three, I had time to work out that it was fully 29 years since I had been at school at Cheltenham College. Maybe I should not have been so surprised to find myself having become a grandfather to a very beautiful boy called Oliver in the same week!


The festival was in the beautiful setting of Montpellier Gardens. We were in a large marquee surrounded by lots of other lovely producers like Cotswold Gold, Grumpies Pies (thanks for the lunch!) and Artisan Smokehouse who use maple for all their smoking, which makes particularly their smoked duck taste really sweet and tender. Being practically unique, we rarely find ourselves having to compete with many other fruit vinegar producers so we enjoy talking to people about how to use them and how to be creative in the kitchen with a good glug of our vinegars. When possible, though, we try to ensure our vinegars are included in the cookery theatre or we work with a local chef to showcase a recipe. I had recently met a charming fellow called Wayne Sullivan at an event at the impressive herb and micro leaf growers, Westlands, near Evesham and found out he is a head chef in Cheltenham, so I asked if he would like to do a demonstration on our stand on the Sunday. He loved the idea and, fresh from having moved house, he turned up with his whole family to show just how easy it is to make a delicious salmon ceviche. And, being a chef, this was also a great opportunity for visitors to ask questions about food preparation and mixing flavours and what is ceviche! (Ceviche is, put simply, raw fish marinated in citrus juice or vinegar and spices; the acid in the juice denatures the proteins in the meat in much the same way as cooking would. The flesh becomes opaque, the texture firmer and dryer, yet the flavours remain spanking fresh. Naturally, our vinegars do the job beautifully).
So, on a day off from his role as Head Chef at the local Storyteller Restaurant, Wayne made a delicious salmon ceviche with our Strawberry & Mint vinegar and finished with our Lime, Black Pepper & Lavender for a punchy sourness.

Salmon Ceviche with

Strawberry & Mint and

Lime, Black Pepper & Lavender

Vinegars

by Wayne Sullivan

Ingredients:
200g fresh salmon, diced as fine as you can make it
1 red chilli, finely sliced up to the seeds (or a little further up for more spice)
1 whole spring onion, finely sliced
10g coriander, finely chopped.
1 lime, zested & quartered
Sea salt
10ml Womersley Strawberry & Mint vinegar
Toasted ciabatta, crackers, biscuits (anything crispy)
Womersley Lime, Black pepper & Lavender Vinegar (for drizzle before serving)

Method:
Prepare all ingredient in a bowl as fine as you can as this will ensure the vinegar can infuse, cure and tenderise.
Try not to prepare too far in advance but the longer you leave it then the more cured the fish will be.
Simply spoon small quantities on to pieces of toasted ciabatta, drizzle over the Lime, Black Pepper & Lavender vinegar and serve.

This recipe was inspired by Wayne's time as head chef at Storyteller, an eclectic fusion restaurant in Cheltenham that blends traditional Californian cooking with modern and European techniques.

After training at a local college, Wayne worked his way around Gloucestershire, fronting up some premier kitchens as well as working for a while in Australia. He then went on to stage at Petrus under Marcus Wareing, and over in the United States at Wheatleigh Hotel, in Lenox, Massachusetts.

A big fan of Sat Bains, Richard Davies and Daniel Clifford, his ultimate goal is to have his own little place where he can cook food that people will come from all over to eat, preferably by the sea.

You can follow Wayne at twitter.com/ChefWayner 

 

Wayne Sullivan

FreeFrom Food Award

We are delighted to report that our Raspberry Vinegar has just been awarded Highly Commended at the prestigious 2013 FreeFrom Food Awards in the Grocery Ambient category. Our Raspberry vinegar was one of over 340 products that were entered for the FreeFrom Food Awards, a record 37% increase on last year!

A team of 50 expert judges tested freefrom products across 15 categories including Plant ‘Milk’, Spread, Cheese & Desserts; FreeFrom Breakfast Cereals; Grocery; Ready Meals; and Savoury Biscuits and Snacks. In order to be eligible to enter the awards the products must be free from one or more of the ingredients (including wheat, gluten, dairy, eggs, yeast, nuts and soya) that trouble so many people. It is estimated that globally between 220 and 250 million people suffer from food allergies (World Allergy Organisation) and this figure is continuing to rise. 

Rupert Parsons from Womersley attended the Awards and commented that “for those with a restricted diet, it is a bonus to have a key ingredient to enhance your dishes so we are particularly pleased that the first vinegar my father made has proved so popular in the FreeFrom diet.” 

Taste of Game

Why eat Game? It is Wild, Natural and Healthy. Game live in the wild and are free to roam: the ultimate in free range! Game is not domesticated, they enjoy a life in the wild. Venison, for instance, is lower in fat than chicken and game species have no artificial feeds, chemicals or additives, they are just as nature intended.

A few months ago, I was fortunate enough to meet José Souto who has worked as chef at the House of Commons, Mosimann's, the Ritz and the Savoy Grill. When he was at the House of Commons, he also wrote a manual on game cookery and followed this up by taking up the role of chef lecturer in culinary arts at Westminster College. Since taking the post, José has built a good reputation as one of the country's leading game chefs, also educating others on the harvest and preparation of game. I met José at Covent Garden Market for a blackberry convention and he demonstrated how superbly our Blackberry Vinegar tenderised and flavoured a loin of venison. In a recent recipe leaflet for the British Association of Shooting and Conservation (BASC) José included this lovely recipe for Roast Saddle of Hare with our Blackberry Vinegar:

Serves 2

 

José likes to share his knowledge on game with chefs as well as home cooks, so if you are interested in learning a bit more about the harvest, preparation and cookery of game, there is a wonderful opportunity to attend a one day game seminar at Westminster Kingsway College coming up very soon:

This is a one of its kind event and is as popular as ever with many areas of the hospitality industry regarding it as a must in the CPD of their staff now that wild food and game has become such a large part of our menus. For students it is a must as the seminar covers all Game theory students need for VRQ and NVQ qualifications.
The Game seminar gives attendees the ability to be educated and have a good understanding about the wild game that is produced by our countryside and it also gives them the ability to understand its background and provenance, enabling them to give this information on menus and add value to the product as well as be aware of costs and potential profits that can be made from preparing your own wild game.
Whether you are a Chef, foodie or Countryman or Lady the Game Seminar will be of interest to all.
There are 2 dates in January this year: Monday the 21st and Monday 28th January. There is a little more information on the Westminster Kingsway College site, too. Let me know if you are interested and would like more information on how to book ASAP as places are limited and I will pass on your details to José.
Are you game enough?