Speciality-Food-Magazine-September-2024

which can lead to a lot of different things being made here. We are on the Wolds, and what we can grow is completely different to what the Dales can grow.” The pride of the county If there’s one place that typifies the tapestry of excellence running through Yorkshire’s food and drink community, it’s Fodder. Found in Harrogate, just outside the entrance to Great Yorkshire Showground, the farm shop and café is operated by Yorkshire Agricultural Society, and in many ways is a ‘shop window’ into what the county has to offer. Almost everything visitors can eat or buy is proudly made in Yorkshire, with every nook and cranny (even produced here, and more people have diversified over the years.” Her stalwarts include Botham’s of Whitby, Sawley Kitchen, Yockenthwaite Farm Granola, Mason’s Gin and Longley Farm in Huddersfield. “We’ve got one of their biggest ranges of yoghurts,” Vanessa says. A new brand she’s excited about is Yorkshire Kitchen. “We just got them in. They started out last year with some sweet butters for Christmas and now they make savoury ones too. They work really well for us because we can also sell them on the butcher’s county with the steaks.” Those fly out the door, with Vanessa saying there’s a clear demand right now from consumers for good quality, local meat. “They want to know where it’s from. We’ve definitely seen an uptake in that, and vegetables. People want quality produce, and they don’t mind paying to have their quality.” What makes Yorkshire such a hotbed for fine food and drink? For Vanessa and the rest of the Fodder team it’s clear. “It’s the area where it’s from. We’ve got so much to be proud of. There are so many suppliers out there doing great things. And when you come to a show like Great Yorkshire Show, you can see the passion from everybody that’s coming through.” makes its sticky, treacly parkin in Halifax. “A lot of them have started with us and grown with us across the years. If they hadn’t been with us, I don’t think they would be as big as they are now,” says Vanessa, adding that Yorkshire Agricultural Society makes a point of helping as many independents as it can, even offering grants to help would-be producers get off the ground, such as Just Jenny’s ice cream and Yockenthwaite Farm Granola, who are then taken into the shop, once established, as suppliers. Vanessa says Yorkshire Agricultural Society is “very supportive”, not just of producers, but farmers and agriculture as an industry too. “All our money and profit goes back into our charity and we support farmers that way. We do health checks around their sites, lunches and dinners to get them together to talk about issues like the weather. We do a lot for farmers,” she explains. On the county’s food scene, though its probably best known for the Rhubarb Triangle, where the striking candy pink vegetable squeaks and creaks as it grows in the dark, lit only by candlelight, Vanessa says there is so much more retailers need to be aware of with too many highlights to count. “You can get everything from Yorkshire now! More and more food is being wall space, where artwork nods to some of the shop’s longest serving suppliers) taken up by something delicious. The shop has been in operation for 15 years, says manager Vanessa Pitt. “It was set up to support farmers and local producers when the country was going through Mad Cow Disease and the government said they had to diversify. Today we’ve got over 400 suppliers in Fodder, and we support as many local and independent businesses as we can, and if we can’t get it locally, we say it’s the ‘best of the rest’.” Many producers have been with Fodder since the beginning, including Ian Taylor Free Range Eggs, and Lottie Shaw’s, which @specialityfood 36 VANESSA PITT FODDER CAROLINE BELL SHEPHERDS PURSE ALLISTER NIXON YORKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY COMMENTATORS JENNY PALMER DELICIOUSLY YORKSHIRE Y orkshire (one of England’s biggest counties), is a producer’s dream. A landscape reaching from undulating countryside, encompassing vast swathes of pasture and craggy hilltops, Eastwards to a coastline swathed in mythology, heritage and history. It is a county of brewers, bakers, dairies, farmers and distillers. One which has irrevocably evolved, particularly in the past 20 years, to become a stronghold of artisan excellence. A source of national pride on the British food and drink scene. “The beauty of Yorkshire is, because of its size, it’s got so much variety,” agrees Jenny Palmer, a board member of Deliciously Yorkshire – the organisation responsible for championing the county’s produce. “We’ve got the coast, the Wolds, the Dales, the Moors. Everything from fish to meat and cheeses, with consistently high quality across the board. We have incredible cheeses, with real variety in the types as well, and there are a lot of coffee roasters here now, which is brilliant.” Trying to pinpoint exactly what makes Yorkshire special is difficult, but comes down, Jenny thinks, to the county’s versatility. “We produce everything from Yorkshire rhubarb to tomatoes,” continues Jenny. “There’s real diversity of the soils ATASTEOF YORKSHIRE Speciality Food spent time at this year’s Great Yorkshire Show, where the teamdiscoveredmore about the genuine thread of passion that weaves its way through the county’s food and drink scene FODDER FODDER