What’s in season
Perroche
One of our favourite cheeses at this time of year is Perroche. This a lovely, zingy goats cheese made in Dorstone, Herefordshire by our long-time pal Charlie Westhead. Perroche is available plain, or rolled in fresh herbs. As well as Perroche, Charlie makes a superb mini goats log called Ragstone, a mature flavoured cheese with a dense texture.
Charlie started our making cheeses since 1990 when he took over a small creamery in Ide Hill, Kent. He moved the creamery to its current location in 1996 and has been supplying us since 1997.
Samphire
If you’ve never tried this curious looking plant before then give it go now. It grows in estuaries and marshes and is simple to cook, just boil it for a few minutes in some salted water.
The salty flavour it develops from its habitat makes it an ideal partner for fish.
I have a salmon and linguine recipe at home that I like to cook it with and I just wash the samphire and then chuck it in with the linguine for the last few minutes of cooking. It’s also great with barbecued fish.
Simply Ice Cream
OK, so there’s not really a season for ice cream but now is our favourite time of year for eating it, and our favourite ice-cream has to be Sally Newall’s. Sally and her mother ran a catering business for over twenty years, serving her indulgent homemade ice cream as a dessert.
More and more people kept asking where they could buy her fantastic ice cream. Based on this feedback, Simply Ice Cream was born.
She initially started by supplying just one local Farm Shop to see if there was a market for her ice cream. Within a year Simply Ice Cream was being sold at 16 shops.
Sally uses seasonal fruits, locally grown and her ice cream is free from any additives or preservatives. The Honeycomb Crunch is the B&S staff favourite, but at this time of year a generous dollop of the creamy vanilla served with our English strawberries is summer heaven in a bowl!