herdwick sheep

The Herdwick breed is a member of the ‘primitive breeds’ group. It is subdivided into three major categories defined by sex and age profile: young wether lambs of up to 18 months old (usually castrated males), mature wethers of 18 months to 4 years, and fattened cast ewes.

Herdwick sheep, unique to the Lake District, are slow-growing, hardy and ‘heafed’, meaning that they possess a homing instinct whereby they return to their native pastures when moved. They are also partially responsible for the bleakness of some Lake District fells. Like all sheep, Herdwicks graze the grass very closely and inhibit the growth of tree cover.

Herdwick lambs are born black and become paler with age; older adult sheep are white. A blend of the wool from sheep of different ages is of a characteristic gray shade, once seen in locally produced cloth and still used in knitting yarn. The meat is lean and slightly gamey in flavor.

The breed’s staunchest defender was Mrs William Heelis, better known as children’s author Beatrix Potter. She maintained Herdwick sheep on her estates and bequeathed much of her land to the National Trust, on the condition that Herdwicks be grazed on it. By the late 20th century, the breed had become rare outside the Lake District. The foot and mouth epidemic of 2001 severely affected the region, but, though many flocks were culled, their numbers are recovering.

Area of production:

Herdwick sheep have traditionally been bred in the fells and pastures of the Lake District in Cumbria, England. Their origins are not well documented, but it is thought that they were introduced to the area during the Viking invasions of western England. The Herdwick Sheep Breeders Association now boasts approximately 200 members, who continue to use the traditional system of common land farming, one that has remained largely unchanged for hundreds of years. The practices of curing and air-drying mutton probably arrived with the Vikings as a method of preservation, and the tradition still continues in Scandinavia today.

Contact:

Slow Food Cumbria: Peter Jackson pjb@slowfoodcumbria.org.uk

Herdwick Sheep Breeders Association: www.herdwick-sheep.com

Lyth Valley Damsons

Also known as Westmorland Damsons, Witherslack Damsons and Kendal Damsons, are an old English native fruit, similar to plums. Purple-black in colour, with yellow-green flesh they have a delicious, distinctive slightly tart flavour. Damsons are found elsewhere in the UK, but the Lyth Valley variety is particularly aromatic.
The orchards of the Lyth Valley in the Southern Lake District in Cumbria date back to the 1850s; the Valley because of its unique geographical features provides an excellent micro-climate for cultivation. The fruit, which is said to take its name from Damascus in Syria, was grown both as a crop and for use as a dye in the wool industry of Yorkshire. When that trade declined, many orchards were neglected or abandoned. However, in recent years, the Countryside Commission and local enthusiasts have brought about a revival of interest in the crop, and orchards have been replanted. The fruit is sold locally in season, and a wide range of artisan Cumbrian products is now made with damsons (to the extent this now sometimes has to be supplemented with fruit from outside the region). The Crosthwaite Damson Day is now an annual Spring event.

Area of production:
Lyth Valley in the Southern Lake District in Cumbria

Contact:

Slow Food Cumbria: Peter Jackson pjb@slowfoodcumbria.org.uk

The Westmorland Damson Association www.lythdamsons.org.uk

Char (from Lake Windermere)

Part of the trout family with delicate, pink flesh, Calvinus alpinus, is also related to Arctic char, but is one of the few fish that survives in deep, cold inland lakes, similar to the omble chevalier of Geneva. One theory says it was trapped in the Lake at the end of the Ice Age; others speculate it was introduced by Roman legionnaires
In the UK it is principally found in Lake Windermere in the Cumbrian Lake District. It has always been a rarity; in medieval times, it was send to the royal court in barrels, then later in the form of pies. From the 17th century, char was potted with spices and covered with clarified butter for transporting in pottery dishes, many of which are now antique collectors items. Overfishing led to a decline in the industry by the late 19th century, but wild stocks have now started to recover, and there is one trout farmer who also farms char on a small scale. The fishing on Lake Windermere traditionally involves a distinctive technique in order to catch fish swimming at different depths.
Fresh fish is usually grilled. Potted char may occasionally be available in local restaurants. One local smokehouse used to offer excellent smoked whole char but this is no longer available due to the ethics of fishing a product which is wild and stocks of which are so low. There are about a dozen fishermen in the season, which runs from March to September.

Area of production:
Lake Windermere, Lake District in Cumbria

Contact:

Slow Food Cumbria: Peter Jackson pjb@slowfoodcumbria.org.uk

Richard Muirhead Tel: 01768 890270, www.the-old-smokehouse.co.uk

Morecambe Bay Shrimps

Tiny brown shrimps, about 6cm long with distinctive pinky-brown colouring and a mild, sweet, succulent taste. Although they are sometimes available cooked in the shell, but they are most famously served ‘potted’i.e. boiled (traditionally in sea water), shelled and preserved in spiced, clarified butter, and served cold with thin toast.

Caught in the shallow waters, sand and mud of Morecambe Bay on the Lancashire coast, shrimping has been a traditional occupation in the area since the 18th century, but the technique of preserving the shrimps for sea journeys is reputedly said to go back to Tudor times. The industry expanded in the 19th century when the railways enabled the product to be distributed more widely, but it was only in the early 30s they became popular on the fashionable tea tables of London. (When the industry was at its height, Danish butter was always used!). The shrimps were originally packed in small earthenware or china pots, now replaced by plastic cartons. The production is labour-intensive because of the peeling. The main season is from the August Bank Holiday to Christmas.

Some producers traditionally used distinctive boats called ‘nobbies’, others rely on tractors (formerly horses and carts) to cross the dangerous estuary sands plus an essential degree of local expert knowledge of the shifting quicksands and tidal patterns. The actual fishing involves a complicated system of long nets with floats attached to the tractors which are driven along the water line.
The degree of chilling and freezing, over-fishing and the alleged use of imported shrimps are issues that need to be further examined.

Area of production:
Although most remaining shrimpers are to be found in the north of the Bay, around the small towns and villages of Flookburgh, Ulverston and Bardness, there is also some limited activity to the very south of the Bay, around the resort town of Southport. There is some small degree of difference in size (and, arguably, juiciness) between the shrimps from the different ends of Morecambe Bay.

Contact:

Slow Food Cumbria: Peter Jackson pjb@slowfoodcumbria.org.uk

Formby Asparagus

Formby, near Liverpool, was once nationally famous for the quality of its award-winning asparagus grown on the fine, sandy soil of the local dunes. During its six-week season (May – mid June), it was supplied regularly to the large ocean liners on their transatlantic crossings.

Until the mid nineteenth century this coastal area received considerable supplies of fertilizer in the form of “night-soil” from Liverpool (a sewer system had not yet been completed). This enabled farmers to “improve” and bring into cultivation the previously uncultivated rear-dune area as once the asparagus crowns had reached the end of their productive life (10-15 years) the ground was exhausted. At the height of production some 200 acres were under cultivation.

Formby Asparagus is also the name of the variety, which is white at the base, green through the stem, with a purple tinged tip. New asparagus crowns are grown from seed saved from the old plant. After their first year, the crowns are transplanted into a 20cm deep trench and a ridge 8cm high piled up around them. The first cutting can be taken in the third year. Whilst tractors are now used to manage the land, the crop is cut by hand.

Area of production:
Both the Formby Civic society and the National Trust (who own Formby Point) are involved in schemes to protect this traditional product.
There are now only a couple of producers, but one will retire at the end of his current crowns’ production and the other would require fresh land if he is to replant.

Contact:
David Rimmer, Marsh Farm, Range Lane 01704 872948 OR Gary Brooks, Larkhill Farm, Formby 01704 878 150

Double-Curd Lancashire

This is a hard but crumbly cheese with an exceptionally mild, sweet flavour. It is unique, certainly in the UK and possibly in the world, in being made partly or entirely with two- or two- and three-day-old curds. This method of cheesemaking probably developed because many of the farms in the traditional area were very small: if a farmer only had about six cows, it would take several days to accumulate enough milk for a whole cheese and in the days before it could be kept chilled, turning it into curds served as a means of preservation. The main traditional production area is the rich, undulating (rather than flat) coastal part of Lancashire on the west coast of England around the estuary of the River Ribble, north of Manchester. Pasteurized Lancashire made in the usual way with fresh curds is produced in industrial dairies and sold in the supermarkets. The double-curd method of production is not used because of the crumbly character of the resulting cheese, which makes it unsuitable for cutting and packaging in small wedges. Several smaller cheesemakers in Lancashire still use this method, but only one, or possibly two, use it for unpasteurized cheese made with milk from their own herd. The first is Graham Kirkham; the other is Adrian Rhodes of Carron Lodge. Some little time ago, Adrian occasionally made raw-milk cheese. Graham Kirkham makes about 60,000 kg a year.

Area of production:
Lancashire

Contact:

Slow Food Lancashire: Phil Keenan phil@thoroughlyfood.co.uk

British Red Grouse

Widely considered to be the finest game bird in the world both from an organoleptic and a shooting perspective, the Red Grouse is a medium sized (single portion) game bird. It’s plumage is reddish-brown (less red in the females) with a black tail and white legs. The bird’s most obvious physical features are its plump shape and white eyelids with a bright pinkish-red comb above. It is the only game bird to have feathers on its legs and feet, which help protect it in the cold and snow, and also unique amongst the other sub-species of grouse in that its plumage does not turn white in winter.The flesh is dark in colour and exceptionally rich in flavour, which can make it an acquired taste, but one that has won worldwide acclaim. The diet of the Red Grouse is about 95% heather, providing them with their unique flavour.

The Red Grouse is native to Britain although a sub-species of the Willow Grouse, a bird found throughout much of the Arctic tundra. It has survived only on keepered heather moorlands, which are expensive to maintain and consequently large swathes have been lost to cheaper land use, making heather moorland now rarer than rainforest.

Area of production:

75% of the remaining heather moorland is found in Britain, and whilst some Red Grouse are found in Ireland (although some consider Irish Grouse a separate species) and also in Wales, its main distribution is in the north of England and Scotland. Red Grouse thrive only where they are shot and without shooting heather moorland would revert to the scrubland of the eighteenth century.

Contact:

Mark Gilchrist, Mob: 07734226601

Manx Loaghtan Lamb

manx loughtan

The Manx Loaghtan is native to the Isle of Man and a descendent of the kinds of prehistoric short-tailed breeds found in isolated parts of northwest Europe. The breed has come close to extinction on a number of occasions, the first during the Industrial Revolution when the demand was for white fleece. The breed was saved by a John Caesar Bacon, but when he died in the early 20th century, they were again forgotten until by the 1950’s there were less than 100 sheep left. This time they were rescued by a Manx farmer, Jack Quine who gradually built up their numbers and exported some to be kept in the UK to preserve the line. At the end of the 1980’s, George Steriopulos, a business man who had moved to the island 10 years previously realized that the best way to preserve the breed was to create a market for its meat and fleece. After a long battle with the Manx parliament (the Isle of Man is not governed by the UK, nor is it part of the EU) in 2001 he finally won his battle to market the meat as a distinct product. This required the setting up of a co-operative with which all must register to market the meat.

These primitive sheep graze on the natural herbage of the island, taking 15-18 months to reach maturity. This results in a dark, lean meat with a slightly gamey flavour. They are very fine looking, brown in colour, with 2 or 4 horns. There are currently 14 breeders with a total of around 2000 breeding ewes.

Contact:
George Steriopulos www.manxloaghtan.com

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