Tasting Scotland

Thanks to Jon having friends in high places, we got to go to the press preview of the Enjoy the Taste of Scotland in Glasgow today and sample some yummy food, as long as we blogged about it.  So here are my highlights and recommendations:

A few of our favourite producers were there, such as the Really Garlicky Company.  They used to come to the Edinburgh Farmers Market but due to rising costs (plus they are based in the Highlands)  they don't do this anymore.  Shame, because we miss them.  You can however get their products in lots of independent food shops (and Peckhams and Harvey Nicks).  Their garlic bread is possibly the best I have ever had and the garlic sparkles with freshness.  You can try some yummy carrot soup at their stand, and if you're really lucky, a Government Minister (who now has slightly less scary hair than before) will come and meet the storeholders whilst you are taking photos of their carrots and therefore unable to see her and get out of the way.

Oleifera produce rapeseed oil in Northumberland, this is a great oil for me as it is lower in saturated fat than even olive oil so I can use it with less fear of throwing up, yay!  In the past I've used it in place of extra virgin olive oil but now I have some more I'll probably use it more in cooking.  I do like my roasted vegetables but can never be too generous with the oil.

Tunnocks was the first stall we hit when we got there, Jon being a fan of the teacakes and me being a fan of the packaging.  Did you know that they have tours around their factories every Tuesday evening, and these are booked up around a year in advance?!  We got some of their dark chocolate wafer bars to take back, hopefully we won't feel the effect of these too much now we have the Wii Fit...

Stockans Oatcakes are the King of Oatcakes in my opinion, although you can try others at the event if you must.  Made in one of my hometowns of Stromness, Orkney, the thin ones are my oatcake of choice and I can often be caught nibbling on one at work.  Not so easy to find in England, I used to stock up whenever heading north when I lived south of the border.

The JG Ross stall has a giant buttery and the strawberries from Good Natured Fruit are particularly yummy, although they have brought them in from the Netherlands as it's a bit early over here for strawbs.   If you want to try some delicious bread head over to the Dobbies stall for goodies from the Tapa Bakehouse, must pay that place a visit some day.  And Scarletts Honey is always a winner in our house.

There are plenty of other goodies to try but being a teetotal vegetarian I can't tell you about them.  Definitely worth a visit even if it all seemed to be geared around Tesco suppliers, only fair as it's a Tesco event though.