The Taste of Britain. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
A WAXY POTATO WITH A DELICATE SWEET, EARTHY TASTE.
HISTORY:
These potatoes owe their origin to a single seed bought from a local shop by Jersey farmer Hugh de la Haye in 1880. The potato, which had 16 sprouts, was divided up and planted, yielding a good crop of early potatoes. The de la Hayes nurtured the variety until they had enough to trade with. A Jersey newspaper editor, Charles le Feuvre, was responsible for the name ‘Royal Jersey Fluke’; the potatoes are now known as Jersey Royals.
A Protected Designation of Origin has been applied for. Marketing of Jersey Royals is intense and tends to exclude the word ‘potato’ from the name. The aim is to build up brand identity attached to the variety alone. Jersey is well suited to production of early potatoes because of its higher mean temperature. Other districts which have entered the early market are Cornwall and the South-West. Jersey Royals attain a premium price, although there is competition and undercutting from less flavourous tubers from Cyprus and Egypt.
TECHNIQUE:
The seed potatoes are dug and selected in late June. The first shoots are removed, then the roots stored until October. The seed potatoes are arranged by hand, upright in boxes. They are left for about 4 weeks, during which they send out another 3 shoots. Planting is done by hand, sprouting-side uppermost, working from the fields closest to the sea towards the centre of the island. The fields are covered with perforated polythene. Lifting is by mechanical diggers, about 12 weeks after planting; samples are dug daily to ascertain the correct moment. To qualify for the grade of ‘mids’, they must either be no longer than 45mm prior to a specified date or, after that date, be mechanically graded and be of a diameter not less than 19mm and not more than 32mm.
The fields used for potatoes are mostly dressed with seaweed. Jersey Royals are also grown indoors, hand-graded and packed in oyster kegs holding 5.8kg.
REGION OF PRODUCTION:
CHANNEL ISLANDS, JERSEY.
‘Though the potato is an excellent root, deserving to he brought into general use, yet it seems not likely that the use of it should ever be normal in the country.’
DAVID DAVIES, THE CASE OF THE LABOURERS IN HUSBANDRY
Channel Island Milk and Channel Island Butter
DESCRIPTION:
CHANNEL ISLAND MILK IS RICHER IN FLAVOUR THAN THAT OF OTHER CATTLE; GUERNSEY IS SLIGHTLY YELLOWER IN COLOUR THAN JERSEY. AVERAGE BUTTERFAT CONTENT, 5.1 PER CENT.
CHANNEL ISLAND BUTTER IS DERIVED FROM THE CHURNED CREAM OF THIS MILK. SOME FARM BUTTERS BEAR THE TRADITIONAL DECORATION OF RIDGES AND DIAMONDS PRODUCED BY USING ‘SCOTCH HANDS’ (SMALL RIDGED WOODEN BOARDS). THIS BUTTER IS ALSO SOMETIMES SOLD LOOSE. COLOUR VARIES WITH THE SEASON: A RICH CREAM IN WINTER, DEEP CREAM TO GOLD IN SUMMER.
HISTORY:
There are 3 breeds associated with Channel Island milk: Guernsey, Jersey, and South Devon. They evolved in the eighteenth century. South Devon cattle are now counted as rare and only one viable dairy herd exists today. The status of Guernsey and Jersey cattle is much stronger. They are exported from their native islands but once they have left, they are not allowed to return. The emphasis on preserving bloodlines on the island means that the milk is derived from the native breeds only. The closure of Jersey to foreign blood dates from 1789, of Guernsey from 1819. The islands exported stock from at least 1724, the annual rate of import into Britain from Jersey running at 2,000 head in 1878. South Devons are associated with Channel Island cattle because of the presence of the gene for haemoglobin B, a characteristic unique to these 3 breeds. There was much crossing of South Devons with Guernseys in the nineteenth century. This may be the route of entry of this genetic identity (Hall & Clutton-Brock, 1989).
Originally known collectively as Alderneys, the cattle have been valued as producers of rich milk for almost 2 centuries. The English aristocracy gave them wide distribution for at first, in the Victorian period, it was a park and home-farm breed associated with country estates (Hall & Clutton-Brock, 1989). The 2 breeds began to develop separately in the mid-nineteenth century, when the Jersey was especially fashionable. On the British mainland, a number of farms maintain herds of pure-bred Channel Island cattle whose milk is marketed separately.
Butter-making is found on the Channel Islands themselves and is undertaken by many owners of mainland British herds, particularly in Cornwall. During 1939-45, milk and butter production was strictly controlled and much on-farm butter-making ceased. The owners of Channel Island cattle formed an association, Quality Milk Producers, shortly after the war, to promote their milk and products made from it. Butter-making using the milk was, and still is, an activity of one major dairy company in the South-West. A number of smaller creameries and dairy farms began producing butter once more in the 1980s, encouraged by moves towards agricultural diversification.
In law, Channel Island milk is defined as milk solely from Jersey and Guernsey herds. ‘Gold Top’ and ‘Breakfast Milk’ are brand names registered by Quality Milk Producers in 1956 and 1984 respectively.
TECHNIQUE:
The use of milk from Channel Island cattle is the crucial point in the production of this butter and, because of this, it is collected and processed separately. Theoretically, Guernseys,Jerseys and South Devons can be kept in almost any part of Britain, but they thrive best on rich pastures in the dairying area of the South West (the South Devon, of which there are few, is mostly restricted to this area). For butter, the pasteurized milk is separated mechanically. The cream is usually allowed to ripen; some dairies add a lactic acid starter; it is then churned by conventional English methods. The scale will vary with the producer, from small wooden churns holding a few gallons up to very large stainless-steel industrial units. Small producers prefer to use traditional wooden utensils for working the butter.
REGION OF PRODUCTION:
CHANNEL ISLANDS; HERDS EXIST THROUGHOUT BRITAIN, MAINLY SOUTH.
Guernsey Gâche
DESCRIPTION:
GUERNSEY GÂCHES (SPELLED GAUCHE IN SOME ENGLISH SOURCES) COME IN VARIOUS WEIGHTS, INCLUDING ONE OF 500G WHICH IS SHAPED LIKE A WIDE LOAF AND ONE OF 900G, WHICH IS A NARROW OBLONG. ANOTHER, NAMED AFTER THE MAKER’S SHOP, THE MAISON CARRÉ, IS SET IN A SHALLOW OBLONG TIN, ABOVE WHOSE EDGES THE DOUGH RISES TO GIVE A MUSHROOM HEAD. COLOUR: FLAKY, GOLDEN BROWN CRUST, PALE YELLOW CRUMB WITH PROMINENT DRIED FRUIT AND CANDIED PEEL. FLAVOUR: SWEET AND RICH.
HISTORY:
Guernsey has its own variation on the theme of British fruit breads. J.R. Irons (c. 1935) states, ‘the one thing they all seemed agreed upon is that it cannot be made without good tough butter’ (tough in this instance meaning well-rinsed of water and whey). Recipes show it to be of the enriched dough type which pre-dates the chemically leavened fruit breads now mostly available in Britain. It may be compared to an enriched French brioche. Recipes deriving from eighteenth-century practice have been collected (Cox, 1971). Irons also describes a distinctive shape, certainly universal in the 1930s, stemming from the use of ‘flat tins, sides slightly sloping, [which] resembles more the housewife’s tin for cooking joints’.
TECHNIQUE:
This bread is heavily enriched: 1 part Guernsey butter, 2 parts sultanas or currants, 2 parts flour. It is yeast-risen.
REGION OF PRODUCTION:
CHANNEL ISLANDS, GUERNSEY.
Black Butter
DESCRIPTION:
A