Cornwall Artisan Food

I love to search out local producers of artisan foods when I’m away. Fresh, delicious food without any fuss, that’s my kind of holiday supper. A family day trip to visit The Tate in St Ives gave us the perfect opportunity to do just that.

We visited a local deli in St Ives, Cheese on Coast. We picked up some Garlic Yarg, Cornish Kern, Cornish Brie and Cornish Blue. The Kern and the Cornish Blue are both award winning cheeses. The Kern won the best world cheese 2017/2018 and due to the 18 month process to produce it, it had just come into the shop when we visited. It was nutty and salty and really delicious, especially balanced against the creamy brie, more bitter yarg and ripe blue cheese.

Look out for more on Cheese on Coast in my blog later this week.

We also bought two salamis made by Cornish Charcuterie based in Bude, Cornwall. One Seaweed and Cider made with seaweed harvested in St Ives Bay and cider made in Cornwall, the other Black Olive. Both were delicious. They say all their salamis are hand smoked and dried and made from Cornish Lop pigs which are kept on the farm. Well worth a try.

We also couldn’t resist some local Cornish Butter made by Trewithen Dairy, a family owned business based in the Glynn Valley. Sweet and salty, it was dangerously moreish. I was not surprised to learn their butter won the Taste of the West Gold, South West England Award 2018.

Finally, we indulged in some Umami Sea Salt from The Cornish Sea Salt Co. Their sea salt is harvested with zero enviromental impact from the Atlantic at the The Lizard. Delicious sprinkled over pretty much anything.

We supplemented the artisan products with a few extra bits of Italian meat, bread, olives and salad from the local supermarket and added a good bottle of Saint-Amour wine from Scarlet Wines which happened to be on our route out of St Ives - more about this later in the week too.

It all made for a very satisfying shopping trip as part of our day out. The whole family thoroughly enjoyed sharing what we had found when we returned to our North Cornwall farmhouse to light a fire and snuggle up against the cold February evening.

If you are not fortunate enough to be in Cornwall anytime soon, you’ll be pleased to hear the following producers I’ve mentioned all deliver.

Cheese on Coast - www.cheeseoncoast.co.uk

Cornish Charcuterie - www.cornishcharcuterie.co.uk

Trewithen Dairy - www.trewithendairy.co.uk

Cornish Seasalt Co - www.cornishseasalt.co.uk

Scarlet Wines - www.scarletwines.co.uk