A Story About Beans

Once upon a time (possibly this morning) a regular customer, lets call him Greg (because that's his name), fancied baked beans on toast. He visited his local delicatessen (lets call it Tastes Deli). But to Greg's dismay they don't sell baked beans at his local delicatessen.

They do sell plain haricot-type beans, alubia blanca, from El Navarrico in Spain. And they are pretty special beans: deliciously smooth and creamy. They also sell tinned cherry tomatoes from Mutti in Italy. And they are pretty special tomatoes: little bursts of sweetness.

Greg bought the beans, and the tomatoes, and a loaf of bread and took them home. He warmed some oil, fried some red onion and garlic, added a little dried chilli, a little ground celery seed, a pinch of herbes de provence, the tinned tomatoes (with their juice) and the drained beans. He made his own baked beans.

Greg liked them so much he took a portion (still warm) back to the deli for the shop keeper to try. The shop keeper liked them so much she almost ate them all before taking a photograph. Fresh, bright and creamy. Greg makes very good baked beans.


The end.

The Three Rs

We're big fans of the three Rs - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. With the help of our suppliers we're doing pretty well. Top priority is reducing packaging waste. We work with suppliers who collect their packaging on subsequent deliveries (some even wait while we unpack and take it immediately). Others who send goods by courier allow us post packaging back to them. It requires a bit of storage space to hold empty boxes from one week to the next, but most of our packaging is given back to the supplier in this way, and so our packaging waste is significantly reduced.

When it comes to reuse, much of our packaging has plenty of life left in it. Small boxes are reused to send out orders from our online shop, plastic tubs which are used for olives, can also be used for scotch eggs etc. The vast majority of our large cardboard boxes are reused (often more than once) by people moving house. As is our bubble wrap, packing chips and air cushions. Our veg trays are much in demand in the autumn when they become apple stores, and in the spring they are used at car boot sales.

As for recycling what is left, we've been getting pretty inventive! I've been turning the mini wooden pallets which protect the brie in transit into stakes to label my vegetables, and the jars of pesto into lanterns and vases! One local brownie pack took 50 wooden brie boxes last year - I'd love to see what they made out of them!

If you want any free packaging materials, bubble wrap, boxes etc do contact me and I'll put aside whatever you want. If you want to make your own plant stakes all you need is a saw, sandpaper/file, woodfiller (optional) and two colours of exterior wood paint. And some Brie pallets, which I am more than happy to supply.

How to make plant stakes: 

1. Pull staples out of brie box so you have small planks of rough sawn timber.
2. Use a saw to cut one end of each plank into a point.
3. (Optionally) fill the staple holes with wood filler to stop the rain getting in and rotting the stakes.
4. Sand any rough edges.
5. Paint with exterior wood paint.
6. Add plant name. I painted these with more exterior wood paint, but you could write them on which would be much quicker.

Easter Egg-travaganza

It's been a busy bank holiday weekend here in Eton. The Eton Traders got together to hold an Easter Egg Hunt (with lettered eggs hidden in shop windows which spelt out a secret phrase), the Easter Bunny was out and about giving out vouchers for a free chocolate treat and Ildiko's Chocolates were at Tastes Delicatessen offering samples of their amazing chocolates. The weather wasn't exactly on our side, but it only snowed a little bit, for a little while, and by Monday afternoon the sun was shining.

Despite the bitter cold, everyone was in holiday spirit. The chocolate tasting was a huge success.  Delicious chocolate, beautifully hand decorated with fruits, nuts and flowers. What's not to like? Children were rushing up to the shop window all weekend shouting "B" (the letter on the egg I had hidden as part of the hunt). Adults also took part in the hunt, but were more restrained with their excitement! The Easter Bunny had children squealing in delight and adults clamouring for photographs.  In my role as Bunny's assistant on Monday I even got to see the changing of the guard at Windsor Castle for the first time! Now I know what the visitors see after I give them directions to the castle. My view was slightly obscured by the 6 foot white rabbit, but that made it even more memorable.

I hope everyone who visited Eton this weekend, went home with some lovely memories (along with their free Easter treat!).

Seasonal events are taking place in Eton throughout the year. For more information take a look at the Visit Eton facebook page.

Chocolate Tasting

On Saturday 30th March Ildiko, of the delicious Ildiko's Chocolates, will be coming here, to Tastes Delicatessen in Eton. She'll bring samples of her wonderful chocolate slabs for you to try (free of charge). Ildiko's chocolates (and her chocolate bunnies) make an ideal Easter treat! Hope to see you!

Easter in Eton

Eton's very own Easter Bunny will be greeting people in and around the town on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. It’s worth saying hello to him as he is handing out vouchers for a FREE Easter treat to be collected from participating shops (including JaM, Hush, Tastes Delicatessen, ReallyFabCards, roost, The Eton Fudge Shop & Zero 3 Cafe).

Furthermore, an Easter Egg hunt will be running throughout the long weekend (from Good Friday until Bank Holiday Monday). Eggs with letters on them will be hidden in shop windows up and down Eton High Street. Wander the historic high street, spot the eggs and work out the words to enter the competition for a chance to win a £40 food voucher for The Henry VI pub and kitchen.

Hop along to Eton for an egg-cellent weekend!

For further information visit the Visit Eton facebook page.

Old Nick's Got a New Friend

We've been selling St. John & Dolly Smith's "Old Nick" Scotch Bonnet Sauce for nearly two years. It's popular. People come back for it time and time again. It's hot, but with a really good flavour as well. Some time ago Chris (who makes the sauce) gave me a bottle of his new sweet and hot sauce to try. I'm not sure when it was, or what was going on, but I have to admit that I forgot all about it. Sorry Chris! I did however, find the bottle just before Christmas and took it home to try.

We used it a lot. It seemed to work with everything. Made with Birds Eye chillies it is sweet, but with a serious kick. It made a fantastic dipping sauce and marinade. Stirred into Jay's homemade hummus gave an "unusual" flavour, which was surprisingly moorish. We always finished the spicy hummus before the plain. And so now Sweet and Hot has appeared on the shelves here at Tastes Delicatessen.

Irresistible Ildiko

A week ago @IldikosChocolat started following me (@TastesDeli) on twitter.

Ildiko had started her own chocolate company (Ildiko's Chocolate) in Walton-on-Thames just before Christmas and was looking for local outlets. This week, I met Ildiko and her husband Tamas. I saw, and sampled, their chocolates and was well and truly hooked.

Ildiko makes slabs of the finest Belgium Chocolate, beautifully decorated with fruits, nuts and flowers. These really are stunning. No topping has been thrown or dolloped here. Each item is delicately positioned and the result is chocolate art! But not only do they look too pretty to eat, but the tastes are fantastic. Unusual flavour combinations which work really well; milk chocolate with coconut chips and crystallised violet petals; dark chocolate with raspberries, pistachios and pink peppercorns; white chocolate with freeze dried cherries and rose petals....

It's two weeks before Easter, so the shop is not exactly short of chocolate, but these really were impossible to resist. I hope my customers feel the same! These mini bars are in stock now: £1.99 each.

Why Didn't The Chicken Cross the Road?

For the past few months, every time I have driven down the lanes behind Bloomfield Hatch Farm there have been Bloomfield Hatch chickens exhibiting their free-range status by meandering carelessly across the road. Apparently, this group of "ladies" are particularly adept at escapology. More so than any of their predecessors. They escaped from the fields so often that the farmers had given up on trying to keep them in. They seemed to be able to get home at night anyway.

So this week, I was telling a customer about the habits of the chickens which lay our eggs, and she said I should post a picture on facebook. Always keen to find something to post about that might actually be interesting, the very next day I set off to collect our eggs and armed myself with a camera. And what did I find? Not a single chicken on the road anywhere. None. And no obvious reason why not. So I can't even tell you why the chicken did, and then didn't, cross the road. Sorry.

I had to settle for snapping a picture of a chicken not crossing the road. Enjoy!

It's Official: we sell some of the best cheese in the world!

The 2012 World Cheese Awards were apparently the closest contest ever, with judges needing to sample two cheeses again before deciding on the world champion (well that's what they said anyway!). Two thousand seven hundred cheeses were judged. A world champion was selected, along with 15 other cheeses to make up the list of the world's top 16 cheeses.

In that list there were two British cheeses (along with 4 Swiss cheeses, 3 Spanish, 3 from the USA, 2 French, 1 Italian and 1 from the Netherlands). Incredibly BOTH of the British cheeses were made in Berkshire (and are obviously stocked by Tastes)! We couldn't be more proud to be stockists of Barkham Blue from Two Hoots Cheese near Wokingham and Spenwood from Village Maid Cheese nearer Reading. Well done cheese-makers!

Windsor Honey & Windsor Bees

As readers of this blog will no doubt be aware Tastes Delicatessen sells local honey from hives in and around Windsor. The honey is delicious, and our customers come back time and time again for more. I find the lives of the bees who produce the honey fascinating, and it seems I may have encouraged Stephen-the-beekeeper to start a blog!

Whether it is my fault or not, I certainly find the blog interesting. So for those of you who want to know more about bee hives, bee predators large and small, bee-havior, bee-conomics, (I think I should stop now - you get the idea), you can follow the lives of the Windsor Bees at http://windsorhoney.blogspot.co.uk. At the moment, I am anxiously awaiting news that the cautious West colony have survived the cold snap.