Times Local Produce

Once again Tastes Delicatessen is taking part in The Times Local Produce offer. If you collect tokens from the paper over the next few weeks you can use your voucher to save £5 at Tastes Delicatessen.

Meet The Smiths

I recently met with Chris Smith. A decade ago he was asked by acquaintances of his late parents' (St John and Dolly) if he had the recipes for the Indian pickles his mother made (from her mother-in-law, Gertrude's recipes). They had quite a following amongst the alumni of the schools his father had taught at in India. Chris duly located the recipes and although he'd never made them before, he followed the recipes which had been perfected over many years and started producing the pickles of a standard his mother and grandmother would have been proud of. He initially sold them to those who had known his parents, then gradually expanded and is now producing pickles full-time. Still everything is made by Chris in small batches; using the finest ingredients, prepared and cooked by hand. St. John & Dolly's pickles (as Chris named them) regularly receive awards, and have been joined by some hot sauces Chris invented himself. Chris is a fascinating chap and incredibly passionate about what he does. He is at least the third generation of his family to be following the same recipes. How many producers can claim that sort of heritage? His wonderful pickles are now on sale here at Tastes Delicatessen in Eton.

Street Party

Photographs from Eton's Street Party made the national press this week. In The Sun's Royal Wedding coverage, Eton is shown in the 6th photograph (titled "Party ... good times are had by all"). Tastes is the three storey white building on the right.

Eton was also the first photograph in the Windsor People coverage.

What a picturesque street it is!

(The photo to the right here is my view of the union bunting which adorned the street).

Chan Cham Come to Town

St George's Day, fantastic sunshine, and a tasting with the family behind chan cham. What more could you want? Made locally, with Sri Lankan and Caribbean influences, the cooking sauces are designed to provide great tasting meals, without hours of preparation. The range includes sauces suitable for meats, fish and vegetables and they can be used as marinades for grilling, roasting, frying or as the base for a curry. Great for marinating meat and vegetables for a BBQ. They flew off the shelves, especially the Tamarind & 3 Spice Cooking Sauce.

Thanks Jane for permission to show Tony's legs online!

Award winning Sugo All'Arrabbiata

Seggiano's Sugo All'Arrabbiata was voted best arrabbiata sauce in the May issue of Italia! Magazine. "An outstanding example of a good arrabbiata – fiery, fresh and intense...and universally popular with the panel".

Hello Honey

I've taken on yet more honey. I tried to say no, I really did. But it was just too good! Daniel from Organic Andalus called to say he was coming over to deliver more of his delicious organic olive oil, and whilst he was here he would show me some organic Spanish honey from a nearby producer; Puremiel. "No" I said "I don't need any more honey." You see, the honey we have is great, it sells very well and the space we haves limited. Daniel said he'd bring it anyway.

I was prepared to be unimpressed. Unfortunately, I was blown away by it. Firstly the packaging is beautiful and unique. But more importantly the taste is amazing. The range of honeys all from different flowers taste (and look) so completely different from each other. There is a mild sweet orange blossom honey, an intense rosemary honey, a slightly smoky wild forest honey and a very distinctive eucalyptus honey. All delicious in their own way. I'm now stocking them all!

New from Raydale

Just like last year, I have spent much of February sourcing new products to add to those on offer at Tastes Deli. I've managed to find enough shelf space to sneak in an entire range of chutney. The range I have chosen is from Raydale Preserves.

Raydale Preserves is a family run business established in 1978 by husband and wife, Lesley and Derek Kettlewell. All of their products are produced in a converted farm building on the family farm in the valley of Raydale in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. They make everything by hand, from topping strawberries to sticking on labels. Very soon Tastes will be offering a range of chutneys to accompany cheese, and a little indulgent Chocolate Orange Marmalade.

Happy Birthday Chilli Jam

To celebrate the tenth birthday of Tracklements Chilli Jam it is being produced in beautiful heart shaped glass jars. Each jar is 100g larger than the standard jar (40% larger), but costs less than 40% more. So in effect the lovely jar which can be re-used for all sorts of things, doesn't cost any more (and did I mention it was beautiful?). Happy Birthday Chilli Jam.

The Turkeys Have Arrived

Christmas is nearly here and I've collected hundreds of kilos of Turkey from Copas Farm.

Excellent!

After a surprise inspection by the local environmental health team last month, Tastes was rated as "Excellent" for Food Safety, and awarded a 5 star scores on the doors rating.

I'm very pleased! They even have a widget I can put on our web site.

You can find the food safety rating for any shop, restaurant, pub, canteen, anywhere else that sells food, in the borough by visiting
http://www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk/council/royal-borough-of-windsor-and-maidenhead