The list goes on

Still plenty of Great Taste Awards to mention....

Our new supplier Bim's Kitchen received a Gold Star for each of their African Bean & Nut Curry Sauce, Baobab Chilli Jam and Spicy African Ketchup. Mike's smokehouse's brand new smoked tomatoes were also awarded a gold star.

Bessant and Drury were given gold awards for both their lemon and strawberry frozen desserts, when blind tasted with dairy ice creams. An amazing achievement for a dairy free ice-cream.

Susie's Preserves' Raspberry Jam, Henshelwoods' Raspberry and Orange Jam, and seville marmalade with whiskey won gold stars.

Teapigs were awarded a collection of stars, including one each for Darjeeling Earl Grey, Jasmine Pearl Green Tea, Mao Feng Green Tea and Chamomile Flowers. Yogi Tea's Choco Tea also won an award. As did a number of teas from Pukka Herbs, and Campbell's Perfect Tea, again! The coffee award winners included another coffee from Grumpy Mule (who also won a three star award and about half a dozen two stars!).

Gold star were also give to Oliflix Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Anila's Hot Mango Pickle, Stokes Real Tomato Ketchup, Tracklements apricot & ginger chutney, and their fabulous onion marmalade.

Pipers Crisps were awarded a gold star for both their sea salt crisps and sweet chilli crisps. Olives Et Al also won awards for lots of their olives and their Dukkah.

A collection of awards went to local chocolateir L' Auberge du Chocolat and local flour mill Wessex Mill.

Our roast ham from Dorset Farms Ham received a gold star. As did Midfields Granola and Chocolate Peppermint Creams from Summerdown.

Lewis & Cooper's Handmade Luxury Fruit Cake again won a gold star, and again will be stocked by us at Christmas. As will the Copas Sage and Onion stuffing which also won an award (to accompany their 3 star winning turkeys)

I think that is everyone, if I've missed you out, do let me know. This year's list of winners didn't include the product names, so its been a lengthy process checking producer names and product descriptions to try to work out what has won. Please forgive any errors or omissions.

Great Taste Awards 2012

It's time for the Olympics of the food world! The Great Taste Awards results have been announced and yet again, the products available at Tastes Delicatessen have collected lots of awards!

This year 8,807 food and drink products (from more than 2500 producers) were blind-tasted over the course of 45 days by 350 experts. 123 products were awarded three stars, and 50 of those were selected as the Top 50 Foods and Drinks available in Great Britain.

You can read about who won awards in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 in my previous blog posts.

And here are this year's winners.

*** 3 Stars, "Wow you must taste this"
Barkham Blue Cheese, Teapigs' Liquorice and Mint tea and Tracklements' Strong Horseradish & Cream were all awarded three stars and included in the Top 50 Foods list.

Wessex Mill Flour and Copas Turkey were also awarded three stars.

** 2 Stars, "Faultless"
631 products were awarded two stars and included Teapigs Peppermint Leaves and Pure Lemongrass tea, along with Imporient's earl grey.

Oro Bailen Extra Virgin Olive Oil was awarded two stars, continuing their success of gold at The Mario Solinas Extra Virgin Olive Oil Quality Awards.

Tracklements' added to their collection of awards with two stars for their Fig Relish as did Olives et al with their Pistou Olives. Peppersmith won their first award, for their delicious Lemon Peppermints.

Two stars were also award to Salcombe diary Rum and Raisin Ice Cream and Mike's Smokehouse Smoked Salmon Pate - Hot roasted smoked salmon mixed with yoghurt and creme fraiche to maintain a 'homemade' feel to the result.

I'll be back next week with the results of the one star awards!

Top 50 Foods in Britain

The annual Great Taste Awards are the biggest independent award scheme for local, regional and speciality foods in Britain and has been since 1994. Over 350 professional foodies take part in 45 days of judging, deciding which foods deserve one-star, two-star or the ultimate three-star awards. This year, for the first time, the results include a list of top 50 greatest food and drink available in Britain.

Included in the list you will find our most local, and much loved, cheese; the Barkham Blue from Two Hoots Cheese, Berkshire, along with Strong Horseradish & Cream from The Tracklement Company and Liquorice & Peppermint Tea from Teapigs. Well done everyone!

Beautiful Eton # 5 - Eton and The Olympics

Pretty much everyone around here knows the Olympic Rowing and Canoe Sprint and Paralympic Rowing will take place at the Eton-Dorney Rowing Lake. Many people will know the Olympic torch was carried down Eton High Street in 1948, but there is more...

Did you know Eton High Street has the only 1908 marathon route marker still in existence?

Just above head height on the building next to Baldwin's Bridge; between the Post Office and Eton College gift shop. The sign reads "Marathon Route, 25 miles, 40.2 kilos".

Apparently, Eton College would have been the starting point had the marathon been the standard 24.85 miles, but it was lengthened to just over 26 miles to start a bit further out at Windsor Castle, and then a bit more was added at the end to get the runners to the Royal Box at the Olympic stadium in White City. So for those running marathons who find the last mile the hardest - you can blame the first London Olympics!

If you want to come and see the marker for yourself, I'd suggest walking from the Windsor-Eton bridge. You can then wander the length of Eton High Street taking in its other sights, and of course the wonderful shops. Within a couple of minutes from the bridge you'll reach Tastes Deli, where if the weather is anywhere near as beautiful as today, you can pick up an ice cream. Continue along the High Street for a third of a mile and you'll find the marathon route marker. Google maps estimates the walk to be 5 minutes, but with all the wonderful browsing opportunities en-route, you should allow a bit longer!

For the sake of accuracy I should mention that I have read that this marker was from the 1924 Empire Games held at Wembley. But I've seen more citations referring to the 1908 Olympics and it is in the right place for the route of that marathon, so I am running with the Olympics theory (pun completely intentional - sorry!).

New Range from Bim's Kitchen

This week we took delivery of a new range from Bim's Kitchen. James "Bim" and Nicola Adedeji produce a unique range of African-inspired products, including hot lemony piri piri sauce, baobab pepper jam, chilli coconut relish, bean and nut curry sauce, and spicy African ketchup.

Last night I sampled the Smoky Baobab BBQ Sauce which we used to marinade some chicken before grilling it. It was delicious! It was also getting dark by the time I took the photo so it is a little grainy!

This week's Beautiful Eton post is an Olympic Special! So will be delayed until the official start of the Olympics tomorrow.

Beautiful Eton # 4 - Turks Head

98 High Street, Eton is "The Turks Head". The original building dates from 1520. It was an alehouse from when records began in 1753. Graham, whose family have lived in Eton for centuries believes his ancestor (Mary Pickman) was landlady there 1800ish, possibly with her husband Richard.

According to the listed buildings register, the building you see today has an exposed 17th century timber framework with red brick nogging on the ground floor and plaster infilling on the first floor. The front ground floor wall and oriel windows are believed to be in the location of the original wall, and were built in the 1950s to replace an earlier addition which had stood in front of the original wall line. The recessed ground floor wall exposes the joists of the floor above. There are three pairs of carved figures under the overhanging jetty. These were apparently added in the 1950s.

The alehouse interior was the scene of an Edmund Bristow painting in 1845. Apparently Edmund Bristow lived in the house next door (number 97) in 1863. In 1878 the alehouse was turned into The Three Lilies, a coffee tavern with low-cost accommodation; aimed at a more respectable clientèle without the temptations of alcohol. I'm not sure what (if anything else) it was between 1912 and when it became Turks Head Antiques. Since 2009 it has been the studio of couturist Hardy & Hooper.

Scotch Eggs

Rita, the hands behind our hand-made Scotch Eggs, is back from her holidays (and has a surprising tan despite not leaving the UK). She has collected fresh eggs and is currently scotching* them. They'll be re-appearing in our deli counter this afternoon.

* I think that may be grammatically correct. The name "Scotch Egg" apparently comes from "Scotched" or "Minced" so there must be a verb "To Scotch" mustn't there? Maybe not.

Beautiful Eton # 3 - Stamp Vend

The stamp vending machine outside the old Post Office on the corner of Sun Close, 126 High Street Eton. The building now houses Shaw Gifts, the Post Office having relocated to much larger premises by Barnes Pool Bridge.

Steve from the Colne Valley Postal History Museum tells me the case is a Type K Mk 2. It could hold one or two machines. When these machines are built into the wall as the one in Eton was, the coin tubes usually ran down behind the machine and into the shop. The case is most probably by Carron Company in the period 1960-1970.

Steve tells me the machine on the left is a B4, 1d or 1p coil vending. On the right is a Not in Use closure plate (covering the hole where a second machine could be sited). The B4 mechanism was by Associated Automation and looking at the flap it could pre-date the case - possibly 1940/50s (all of the mechanisms were designed to fit in the same mounting plates and cases so could be swapped over). You can find out more about stamp vending machines on the Postal History Museum's web site.

I love how the "post box red" colour has aged to a beautiful matte terracotta.

A quick google search showed me this photograph of the post office (with vending machine) from the 1960s. http://www.bridgemanart.com/asset/269170/English-Photographer-20th-century/Eton-Post-Office-c.1960-colour-photo

This shows another Type E mounting plate with another coil dispenser to the left of the case we can still see today. Thanks Steve!

And whilst I'm on the subject of Post Offices, before moving to 126 High Street, the Post Office was at 102 High Street from 1899, and before that at 113 High Street (from 1871). Now it is number 137.

More Teas Please

I've added another new tea to our selection here at Tastes Delicatessen; a smooth, creamy blend of black tea leaves, coconut, cashews and vanilla. It is from Vitalife, the people who make our popular "Energising Tea"; a refreshing combination of green tea, guarana, lemon, and liquorice.

That brings the total number of teas available in the shop to more than fifty! It's a good job they sell so well! But I do need to add some more to our online tea shop.

Beautiful Eton # 2 - Victorian Post Box

Eton's iconic Victorian postbox is one of the oldest in England, designed just 15 years after the first postage stamps. The vertical slot 'pillar' box is apparently an 1856 design and one of only ten survivors. It is also less than 30 m from tastes deli, so if you come and see it, do pop in! (I am told the others are in Banbury, Birkenhead, Gravesend, Oxton, Milford on Sea, Warwick and three more places...)