Ted boroughs in

Ted … Ted ... why don’t you tell us about Borough Market (you know you asked right ... you did!!) Do you know how big Borough Market is???  Today there are over 100 traders on a market site that dates back to the 13th century. Well actually, if old records are to be believed there has been a market in the “borough” south of the river since the 11th century, and they have been moved several times – the last one in 1755 for causing traffic congestion!!!

You can get pretty much anything you want food and drink wise from Borough market. You name it and it’s probably here - all kinds of cheese, meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, bread, charcuterie, chocolate, cakes, pies, coffee, ethnic cuisine supplies, any alcohol, including english wine (the sparkling is good) and this time of year the specialities and traditional food of Christmas.

I decided I needed a plan for telling you about Borough Market ... over time. I thought I’d focus in on one stall at time and see if they actually talked to me or were off-hand, as they thought I was just a “looker” with a camera. If they were friendly, helpful, and interested, then I would tell you about them. So … today apart from Mrs McLaren who tried (nicely) to force feed me christmas pudding ... we meet the Cartwright Bros, second generation (twitter now even) … I was there a few weeks ago with SWMBO (who is secretly a wine merchant) and she had a long discussion with them about the wonderful Framingham wines from New Zealand that they stocked. She took photos and then tweeted the winemaker (ok so it was 4am in NZ – but I am sure he was up and doing anyway). 

Alas … my trusty iPhone 4 then spat the dummy and I lost all my photos ... so back I went and looked at more of their really interesting collection. I was impressed by a) their helpfulness, b) the variety on offer and c) their approach of supporting small producers.

One such producer is Dà Mhìle distillery in Wales, who forage their ingredients. We tried the gin with seaweed and concurred that it would be the perfect accompaniment to the brininess of freshly shucked oysters. So there’s a tradition buster for you .. an icy cold shot of welsh seaweed gin, or push the boat out, and go for a martini with your christmas eve oysters .. or anytime really.

Still in need of a gin and seafood experience then try Nardin smoked anchovies fillets from Spain .... lurve ... lurve ... 

Ted gets in a curdle

… curdled milk that is ... yoghurt.  Something hit me the other day, something that I had singularly failed to notice before, and that’s just how much chiller real estate is allocated to yoghurt in supermarkets.  Far more it seems to me than any of its milk product cousins like butter and cheese.

Who is eating all this yoghurt? Well, everyone, everywhere. It seems that yoghurt is indeed a global phenomenon, and has been since ancient times. We eat it in hundreds of different dishes, we drink it, and even lather it on our face in pursuit of beautiful skin. Depending on where you live, your yoghurt could be made from the milk of cows, goats, sheep, water buffalo, horses, camels or even yaks.

Like many things the production of yoghurt wasn’t really industrialised until the early 1900’s. In 1919 a chap called Isaac Carasso set up business in Barcelona and named the business after his son “little Daniel”, hence Danone, or as it later became known in the US, Dannon. In 1933 the Czech’s in Prague got in on the act by adding jam fruit to plain yoghurt. So with all this yoghurt around, how on earth do you make your yoghurt stand out so people will choose it over all the others and pop it in their trolley. I am sure it’s a complex formula, and one that I think these folks have got right. 

The Collective Dairy have taken the approach of making some (sort of) traditional flavours and also some not so run of the mill, in their limited edition gourmet range. I have eaten passionfruit, coconut & lime, banoffi, blood(y) orange, raspberry & amaretto, blackcurrant & beetroot, spiced pumpkin, and now the best of all … “Xmas Pud”.  It really does taste like traditional Christmas pudding, with all that lovely fruit mince of sultanas, spices and orange peel sitting in little puddles among the thick and creamy yoghurt ... mmmmm … and the second best bit is knowing that yoghurt is a very healthy food and really good for our digestion.  So good is this stuff that I paired it with my favourite Xmas Pud beverage – Pedro Ximenez (Hem N ezze)  – a sweet luscious, raisiny, sticky, dark sherry, that’s Christmas Pudding in a glass ...