Ormers (a member of the abalone family) and spider crabs are two Jersey delicacies which, depending on the season, can be found on a Jersey menu. But you might also find Bean Crock – a type of cassoulet made from dried beans and pork, traditionally pigs trotters;Conger Eel soup garnished with marigold petals; des Boudelots – apples baked in a spicy dough; Jersey Wonders (des Mervelles) – deep fried, doughnut-style cakes, but without the jam or sugar dusting ; a Cabbage Loaf – a loaf of bread baked in cabbage leaves and Black Butter – see below.
And of course there are the delicious Jersey Royal potatoes. Click here for Jersey Royal Potato story and recipes. But there is more to Jersey when it comes to food than tradition and potatoes. Even a crab salad served in a little beach café deserves rave reviews.
The quality of the food produced on the island is amazing. No doubt the comparatively mild climate helps, as does the fertile land and the proximity of the sea providing the freshest seafood for its clever and imaginative chefs.
Meet the producers
The island is proud of its chefs who have strived for the many AA rosettes and three Michelin stars. But without the dedicated growers and producers who work so hard to produce the best-quality possible for the restaurants, cafes, bars, farm shops and stalls Jersey’s reputation as a serious foody destination would be nothing.
Jersey Cows
Chef Mark Jordan holder of one of the Michelin star (Atlantic Hotel) believes that the kitchen and front of house staff should be able to talk knowledgeably about his dishes. So much so, that when possible they accompany him on his visits to producers to learn more about the produce. I had commented one breakfast about the delicious butter. ‘It’s from Classic Herd’, I was told,’ and we’ve been there to meet Darren and the cows’.
A few hours later I too was talking to Darren Quenault of Classic Herd – a single herd dairy. Darren and his wife Julia have broken away from the Jersey Dairy co-operative to produce their own milk, cream, yoghurt, ice cream and award-winning cheese all on sale along with seasonal vegetables and the most amazing looking beef and pork at their farm shop at Manor Farm.
Jersey cows produce the richest cream and milk. The gentle-eyed breed, renowned for its beauty and good nature, originates from the island and there are more than 3000 of them. Each cow produces some 4000 litres of milk a year, their milk containing more protein, calcium, butterfat, minerals and vitamins than other breeds.
Classic Herd’s shop also offers a range of organic and speciality foods and the café uses organic farm ingredients when possible. www.classicfarmshop.com
Wine and Black Butter
Next stop was La Mare Vinyards. In the years before the production of Jersey Royals much of Jersey had been given over to apple orchards and La Mare farm was no exception. However in 1972 a commercial vineyard was started. Today, under the direction of Daniel de Carteret, 17,000 vines produce white, red and sparkling wines along with cider and a Jersey Apple Brandy. La Mare also offers a fantastic array of preserves and mustards from old family recipes as well as making fudge, chocolates (they actually have a chocolate-making kitchen) and biscuits. www.lamarewineestate.com
One of the preserves is Jersey Black butter – a traditional Jersey delicacy made in the Autumn. It is actually more a fruit cheese than butter. There is now a Black Butter Ice Cream – a joint enterprise with La Mare’s Black Butter and Classic Herd’s ice cream.
Jersey Black Butter – the method goes something like this! But we think it a much better idea just to buy a ready-made jar or two.
Peel core and slice several hundred pounds of apples. Boil several gallons of cider (or apple juice) till it is reduced by half and slowly add the apples. Stir constantly with a special very long handled paddle (the mixture spits dangerously) for a night and a day – you will need a relay of people to do this. It must be stirred continuously otherwise it will burn. One hour after the last load of apples has been added add sliced lemons. Three hours before the butter is ready add spices and liquorice. Bottle.
Sipping Cider
There can be few people on the island who know more about cider making than marine engineer cum cider maker, Richard Matlock.
Jersey was once renowned for its apple orchards, indeed in the 1830s two-thirds of the island was covered in them and some 300,000 gallons of cider a year were exported to the British mainland. Then the orchards were grubbed up in order to plant potatoes. In an endeavour to revive the Jersey cider making tradition Richard and his wife Sarah are busily planting cider apple orchards using traditional French trees.
Richard spent time in France learning the art of making cidre bouché; returning to the island from a trip to Normandy with a very rusty 80 year old cider press. It’s now been repaired and resides in an outhouse helping to transform the apples into the very delicious La Robeline Cider. Approximately 400 kilos of apple pulp produce 250 litres of juice and it takes about three months of fermentation to reach the desired degree of dryness. It’s then bottled, corked and wired by hand and left to ‘fizz’ for six to eight weeks before Richard and Sarah start selling it. The cider is produced from 100% alcoholic apple juice from locally grown trees, the only chemical used is one to sterilise the equipment.
La Robeline Cider can be bought at farm shops and other island outlets. It’s also on sale from ‘the cider shack’ built by Richard and designed to be towed to local events behind one of his steam engines. www.genuinejersey.com/member/LaRobelineCider
A Fishy Day
Jersey fishermen land some 1,200 tonnes of shellfish a year.
The Fresh Fish Company began life in 1999 supplying local fish to hotels and restaurants. They still do and now they also supply fish and shellfish to several top UK hotels and restaurants. It is refrigerated and delivered within 18 hours.
Down on the harbour side I stopped by their trailer and listened to Vicky chatting to her customers and giving advice on how to cook the fish that had been landed just a few hours earlier. She gave me a spoonful of sweet and rich fresh crab meat to try. It was terrific, wish I could buy seafood as fresh as that back home. www.thefreshfishcompany.co.uk
I have to confess I’m not a particular fan of the oyster and I am spectacularly allergic to mussels but nevertheless it was fascinating spending time with the Jersey Oyster Company. The company exports over 600 tonnes of oysters to France and the UK each year. The oysters, which take two years to develop from seed size to point of sale growth, benefit from the daily natural filtering effect of Jersey’s clean, clear water (some of the cleanest in Europe) and the extreme tidal range.
The Jersey Oyster Company also produce and supply mussels; the mussels grow on upright wooden poles (therefore guaranteeing they are grit free) and are known as Bouchet mussels.
The shell fish are taken from the beach, cleaned using specialist equipment before being delivered to the local Jersey markets and restaurants.
Even the shells aren’t wasted. They are crushed using specialist equipment and used as a soil conditioner and liming agent, which helps plants to utilize fertilizer far more effectively. Crushed oyster shell is regularly applied to land for growing the Jersey Royal potato crop. It is also used as an additive in chicken feed to provide essential calcium to strengthen egg shells. www.jerseyoyster.com
As we drove away I spotted the Happy Hens farm, no doubt the hens are some of the recipients.
Happy Hens is the major producer of free-range eggs in Jersey with 8,000 hens producing 6,000 eggs per day. The hens are kept in mobile houses, which allow them access to the surrounding fields, so they can come and go as they please.
Jersey Pottery and the Oyster Box
Lunch in the meantime had been at the Oyster Box – a beach bar and brasserie in St Brélade’s Bay -with Dominic Jones a director of Jersey Pottery, the company behind the Oyster Box and several other island eateries. We ate mixed fish, and it truly was sensational – wonderfully fresh, beautifully cooked and presented.
Jersey Pottery has given us kind permission to reproduce some of the recipes from their lovely cookery book Handmade Homemade Recipes from Jersey. www.jerseypottery.com. See right for our At the Pass recipe section and also On the Bookshelf for the cookery book review.
Dominic is seriously dedicated to sourcing local food wherever possible and to sustainability. Jersey Pottery is a member of the Marine Conservation Society, an organisation committed to promoting the use of sustainable choices to consumers to protect fish stocks and the over-exploitation of marine resources. To demonstrate his commitment to the campaign Dominic subscribes to the ‘by catch’ campaign. In other words the company buys the whole catch from a single fisherman thereby ensuring a zero waste policy.
Luckily the company’s talented chefs are more than capable of turning creatures of the deep into delicious bites. One of them, Group Chef Director Tony Dorris, was for a short time a fishmonger so he understands fish inside out!
And so to beer
My few days on Jersey were coming to an end – they had been spectacularly happy days. Everybody I had met had such deep affection for their island and their enthusiasm for what they were involved with was tangible. The hours they worked producing high quality items were often long and hard but they quite obviously loved what they were doing.
Paul Hurley Head Brewer at Liberation Group Brewery was no exception, his face lights up as he talks about the beers. His reputation for brewing dark ales has earned him the name of ‘The Dark Lord’ by industry colleagues.
Liberation Group, which owns Liberation Brewery at Longueville, is continuing a tradition that started in 1871 with the Ann Street Brewery. The brewery’s most famous beer, and one synonymous with Channel Island beer, was Mary Ann. By the 1970s Mary Ann was known as ‘The ‘beers that made Jersey Famous’. About four years ago Liberation Group took over the brewery reviving the Mary Ann name. I’m so glad they did; the traditional best bitter brewed from Maris Otter and Chocolate malts combined with English Fuggles and goldings hops was my favourite.
But it was a close call, I also liked the Liberation Ale as well as the Blonde made with local honey and I mustn’t forget the Rouge made from American hops either. I could see why the beers have won award after award against international breweries. www.liberationgroup.com
Just in time I made it back to the recently rebuilt Jersey Airport to catch my flight home. Unfortunately, there were still lots of other dedicated producers I wanted to meet. Maybe I’ll be able to track them down at next year’s Jersey Food Festival 18 – 26 May 2013.