Mamaladee

The Dalemain Marmalade Festival – Artisan food offering

This is an artisan food happening with an orangey glow, guaranteed to brighten up the Cumbrian midwinter. Join us at this fantastic historic house to warm yourself in front of the fires, to see, taste and eat the great food some of our top local chefs will be preparing, sitting under the beams in the atmospheric stone barn.

There will be lots of local food producers who will all bring their own take on the citrus theme, and they will each have something delicious for you to taste. This food day is all about the senses, let yourself be engulfed in the aromas, the textures, the colours and, of course, the wonderful flavours!

"Cumbria's real food magazine, Artisan-food.com is delighted to bring you this part of the event and below we introduce you to a selection of some of the fabulous local producers attending the Festival. Each one has been specially invited to take part because of their great tasting products, their citrus themed stall and for offering something a little special to taste when you visit. It will be a refreshingly different midwinter feast that's guaranteed to bring a ray of sunshine to all involved."


Come and see how lemons are preserved and don't forget it's February the 10th 2008
for this foodie happening part.

Paddington Bear is looking forward to sampling the mouthwatering products on offer from some of the counties top artisan food producers who will be present, each with their own special take on the citrus theme. There will be some great things to taste, including Pink and White grapefruit marmalade, Duck, orange and lime pate, Whisky and marmalade ice cream.

Various citrus flavoured cheeses from both local producers and some further afield as well as spiced beef with orange and apple chutney, to name but a few.
There will also be a fabulous range of citrus infused single estate olive oils to try, along with some fantastic balsamic vinegar.

Visitors will also be able to judge the Sandwich competition as well as try and buy the winning entries in the “Festival bread baking” competition. Here some of the counties top artisan bread bakers are competing to win the accolade of baking the best festival bread, it will be judged by Dan Lepard amongst others. (Dan writes for the Guardian about bread)

Below is a little more detail on some of the 24 local artisan producers, most of whom have won awards for their products.


They range from Susan Aglionby who breeds Longhorn cattle and as well as selling her beef, will be cooking some of her excellent slow grown, grass fed, traditional breed organic beef for people to taste (click here or more info). Susan is part of the Hadrian Organics network and will also be accompanied by Eva’s organics, a fantastic local organic vegetable grower who runs an excellent local box scheme in the North of the county.


We have two local artisan cheese producers, Leonie Fairburn from Thornby Moor Dairy and Lynne Ballentyne Dykes from Wardhall Dairy who produce excellent cheeses from single-herd raw milk, they will be matching their popular hard and soft cheeses with citrus chutneys amongst other things. To complement this we will also have a great selection of other citrus cheeses from around the UK bought to us by John Natlacen of Churchmouse Cheeses, recently voted as “the UK's best independent cheese shop in 2007” (Click here for article)



People will be able to try cooked venison with cranberry and orange jelly as well as sample a canape of Venison Pate with Cumberland jelly, the venison is from Deer 'n' Dexter, (click here for article)



We have one of the countries finest stoneground organic millers attending, notably the Watermill (click here for article) and whilst on the bread theme, The Moody Bakers a local cooperative with an excellent reputation and products will have a selection of breads, marmalade cakes and lemon drizzle squares. The counties butter maker will be selling handmade butter, called Cream of Cumbria, “you may be able to whip their cream, but you can’t beat their butter”.



Jane Maggs from Wild and Fruitful will be creating the official “Festival marmalade” out of Seville oranges and locally grown quince, a fitting challenge for a producer who is known for her excellent jams, jellies and chutneys. Also present will be Lizzie Smith who has won many awards for her fabulous Cumbrian Frutta Cotta, and recently created a Mostarda version that was awarded the “best new product” at the recent NW fine food awards. (click here for article)



The Gift of Oil, described by Gordon Ramsey as having “dazzling oils and amazing vinegars” will present a variety of citrus infused oils for sampling. Our very special Lyth Valley Damsons can be sampled steeped in Gin from Cowmire Hall and there is lots more too..



Chef, Nick Martin, who we call “Cumbria’s culinary ambassador” will be cooking various dishes too, based on local produce, just in case you are not tempted by any of the food on the stalls!

We really hope you can join us for what will be a great taste temptation. - Martin, Artisan-food.com, Cumbria's Real food magazine