Mara Seaweed
There’s nothing lovers of good food like better than being able to have produce that’s just that little bit different at home. Mara Seaweed, harvested from Scottish waters, offers a range of distinctive flavour-packed products which will suit their needs nicely. Products range from a Seaweed Tasting Selection to A Shaker Tin Gift Set, £24.99, which includes three recipe cards and a suggestion leaflet, detailing 10 ways to cook with Mara Seaweed, and a Gift Tin Tasting Selection – as featured in Harrods Ultimate Hamper, priced at £13.99. Mara’s seaweed seasonings, described by Paul Hollywood as “inexplicably delicious” are a traditional Scottish food source, providing an all natural flavour enhancer. Items can be bought directly from Mara’s website maraseaweed.com.
Success for Orkney brewery
Orkney’s Highland Brewing Company has scooped the Champion Beer and runner up titles at one of Scotland’s most fiercely fought beer contests. The Swannay brewery is toasting the gold Overall Champion Beer crown for Island Hopping (3.9%abv) and silver for its Pale Ale(4.7%abv) brew. A family run 20 barrel-brew-length plant, Highland Brewing Co was founded by head brewer Rob Hill in 2005. Since then the beers have won world acclaim -including Champion Cask Ale for Orkney IPA at the Brewing Industry International Awards 2011. Island Hopping is brewed with American Citra and New Zealand Nelson Sauvin hops and it, along with the other ales, are supplied directly to outlets in Orkney, Scotland and the North-east of England.
Bite into bangers
At this time of year it’s not unusual to feel like you never want to tuck into fancy, rich fare again. Good, home-cooked, simple food like good old bangers and mash is what’s required. This classic dish will taste all the more delicious if you’ve made the sausages yourself, and the great thing is, if you’ve made them yourself, you’ll know exactly what’s gone into them. Lakeland sells Make Your Own Sausage kits which are very easy to use. All you’ll need is around 1.5kg of good quality minced meat and the kit which contains seasoning mix, sausage casing, instructions and a grippy piping bag to help you make around 20 perfectly-shaped and piped sausages. Priced at £8.99 it’s a fun thing to try and tastes good too!