New in my Kitchen #12

 

This is where I like to share with you my new kitchen discoveries.

I have quite a lot to share this month as I visited St Andrew's Fine Food Fayre with a few of my friends. including Stuart (cakeyboi) and we did go a bit spend crazy. The fayre is in it's third year and there were 50 exhibitors selling local, healthy and organic food. To be honest, it was a bit packed, but we had a fun day.
  

I hope you enjoy my recommendations and do let me know if you have any new products you have discovered and enjoyed.

1. Drink or Drizzle Rhubarb Cordial

This is glorious stuff. A pure rhubarb hit. This is a cordial made by Pickled in Scotland. I picked it up at the food fayre. I tried it straight and there is no way after trying it that way that I would dilute it. It is heavenly. 

The lovely lady that makes this cordial also makes fruit cheeses. Unfortunately she doesn't have a website and you can only pick this up at food events in Scotland and some local suppliers. If you are interested in trying some you can get in touch with Danya via twitter.
@pickled_in_scot

St Andrews Fine Food Fayre

RRP depends on the current offer
Score 10/10 

2. Holy Lama Spice Drops

These spice drops are the latest thing in spices. They are the concentrated extracts of natural spices which keep the flavour of the whole spices and herbs, but can be added without adding texture.  

The other great thing about them is they keep for 3 years after opening. I've been adding the garam masala drops to dal and burgers.  

I like fresh spices, but what I will be doing is buying more of these little bottles of the spices I don't use so often, because these little bottles will keep longer than the spices, so it makes sense.  

RRP £3 for the Garam Masala
Score 9/10 

 3. Thistly Cross Cider

This is lovely stuff. I picked it up at the fayre, but have since discovered one of my favourite pubs in Dundee has it on tap. Result!

On draft they have the original, but if I was buying it by bottle, I would go for the Whisky Cask or Strawberry.

The Whisky Cask is matured in ex-Glenglassaugh distillery casks and the flavour really comes through.

The Strawberry is made from freshly crushed Scottish Strawberries that they grow themselves. It actually tastes like crushed strawberries. It's divine. Slurp!

This is now my cider of choice. Check out the website to find out where you can buy it local to you.

St Andrews Fine Food Fayre

RRP 12 x 500ml strawberry cider £42.94
RRP 12 x 500ml Whisky Cask £33.97
Score 10/10

4.  MaRoberts Pili Pili Sauce

Another new Scottish product from my trip to the fayre. This time a hot pili plil sauce. MaRobert's was established by Maggie Mazoleka, who’s is originally from Tanzania, but has lived in Edinburgh for the last 19 years. She makes three authentic East African sauces (Fruity, Mild Chilli and Hot Chilli).

I bought some of the mild sauce, which still has a kick to it. It would be great for dips or topping burgers, but I am thinking of marinating tofu in it.

MaRoberts is sold in Markets in and near Edinburgh.

St Andrews Fine Food Fayre
RRP ?

Score 8/10

 5. Cranachan Fudge

The Wee Fudge Company certainly know their fudge. It was all delicious and it turned out that Stuart actually knew the owners. Scotland really is a small place.

I was very restrained and only bought one bag. I went for the Cranachan. The flavours in it were very fresh and distinct. You could really taste the cream and the raspberries. They use fresh local fruit in their fudge and you could taste the difference.

They make a range of flavours and are constantly adding new flavours. You can buy fudge directly from their website.

St Andrews Fine Food Fayre
RRP 100g bag £2.50

Score 10/10

6. Shaken Udder Milkshakes

Cooper has been loving these milkshakes in his packed lunch.

They are made with pure milk and fresh strawberries, fresh banana and Belgium chocolate, without any hidden nasties. I'm more than happy for him to drink these and he says they taste great.

He also gives them full marks and a double thumb up.

RRP 330ml bottle £1.29 (Tesco, Waitrose & Ocado) 
Here are some voucher codes for Ocado.

Cooper's Score 10/10

7. Eden Brewery - Rum Barrel Beer

We got rather tipsy sampling beer from the Eden Brewery. Especially as we were given a generous pouring of their Shipwreck IPA, which is rather strong and could know you off your feet.

I preferred their Rum Barrel Beer, which is brewed in, yes you guessed it, rum barrels. You can really taste it in the beer. I don't drink beer very often, but I did enjoy this.

Eden Brewery is a small brewery based in St Andrews that specialise in craft beers. They just have 7 staff, but produce 14 different beers that fall into 3 ranges: Craft range, Oak Wood Series and Aristeuein beers.

RRP £2.50 
Score 9/10

 8. Gusto Balsamic Vinegar

I do love balsamic vinegar. I drizzle it over dishes, make my favourite dressing with it and team it with olive oil, then dunk crusty bread in it.

Gusto hand make flavoured dressings, vinegars and oils using local Scottish ingredients. Their balsamic vinegars come from Modena in Italy and are then infused with flavour. 

I bought the raspberry and roast garlic and they are both lip-smackingly good. Unfortunately my raspberry balsamic (made with fresh Scottish Raspberries) jumped from my cupboard, when I opened it one day and smashed across the kitchen before I had the chance to enjoy much of it.

St Andrews Fine Food Fayre
RRP depends on offer

Score 10/10

And a special shout out to Metcalfe's Skinny Topcorn for sending me out another box of their fabulous popcorn. I am still wild for the Sweet 'n Salt, so now I just have to persuade them to send me out a whole box of that!

"Metcalfe’s skinny's Sweet ‘n Salt Topcorn is freshly popped butterfly popcorn with a sweet/salt flavour mix that’s incredibly more-ish. A healthy popcorn snack that's perfect for the indecisive! With only 115 calories per bag, it's a delicious and low calorie alternative to crisps."






Thanks to Spice Drops, Shaken Udder and Metcalfes for sending me their products to try. 

Have you tried any new products lately? Are there any you would like to recommend?

Disclosure: I was not expected to write a positive review for any of the brands who sent me products to try and any opinions expressed are were my own.