Cook up a Locally Sourced Christmas Dinner!
Avoid the supermarket queues this year and buy all your Christmas dinner ingredients at Stroud Farmers’ Market. Not only will you enjoy fresh, locally-grown produce that’s full of flavour and vitality, you’ll find huge variety, and we’ll help you stick to your budget!
Here’s how:
Top Turkeys – you can’t beat locally reared, free-range turkey at Christmas and the proof really is in the eating. Birds that are well cared for produce meat that is full of flavour, succulent and moist, and once you’ve had a good turkey, there’s no going back…
Try: Bronze Turkey from Cefn Maen Farm or Hinton Marsh Farm and white or bronze turkey and goose from Madgetts Farm
Best Beef – a good joint of beef is a popular alternative to turkey and it really pays to buy the best you can afford. Meat that has endured little stress and that is well hung for at least three weeks has a superior texture and flavour to cheaper alternatives.
Try: Aberdeen Angus beef joints from Adeys Organic Farm Meats, Welsh Black and Aberdeen Angus rib of beef from Frocester Fayre
Great Gammon – a must for Boxing Day, home-cooked gammon joints are the simplest way to feed a crowd. At Stroud Farmers’ Market you will find ready cooked hams on the bone as well as uncooked gammon joints for you to cook at home.
Try: Tamworth Sow gammon from Hinton Marsh Farm, cooked hams from Frocester Fayre, Gloucestershire Old Spot gammon from Adeys Organic Farm Meats
Vegetable Variety – the range and variety of vegetables on offer at Stroud Farmers’ Market is immense. All seasonal and locally grown, you can find unusual varieties that make real talking points. Of course, the fact that many of the veg were in the ground only a few days before they’re on the stalls means that their freshness guarantees fantastic flavour that would be hard to beat in supermarket-bought alternatives.
Try: Coleshill Organic Farm, Croft Farm, Duncan Paget & Co, Over Farm Market, Newark Farm, Hotch Potch Organic and Days Cottage
Perfect Pudding – satisfy a sweet tooth with a classic pudding. Save time and stress by buying a good quality, handmade dessert from the Farmers’ Market.
Try: Sticky Toffee Pudding from the Cotswold Pudding Company (a gluten-free range is also available). Serve with cream from Jess’s Ladies Organic Farm Milk.
Cheese Please – if you’ve got room, a good cheese board is the perfect end to a good meal. Serve up a selection of local cheeses and try to include one hard, one soft and one blue for a good taste representation. Accompany with local pears, apples and chutneys.
Try: Leonard Stanley cheese from Godsell’s Artisan Cheese, brie from Simon Weaver Organic Brie, Bath Blue from The Bath Soft Cheese Co, Single Gloucester from Jonathan Crump’s Cheese
Quality Christmas Cake – if you don’t have time to make your own, pay a visit to Faithfull’s Quality Baking, where Gemma Faithfull brings her award-winning Christmas cakes. Choose from traditional iced cakes, glazed fruit and nut cakes, Christmas loaves or the genius half and half Christmas cake – half iced top and glazed fruit and nuts on the other half.