Food & drink
Tantalise your taste buds in the vast array of cafés, restaurants, gastro-pubs and bistros Essex has to offer.
For centuries Essex has harvested fish and shellfish from its 350 mile coastline, fattened cattle and sheep on its marshlands, worked the fertile lands of the interior and hunted game through its forests. Most towns celebrated local produce with seasonal festivals. Villages such as Tiptree have historically been fruit growing and in the past held Gooseberry-Pie days. Coastal villages had Sprat festivals; bacon and ham were the focus of the Dunmow Flitch. Locals have always consumed beef, pork, lamb, mutton, venison, poultry, game and wildfowl with gusto. Our coastal marshes still provide grazing land and a fattening area for sheep and cattle. Local meat, including organic fare, is available from farm shops and delicatessens all over the county. In the weeks before Christmas, there are often queues of customers waiting to secure themselves a Kelly’s Turkey (01245 223581, www.kelly-turkeys.com) for the festivities. Farm shops like Ashlyns Organic Farm near North Weald (01992 525146, www.ashlyns.co.uk), The Food Company in Marks Tey (01206 214000, www.thefoodcompany.co.uk) and Hepburns of Mountnessing (01277 353289) offer the freshest and best local produce available, as well as more exotic imported fare.
Where there is meat there is dairy produce: milk, buttermilk, cream, cheese and more recently, yoghurt and ice cream, the Doomsday book records cheese-making from ewes milk on the coast around Canvey. Immigrants into East London and Essex have bought the best of their culinary expertise with them. Italians found huge local appreciation of their ice cream and the trade thrived at the seaside pavilions and piers. The Rossi family of Southend has been at Marine Parade for 100 years. Amato’s Penny Licks, scoops of iced cream sold in re-useable glass dishes, were once the hallmark of Southend’s Golden Mile.
In any pretty village (and there are many in Essex), gingham and pine go with cakes and tea. But the ubiquitous Victoria sponge has been elbowed aside by more creative patisserie. Across the county there are cakes, puddings, biscuits, buns, jams and preserves on sale at markets and farm stores. Finchingfield is the county’s cake shop capital, but The Essex Rose in Dedham (01206 323101) and the Chocolate Theatre café in Burnham are a must if you are in the area.
Miss Stoneham’s Preserves (01621 854700, www.miss-stonehams-preserves.co.uk), ice cream from Hadleys (01787 220420) and ‘Yoggipops’ from Boydells (01371 850481, www.boydellsdairy.co.uk) all have a formidable local reputation. Two of the most famous Essex food brands are Wilkin & Son at Tiptree and Elsenham Quality Foods (01279 812442, www.elsenham.com), both producing a cornucopia of jams, sauces and condiments.
A Taste of Colchester
Colchester’s food scene will literally make your mouth water! With an eclectic mix of tastes from every corner of the world served with a cosmopolitan ambience, there’s something to suit all palettes, occasions and pockets in a variety of bars, cafes, restaurants and pubs.
Discover a world of interesting food and drink in and around Colchester. You’ll find wine making experts making the most of the excellent climate with the Mersea Island Vineyard (01206 385900, www.merseawine.com) and Carters Vineyards (01206 271136, www.cartersvineyards.co.uk) open to visitors for tastings and tours! There’s also a micro-brewery at the Mersea Island Vineyard so if you are brave enough to ‘mix grape with grain’ then don’t miss a pint of ‘Mersea Mud’ or ‘Yo Boy!’ before you leave!
There is also the world centre of jam making at Tiptree; home to Wilkins jams and preserves (James Bond’s favourite!). A treat to visit, the Wilkins factory has a visitor centre where you can find out how the delicious jams are made, try them in the tea room and take some home gifts as gifts for someone special or as a treat for yourself (01621 814524, www.tiptree.com)
Nearby Copford is the location of Linden Lady Chocolates, who make exquisite handmade chocolates, truffles and fudges (01206 330240, www.lindenlady.com) or you can buy them from the VisitColchester Information Centre (01206 282920).
Originally cultivated by the Romans, the Colchester Native Oyster is still harvested off MerseaIsland today. Allegedly favoured as the best by top chef Jamie Oliver, you can try some in the Oyster Bar in the High Street (01206 217206) but only when there’s an ‘r’ in the month!
Maldon
In the Maldon area the countryside runs right down to the water’s edge. Both the land and the river estuaries provide healthy and unique produce. Oysters from the Maldon Oyster and Seafood Company (01621 828699) and the famous Maldon Sea Salt (www.maldonsalt.co.uk) from the tidal waters are of the highest quality. Chigborough Smokehouse (07743 676175) offers fish too, and a variety of other smoked items.
Organic grower Sarah Green sells only home grown produce at her farm shop in Tillingham (01621 778844). Other farm shops in Southminster (The Limes 01621 785865), Heybridge (Jacobs Farm 01621 853395) and Gt. Totham (Little Mountains Farm 01621 891215) market their own vegetables and fruit, including the local D’Arcy Spice apples in Autumn.
Scrumptious pies and sausages are made in Althorne at the Wrekin Farm Shop (01621 786785, www.wrekinfarmfoods.co.uk), to be sold alongside meat and vegetables from neighbouring farms; the flour in the pie pastry is even milled in Maldon! The goats at the Springstep Dairy in Mundon (01621 740357) provide enough milk for cheese-making too.
To wash all this tasty fresh food down try some wine from New Hall Vineyard, Purleigh (01621 828343, www.newhallwines.co.uk) or some beer from The Maldon Brewing Company (01621 840925).
Uttlesford
Your senses will come alive here, with the fresh air and beautiful countryside bursting with colour and filled with the chatter of wildlife. But it’s about more than just sight and sound. Treat your taste buds with fresh local produce direct from our farmers’ markets or our tasty menus in our local inns and pop in to the delicious delicatessens to take home some heavenly reminders.
Why not have a coffee or ice cream and a browse in the lovely old Essex Barn that houses Graces Farm’s Country Gift Shop (01371 830387). Visit the farm, pick your own mouth-watering fruit or be tempted by their very own range of fruit pies. Felsted Vineyard (01245 361504) set in a 12 acre site, is the oldest commercial vineyard in East Anglia. It is open all year except for Christmas. Why not refresh yourself with a tasting whilst watching wine and cider making at work? As you travel through the undulating countryside near Saffron Walden stop in Great Chesterford the home of Coles Traditional Foods (01799 531053, www. colestrad.co.uk). They produce a variety of Christmas puddings, mouth watering cakes and traditional puddings, all of which contain the finest ingredients with no artificial colours. Their newest venture, the ‘Elizabethan Saffron Cake’, based on a 400 year old recipe, will send your taste buds on a voyage of discovery. You can buy their produce in the Great Chesterford Village Store (01799 531114). In the south of the district, at Hatfield Broad Oak, Dr White established in 1927 Broad Oak Farm (www.broadoakfarm.com). Having had difficulty in selling the pigs from his farm he started making sausages to an Irish recipe given to him by the matron of the local hospital. The quality of Dr. White's sausages was quickly recognised and when the Queen Mary launched in 1936, Broad Oak Farm sausages were part of the epicurean delight offered by the luxury liner on both her maiden voyage and on many subsequent trips as well.
Suggested tours:
Maritime Essex
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Food & Drink 2.72 MB |
