Leeds Castle Food Festival

On Friday 11th September I visited Leeds Castle for their Food Festival! The festival ran over the weekend (finishing today), and featured fresh, regional produce from over 50 local food and drink producers. There were cookery demonstrations and talks as well, and all of this in the grounds of Leeds Castle in Kent, "the loveliest castle in the world"  (see leeds-castle.com for more info). A great family day out!

Shortly after arriving at the  food festival, we saw a demo by Wild Food UK on foraging. We learnt about some common plants and fungi that can be found this time of year, such as wood sorrel and brown pennybun (Boletus edulis).

Wild Food UK talk about foraging basics

We then spent some happy hours browsing the stalls, learning about Riverford Organic Farms vegboxes. (riverford.co.uk), tasting marshmallow cakes at Marshmallow Heaven (Marshmallowheaven.org), and trying and buying traditional Mead through Warner Wines (@warnerwine), who also plied us with sample of a rare coffee liqueur from Germany.

Other highlights include:

• Kent Cider Co. (http://kentcider.co.uk/) - we bought a flagon of  toffee apple cider!
• Mightyfine Things (mightyfinethings.co.uk) - a variety of spirits and flavours, such as sloe gin and plum brandy.  
• Snowdonia Cheese Company (www.snowdoniacheese.co.uk) - their cheeses have won gold medals in the world cheese award! Ruby Mist won gold this year. I brought away some Bouncing berry (mature cheddar with cranberries), Red Storm (vintage red) and Ruby Mist (mature cheddar with port and brandy).
• Poptata Street Fries (www.poptata.com/), established earlier this year. We bought their gourmet cheesy chips for lunch!

A wide variety of stalls, with the lovely Leeds Castle in the background.

Lunch: gourmet chips with cheese and guacamole!