0 December 2014 Craig Hughes - Crossmoor Honey

This months featured foodie is aparist Craig Hughes of Crossmoor Honey based in Elswick Lancashire.

Craig and some suitably festive friends

Craig Hughes is a beekeeper with over 30 years experience of keeping bees and 30 years of bee stings and is also a qualified and classically trained chef with many years in the industry.Craig is multi talented and also is a qualified lawyer specialising in European and Islamic law. It was after his brush with cancer that he changed his lifestyle and returned to beekeeping full time.

He is ambitious, desiring 4000 active hives in the next 5 years, is driven by quality and service but retains a common touch. He is gentle with his bees, trying not to move them too much, and considers his livestock as an extension of himself and promotes animal welfare and safety.

Craig has also featured on local radio  and been featured featured in Lancashire Life Magazine and the Farmers Guardian (www.farmersguardian.com) amongst other publications. He has also recently written a book, Urban Beekeeping.

He lives in his beloved Lancashire, and is a keen promoter of local food and is often food selling his honey and associated products at many of the local farmers markets. His products are used in many fine eating establishments across the county. 

As is usual Craig has kindly answered our now familiar questions

·         What is your favourite cookery or food book or publication ?

 Cookery for ten year old's, my first cookery book

·        What sentence sums up Lancashire Food to you ?

 Comforting, warm,tasty artisan food

·         If you weren’t doing what you do now, what would you like to be ?

Rescuing animals treated badly by mankind

·        Which piece of kit could you not do without ?

My ipad

·         Who would join you at your ultimate dinner party and why?

 Joni Mitchell, T.S. Elliot, W.H.Auden Nikolai Copernicus, Eamon Develeria, Salladin.

·         What advice would you give to your younger self?

 Never be a bully, never be bullied.

·         Describe your style in three words

Country, mainly green.

·         What was your latest foodie gadget purchase ?

 Kitchenaid mixer glass bowl

·         What is your greatest achievement to date ?

 Living with a ghost

Tell us a secret about yourself ? may be something we wouldn’t expect !

I once considered buying a citrus plantation in Swaziland

    

Detail: December 2014 Craig Hughes - Crossmoor Honey

0 Cereal bars for walkers

Mr Lancashire Food joined a walking group last year and one of the hot topics of conversation on the walks is cereal bars and flapjacks and the dubious quality of  the commercially available versions and also the expense of them.

Quite a few of the walkers don't bake so over the last few weeks I have been sending Mr LF with parcels of different recipes. This one have proved the most favourite so far, making you own cereal bars is a much better idea as you know what ingredients are in your bar and also the cost per bar is around half what a commercially available bar retails at.

What you need

• 225g oats
• 75g sunflower seeds
• 100g dried fruit (dates / raisins)
• 50g pumpkin seeds
• 25g sesame seeds
• 25g rice crispies
• 75ml vegetable oil
• 75g honey or maple syrup
• 50g light brown sugar

8" square tin (lined)

What you do 

• Preheat the oven to 150c 
• Place all the dry ingredients except for the sugar in a large bowl and stir until well mixed
• In a small saucepan bring the vegetable oil, honey and sugar to the boil
• Mix the honey/oil mixture with the dry ingredients and stir until everything is coated with the mixture.
• Scoop into the prepared tin and press down firmly
• Bake for 30 -35 minutes until lightly golden
• Cool in the tin
• Once cold cut into slices, squares or bars.

Serve to hungry walkers ! 

Detail: Cereal bars for walkers

0 Clarks New Honey - Honey monster biscuits

Clarks the Honey and Maple syrup people have just launched a new clear honey and I have been sent a jar to have some fun with. A blend of British honey with some blossom and acacia honey to keep it clear, this is a great honey for the store cupboard, personally I love the  bee on flower design on the label, the honey itself was great in this recipe for monster honey biscuits, monster as they are so huge.

Really tasty with a nice honey flavour these biscuits are sure to be popular with all the family and keep well in an airtight tin (not that they will last that long !). Clarks Honey has a lovely website as well with lots more serving ideas for this lovely versatile honey.

What you need

• 1/4 cup of honey 
• 1 egg - free range, beaten
• 2 1/4 cups of self raising flour - sieved
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 175g butter 
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla paste

What you do 

• Melt the butter, sugar and honey in a saucepan over a low heat, until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth.
• Remove from the heat and add the cinnamon, allow to cool.
• In a large bowl place the other ingredients and mix gently, now add the melted butter mixture and mix well until you have a stiff sticky mixture.
• Using a wet tablespoon scoop out the mixture an form balls. Place these on an oven tray, pressing down with a wet fork, remembering to allow space for the biscuits to spread.
• Bake in an oven at 180c until golden and firm to touch, normally about 12 -15 minutes.
• Allow to cool on the baking trays and store when cool in an airtight tin.

Detail: Clarks New Honey - Honey monster biscuits

0 Orange blossom honey, spelt and poppyseed cake - almost healthy !

I love baking (if you are a regular reader this is nothing new  to you !) but how to make cakes more healthy ?

From time to time I experience a guilt trip and remind myself that where ever possible I should be making my baking more healthy, food fads come and go, eat that don't eat this, so that sometimes its difficult to determine as to whether the changes and tweaks you are making to your baking are making it any healthier, but the one thing I do know is that I like to try different things. So this cake was born, using a natural sweetener, spelt flour and poppyseeds.

A month or so ago I was sent some honey for review so I currently have a nice selection in my store cupboard, so I chose to bake with the orange blossom honey on this occasion, so here's what I came up with.

What you need

• 50g poppyseeds ( you can buy in most healthfood shops or collect your own)
• 180g orange blossom honey ( you could use agave nectar or maple syrup also)
• Grated zest of one large orange
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 eggs free range please
• 180g spelt flour (sieved to remove the majority of the meal)
• 180g butter - softened

What you do 

• Preheat your oven to 170c
• Oil spray and base line a 20cm loose bottom or springform tin
• In a large bowl or your mixer, cream the butter until fluffy, now add a little of the flour and beat in eggs one at a time
• Beat in all the flour, baking powder, honey, orange zest and poppy seeds
• Scoop into your tin, levelling and bake for approximately 35 - 45 minutes until tested cooked with a skewer.
• Cool in the tin for approximately before transferring to a wire rack to cool fully.
• If you wish you could make an orange drizzle syrup or frost with a cream cheese butter cream.

Detail: Orange blossom honey, spelt and poppyseed cake - almost healthy !

0 Clarks Maple syrups and Honeys - taste testing !

I love maple syrup, so was pleased when Clarks Maple syrups and honey's sent me some of their lovely products for taste testing and recipe development and what's more you can win some of their lovely products too in an easy to enter rafflecopter competition (please see below).

Clarks are based in Newport in Wales were they blend the finest quality pure and blended maple syrups, honeys and fruit syrups. Their maple syrup is collected in the beautiful province of Quebec in Canada between February and April. Maple syrup is graded according to its light transmission the more it transmits the lower the number. Maple Syrup is now classed as a superfood being a good source of manganese and also rich in antioxidants.

Clarks Pure Canadian Maple Syrup (Medium no 1) - this is traditional maple syrup, light with a good maple taste , mild and sweet and ideal for using drizzled on pancakes, waffles and in cooking.

Clarks Pure Canadian Maple Syrup (Amber no 2) Darker in colour than the above syrup with a stronger more pronounced maple taste which may be a little strong for drizzling purposes for some. Ideal for using in cooking and baking where the  maple flavour is to be combined with other ingredients.

Clarks Original Maple (blended with pure carob fruit syrup) - with a  great maple taste this is ideal for using as a sweetner for porridge or cereals or drizzled on yoghurt and fruit. Ideal for using in when baking  Parsnip, apple and syrup cake.

Clarks Original Vanilla Maple (blended with pure carob fruit syrup),a great syrup with a good vanilla hit , you could use this drizzled over fruit or in coffee or chai as a sweetner.

Clarks Clear blossom honey - blended from blossom to produce a versatile honey which is great on toast and as a general honey for the kitchen cupboard. Its a handy sugar substitute.

Clarks Orange blossom honey - is blended from honey from orange groves across the world, with a slight citrussy note, this versatile honey is delicious in recipes which are enhanced by the orangey flavour. Golden and bright in colour.

Clarks Acacia honey - a mild and delicate honey with a very slight vanilla note, this honey is a delicious substitute in any recipe which calls for honey.

Clarks Lavender Honey - a gorgeous honey with a lovely lavender note, collected from Spanish lavender groves this is a delicious addition to desserts and cake recipes or drizzled over scones and cream.

Our Clarks prize giveaway consists of 2 prizes, a maple syrup selection pack and a honey selection pack  which will be sent to the lucky prize winners addresses by those nice people at Clarks.(Sorry UK only)

How do I enter the Giveaway?

• Simply follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter widget below. 
• To be in with a chance of winning you must complete ALL the required fields. 
• All entries will be checked and verified before a winner is announced.
• You can increase your chances of winning by Tweeting on a daily basis.
• Rafflecopter will pick a random winner.
• The competition runs from 15/05/13 to 31/5/13 .
• If you win, you MUST send me your delivery details before 12pm on 02/06/13, or the prize will be passed to the next person.
• The first prize drawn will be the maple syrup pack
• The second prize drawn will the honey pack
• Please see the Terms and Conditions on the Rafflecopter widget for the rules and more information.

Maple Syrup Prize Pack

Honey Prize pack

a Rafflecopter giveaway


We have our winners - Jen Price @BlueKitchenbake & Pat O'Brien via Facebook

Detail: Clarks Maple syrups and Honeys - taste testing !