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The Sunday Times recently reported that a Norfolk pig farm had been guilty of long term neglect of it's animals. It was a shocking and tragic case with pigs apparently suffering widespread mistreatment and cruelty on a farm certified by the Red Tractor Scheme. But, the otherwise accurate article was marred by an important misrepresentation. The story was published under the headline “Pigs are beaten to death on ‘ethical’ farm”

So what's the mistake? Well, the Red Tractor Scheme (RTS) is not an "ethical" scheme as most consumers would understand it. It is a "quality assurance" scheme but that does not ensure higher than average welfare conditions for animals.

Now, before we go any further, this is not an attack on the RTS. The organisation does a great deal to ensure minimum standards in UK farming and has issued a clear and unambiguous statement condemning what was found on the farm in question. But that does not take away from the critical issue that there is still widespread confusion and uncertainty around food labels and welfare schemes in the country. How can we, as consumers, be expected to make informed choices, and use our purchasing power for the good of animal welfare, if we don't know what we are buying?

Two widely used schemes in the country are the Red Tractor Scheme and Lion Eggs. According to Compassion in World Farming, these labels simply mean:

- These food labels mostly ensure compliance with minimum legislative requirements for both standard and free-range production (in terms of animal welfare provision)
- Most, but not all, British meat, eggs and milk are certified to these standards
- The standards do little to prevent the serious welfare issues of confinement in cages, high stocking densities, fast-growing breeds and many mutilations
- Some of the standards do not enforce minimum legislative requirements adequately (e.g. prohibition of routine tail docking in pigs and the provision of appropriate manipulable material for pigs)
- Some of the standards are higher than minimum legislative requirements (e.g. castration of pigs is not allowed and sows have not been kept in stalls since 1999; maximum permissible stocking densities for broiler chickens are lower than both EU and national legislation.)

So, in many ways, buying into these assurance schemes does not guarantee you much more than you can already expect from any British producer. There is certainly no guarantee of significantly higher ethical or welfare standards than those required by law.

To make matters worse, in addition to the quality assurance schemes, producers are still able to use a range of potentially misleading words. Amongst our "favourites" are Fresh, Natural, Farm fresh, Barn fresh, Traditional and Heritage. Each of these has certain connotations but, apart from general consumer laws (which dictate that the public cannot be mislead) there are no restrictions on their use. So "100% traditional farm-fresh eggs" say nothing about the welfare conditions of the hens. Even if they came with the Lion Mark, you would be none the wiser; there is no reason why those eggs should not be your average intensively farmed variety (and they very probably are).

Remember, it costs more to produce Organic and Free Range produce and use of the terms is regulated by law. Shoppers pay a premium for them and so retailers and producers tend to shout about it. If it doesn't explicitly say it on the box, it almost certainly isn't. Become an educated consumer. Click here to read CIWF's detailed guide on food welfare labelling.

One of the driving factors behind our love of all things local and seasonal is, of course, the environment. Eating locally is a really simple way of reducing your food miles and your CO2 footprint. Earlier this week we were sent this really simple food miles calculator. Not only does it tell you how far your food has travelled, it will also give an estimate of the CO2 produced, depending on how it was transported. Get the kids checking how far their food has travelled and learning geography at the same time. We've found it weirdly addictive!

Spinach is one of the first leafy greens to make an appearance after winter. It's abundant and versitile and should definitely be near the top of your vegetable list at this time of year while we wait, with bated breath, for Spring to show its face.

The theory is that our English word Spinach derives from the Catalan word "espinac". And that certainly makes sense, given that it was the Spanish who first introduced it to us. In the 14th century it gained quick popularity because of its availability in Spring and the fact that it provided a good source of vitamins, especially during Lent when many other foods were off limits. In the 1500s, Catherine, the queen of France loved Spinach so much that she insisted on eating it with every meal! Having been born in Florence, this gave the name "Florentine" to many of the dishes we love that use spinach.

As every child knows, spinach is a great source of iron. Unfortunately, it's not really true. There art two major problems: First, German scientist Emil von Wolf got his sums wrong. By putting a decimal point in the wrong place he over estimated the iron content by a factor of 10! The faulty measurement apparently was not spotted for many years, by which time the myth was already widely spread. Secondly, more recent studies have shown that, while there definitely is some iron in its leaves, spinach also contains other substances which prevent the body from absorbing it.

OK, so maybe the health benefits aren't everything we originally thought they were. But there's still plenty of good stuff in spinach...and of course it tastes great. Why not take this simple recipe, forget any notions of looking like Popeye and enjoy an early Spring treat.

Creamed spinach

400g fresh spinach
25g butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp plain white flour
200ml milk
100ml single cream
fresh nutmeg

Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onion and gently fry for 5 minutes until soft and translucent. Stir in the flour and cook for two minutes, then slowly start to whisk in the milk to create a roux. Keep whisking to avoid lumps. When all the milk has been added, simmer the roux for 5 minutes until it has thickened. Place the spinach in a colander and pour a kettle of boiling water over it to wilt it. Leave to cool then pick it up and squeeze off any excess liquid. Then roughly chop and stir into the sauce. Add the cream and heat through. To serve finely grate some of the nutmeg and season well with salt and pepper.

It's pancake day on Tuesday! We thought you might enjoy the top 10 pancake facts we uncovered during our research:

1. The first recipe for a pancake appeared in an English cookbook in the fifteenth century.

2. In Ireland, the eldest daughter would traditionally toss the first pancake. If she did so successfully she would supposedly marry within the year.

3. The name Shrove comes from the old word “shrive” which means to confess.

4. In the Midlands, the first pancake was given to the family chickens to ensure they produced eggs for the forthcoming year.

5. Elsewhere in England, the first three pancakes were sacred. They were marked with the sign of the cross and sprinkled with salt to ward off evil.

6. In Brazil they celebrate “Terça-feira gorda”, in Greece it is known as “Apocreas and in Iceland “Sprengidagur” (Bursting day).

7. The record for speed pancakes flipping is 349 tosses in 2 minutes.

8. Celebrity chef Aldo Zilli holds the world record for the highest pancake toss at 329cm.

9. The first recorded pancake race was in Olney, Buckinghamshire in 1445.

10. The tiny African Pancake Tortoise has a flat, soft and flexible shell, enabling it to squeeze under rocks when in danger. aaaah.

Cockle picking during February is an excellent seasonal activity with great rewards - we're right in the middle of the cockle season but there are fewer beachcombers out harvesting the fruits of the sea. It can be, however, a very cold activity as I found out on a recent trip to Studland beach in Dorset. Given this, it is very important to ensure that the cockles are as tasty as they can be and not full of grit as can so often be the case. Whilst down in Dorset last weekend, the people we were staying with suggested a technique for purging cockles that I can confirm worked a treat:

1. Put the cockles in cold or sea water
2. Add a sprinkling of porridge oats
3. Change the water after 4 or 5 hours
4. Add some more oats
5. Repeat the process for as long as you can until the time for eating

The idea is that the cockles feed on the oats and as they feed, they discharge the grit which may be caught up in their shells. We changed the water for tap water about 3 times over a 24 hour period and this resulted in a complete purging of the cockles with no grit tasted. 

Our recipe for cooking the cockles was not dissimilar to a classic moule marinières:

- About 3 dozen cockles
- One onion finely chopped
- Two cloves of garlic
- 2-3 glasses of white wine
- half pint of vegetable or chicken stock
- Parsley
- Dollop of creme fraiche

Fry the onions and the garlic until they are soft. Add the purged cockles and white wine until the alcohol has been burnt off. Add the stock and cook the cockles until they open. Add the parsley, creme fraiche and season. Serve with warm crusty bread and a spoon. We actually had a few clams (smooth rather than ridged shell) in the pot as well. They take a fraction longer to open (and therefore indicate that they are cooked), but otherwise are a welcome addition to a February beachcomber's broth!

It wasn't that long ago that your average kitchen didn't even have electricity, let alone a refrigerator. In those days, many methods of cooking were developed as a necessary part of preparing and preserving the food rather than just for novelty or adding flavour. Take pies for example. In ye olden times a thick pastry topping was designed to exclude air and thus preserve the meat. These days, it's definitely more about taste and texture. A flaky rough puff is hardly going to do much for a steak and kidney's shelf life.

So, many modern dishes have a practical genesis that isn't necessarily apparent in our age of fridges, freezers and high hygiene standards. And so it is with potted food. For the uninitiated, potting involves packing your pre-poached ingredient (usually meat or fish) into a pot and sealing it in with a layer of clarified, spiced butter. Some old recipes claim that game, once properly potted, could be kept for a month, making the process a god-send for your medieval kitchen manager. The important factor was, of course, getting a good seal with the butter, resulting in the equivalent of an airtight jar. Old recipes stressed the need for clarified butter (made by heating and separating the butter to remove the milk solids). This too helps the food last longer and most recipes still suggest it although, unless you're planning an unaided voyage around some desolate cape any time soon, this is no longer critical. These days, potted meats are an altogther more delicate affair, eaten as a pate or terrine with crusty toast and a decent chutney; warm toast is essential if you want the butter to melt, allowing the flavours and textures a proper opportunity to mingle.

That's a rather long introduction but segues neatly into our telling you about a very new company doing exciting things with this very old process. The Potted Game Company is a partnership between three young and talented chefs, Hugh Coulson, Jemima Palmer-Tomkinson, and Rory Baxter, united by a shared passion for British food and indeed all things culinary. Jemima, Rory and Hugh were keen to start a venture that made use of the great range of abundant but underrated meats and fish that we have in the UK. Having stumbled across some old recipes for potted meat, they set about putting a modern twist on the product and the Potted Game Company was born.

The small but diverse range currently consists of five products; Pheasant with smoked bacon and hazelnut, Rabbit with cider and English Mustard, Wood Pigeon with walnuts and ginger, Trout with lemon zest and spices and Partridge with apricot and cashew nuts. It will come as no surprise that, as a company trying to create an exciting, young brand, the team have steered clear of the ubiquitous (if delicious) potted shrimp. Seasonal specials such as grouse and crayfish occasionally make an appearance and some more unusual meats like wild boar and squirrel are currently in development.

Over the weekend we caught up with Jemima at London's Borough Market and then returned to the Barn to tuck into samples of the rabbit, partridge and pigeon with a stack of freshly toasted sourdough. Each of them was delicious but our particular favourites were the rabbit and the pigeon. The latter was robust and flavoursome with a perfect balance of ginger and spices; ideal for game fans to enjoy all year round. The rabbit was more delicately flavoured and would make an excellent and gentle introduction for anyone who has yet to discover the delicious world of British game; subtly spiced, moist and not in any way 'gamey'.

The Potted Game Company is a small business but with enthusiastic individuals behind it and we can see it going far. It's always exciting to see a new British producer making use of great British ingredients. If you're a regular at Borough Market make sure you pick up a pot when you're next in town. Otherwise, keep an eye out at other farmers markets and in higher end supermarkets; we have a feeling The Potted Game Company's products will be on a shop shelf near you soon. If you can't wait that long, you can also buy online.

For more information on the Potted Game Company, check out their website.

At this time of year, we tend to have a bit of extra game in the freezer which could do with eating up. Pheasant often tends to dry out as a meat when roasted, but last week we tried a slightly different and novel way of using up the leftover pheasant from the season just passed: Pheasant Biryani!

Ingredients

2 Pheasants
400ml chicken stock (cube is fine)
250 ml natural yoghurt
500 grams wholegrain basmati rice
2 large onions
Ghee/Butter
Cashew nuts
Raisins

Biryani spice mix:

1/2tsp chilli powder
4 small green, medium heat chillies, finely chopped
A good pinch of curry leaves
2tsp ground cumin
30g fresh ginger, scraped and finely grated
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2tbsp garam masala
1tsp cumin seeds
The seeds from 12 green cardamom pods
2tbsp chopped coriander leaves
2tbsp chopped mint leaves

Cut the whole pheasants into four (i.e 2 breasts and two legs each) and mix the pieces of the pheasant with the Biryani mix (chilli powder, chillies, cumin, curry leaves, cardamom, ginger, garlic, garam masala, turmeric, coriander and mint). Marinade this for at least half an hour.

Heat some ghee/butter and fry the onions on a medium heat in an oven proof pan until they are golden brown and set to one side. Remove the pieces of pheasant from the marinade and reserve the marinade. Fry the pheasant on a high heat, lightly browning them in the same pan. Add the stock, yoghurt, browned onions and any marinade that's left and cook on a low heat for 25-30 minutes until the pheasant is tender, then remove from the heat. Meanwhile cook the rice.

Pre-heat the oven to 220C/gas mark 7. Add the rice, cashew nuts and raisins to the pheasant mix and put the pot over a high heat for a couple of minutes to bring the contents to the boil. Transfer to the oven for 40 minutes. Stir the whole pot and then serve with poppadums, chutney and a raita.

If the thought of preparing the Biryani mix is too much to bear, then we recommend trying using this mix from the Curry Tree as a pre-prepared option:

http://www.currytree.co.uk/view/curry-tree-biryani-spice-mix

It is very good and does save a considerable amount of hassle. We have tried both and whilst the home made mix is better, it is not overwhelmingly so.


 

Our February newsletter came out this afternoon. You can find a copy of it, together with older editions of the Bramble, in The Library. If you're not on the mailing list but quite fancy more seasonal info, recipes and top tips being delivered to your inbox every month for the unbelievable price of £NOTHING, then sign up for future editions here.  

We were delighted to read this piece in the Independent last week reporting that, in the UK this year for the first time we'll buy more free range eggs than intensively farmed ones. As we blogged at the beginning of the year "traditional" battery cages are now banned in the UK. We still have a large number of caged hens but they must now be kept in "enriched" cages. So, there is still a long way to go before we can claim to be a free-range country but it is definitely progress.

If you have yet to make the free range switch, consider this:

According to the International Egg Commission, the UK average egg consumption per person is approximately 180 eggs a year, or just under 3.5 eggs a week. For a family of 4 that works out as 14 eggs per week. Having just checked the Tesco website (because it's the biggest supermarket) we found the following prices:

• Cheapest Value hens eggs (10 pack) £0.08 each
• Free range eggs (two dozen) on multi-buy offer £0.16 each
• Cage Free barn eggs (two dozen) on multi-buy offer £0.175 each
• Cage Free barn eggs (dozen) £0.20 each
• Free range eggs (dozen) £0.21 each

So yes, the cheapest Value eggs are, per egg, considerably less and that is probably why so many shoppers are put off from buying free range. But have they actually done the maths? For our family of four, eating an average number of eggs, even if they swap from the very cheapest to the most expensive eggs, that works out at an extra £1.82 a week. If they take advantage of the multi-buy offer, that reduces to a difference of just £1.12, for a whole family to eat better quality eggs from happy chickens. Just 28p per person. Of course, there are families in the country for whom these figures do make a real difference, but ask yourself if yours is really one of them. And if not, surely it's a price worth paying?

We received an email this week asking us to consider blogging about beetroot. The hook that we could hang the piece on, apparently, was Valentine's Day because beetroot was an ideal accompaniment to your romantic dinner a deux. Sure, feeding your loved one oysters and chocolates can be romantic, but an unpopular purple root vegetable? We think not. But then we did a bit of digging (geddit?) and they were only bloomin' right. It turns out that beetroots have been considered a natural aphrodisiac since Roman times. In fact, murals featuring beetroot have been found on the walls of Pompeii's brothels! As with most aphrodisiacs (see our last post about oysters) several theories abound for the food's supposed qualities. In the beetroot's case it could be the high levels of the mineral boron (thought to play a role in the production of sex hormones). Alternatively, some say, it contains tryptophan (also found in chocolate), a substance that contributes to a sense of wellbeing. Certainly, chocolate and beetroot together make a jolly decent cake so perhaps that one's not as far-fetched as it might at first sound. It will come as no surprise that the email in question came from a PR agency who happen to be acting for a British beetroot grower but, as you know, at Well Seasoned we're all for that sort of thing and happy to give their website www.lovebeetroot.co.uk a plug. Just don't blame us if, on the 14th, your intended doesn't find a gnarled beetroot quite as appealing as a diamond ring...

Valentines Day is not far away and, by a happy coincidence for romantically inclined seasonal food fans, rock oysters are great in February. Oysters are famed, as we all know, for being an aphrodisiac. A number of theories account for their romantic reputation including a high zinc content and even, according to some, sympathetic magic. However, without wanting to dampen any amorous embers, there is still very little verifiable evidence that aphrodisiacs of any kind actually work. That said, oysters are an extremely well balanced and low-cholesterol food and they are an excellent source of vitamins. Perhaps oyster-eating ancients were just healthier specimens whom more suitors were willing to snuggle up to? Author Jonathan Swift is quoted as saying, "He was a bold man that first ate an oyster", and that is true - at first glance you wouldn't think they were particularly edible, let alone delicious. But, for thousands of years man has bitten the bivalvular bullet and eaten them with gusto. They've been farmed in the UK for much longer than you might think too, with good evidence that the Whitstable oyster farming tradition dates back to Roman times. You'll find oysters in most decent fish markets and many producers are now selling online with several doing Valentines specials. So, if you don't know what to buy your loved one for the 14th how about a plate of highly calcified plankton-filtering molluscs - what could be unromantic about that?

Yesterday, 2 February, was Groundhog Day. It's probably fair to say that few of us in the UK would have heard of the day if it wasn't for the eponymous Bill Murray film in the late 90s. But, quirky romantic comedies aside, there is an interesting seasonal background to the festival.

According to folklore, if a groundhog sees his shadow when he emerges from his burrow, winter will last for six more weeks. If it's a cloudy date, the Spring will come early. (Folklore doesn't seem to provide for the possibility that Spring will be late...)

The tradition actually appears to date back to the Christian celebration of Candlemas, which takes place on the same date, and the Germans in particular seem to be the likely importers of the tradition to the US. There is, though, some interesting speculation that the day developed to allow for a compromise between the two conflicting views of when Spring actually starts. Most western traditions dictate that Spring begins on the Vernal Equinox (usually 20th March, when the days start being longer than the nights), whereas pagans favoured the festival of Imbolc (which, as we reported last month, is celebrated in early February). Thus, by allowing the groundhog to choose between the two possibilities, a row was avoided. Permitting a rodent to dictate the national calender seems an odd form of govenment policy but, then again, we're not aware of any civil wars sparked by the subject, so maybe it worked.

Of the 37 recorded groundhog forecasts this year, 27 (73%) have predicted an early Spring. If today's weather is anything to go by, we're not totally convinced they've got it right...

The passing of 1 Feb marks the end of the game season for another year. Pheasants, partridges and other feathered game can all rest easy until the Autumn. But where does that leave the meat eaters among us for the next few months? Well, it's a little too early for Spring lamb. That will hit the shops in the run-up to Easter but, even then, it's not always the most flavoursome meat around. New season lamb is expensive generally just because it's a new season and not necessarily because of the quality of the meat. Autumn lamb is usually more flavoursome, the result of the animals having a full Summer of grazing in lush green pastures.

One good option available is venison. Although there are legal seasons for deer, they vary between breeds and sexes, meaning that you can get decent meat most of the year round. Like many game meats, venison is flavoursome and low in fat. Since the extinction of wolves from the UK, deer have needed to be controlled so we have very healthy numbers of all the breeds which can withstand (and indeed need) regular culling. The culling itself is highly regulated and usually carried our by skilled individuals causing minimum stress to the animals. So, wild venison is, as far as meat goes, an ethical and environmentally friendly option.

As I write this, the Met Office have issued a weather warning and predicted temperatures of -11C with heavy snow in some places. It will come as no surprise then, that our recipe recommendation is a warming stew. This weekend, get down to your game dealer and ask him for some venison...provided you're not snowed in, of course.

Mark Hix's Venison Stew with Dumplings Recipe (in the Independent)

The scene has hardly changed since the 12th Century. It's Autumn in the New Forest and ancient breeds of pig are roaming freely on the Hampshire heathland, foraging and snuffling through leafy undergrowth. They are hunting primarily for acorns but beech nuts, chestnuts and crab apples also feature in their free porcine picnic. It's a tradition dating back hundreds of years; certain inhabitants of the Forest, known as Commoners, are claiming their right to graze pigs in the National Park. In fact, as well as getting a free meal, the pigs are doing good for the more famous residents of the forest because acorns are poisonous to the wild ponies. The practice is known as pannage and it takes place every Autumn. The local forest wardens, or Verderers, together with the Forestry Commission decide when it will begin and end, depending on the weather and when the acorns start dropping. The pannage season usually lasts for 60 days, ending in November or December, after which the pannage pigs are 'finished' on a diet of whey and barley (a pure acorn diet can make for an overpowering flavour so the finishing makes it more palatable). The result is a truly unique tasting meat with a wonderful texture and unusually dark appearance (it can be almost black if the pig has had a high proportion of acorns in its diet). You can still get your hand on some pannage pork but the short season is already coming to close for the year. Make a note in your diary for the late Autumn and experience a very special seasonal and local treat. You can find a list of New Forest Producers supplying pannage pork here.