Written by Marie Kreft
You’ll find recommendations for restaurants, cafés, delis, farm shops and breweries throughout Slow Travel Shropshire. Here are a few more food- and drink-related discoveries I made on my travels around the county:
Shropshire Blue
Until recently, Shropshire Blue cheese was – disappointingly – not often made in Shropshire. According to the British Cheese Board, it ‘started out as a Scottish attempt to replicate Stilton cheese but with a subtle twist of adding annatto to the milk to give it an orange hue’. Even now, the biggest producers of Shropshire Blue are the stilton manufacturers of the East Midlands, based in Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire.
For blue cheese made in Shropshire, look for varieties made by the following dairies:
* Belton Cheese (Whitchurch): Shropshire Blue
* Ludlow Food Centre (Bromfield): Remembered Hills
* Mr Moydens (Market Drayton): Wrekin Blue and Ironbridge Blue
* Shropshire Cheese Company (Oswestry): Shropshire Farmhouse Blue.
Made in Shropshire
At the 2015 Ludlow Food Festival, a covetable new hardback book was launched. Made in Shropshire features colour imagery and almost 90 recipes from farm shops, cafés, restaurants, chefs, artisan producers, cookery schools and hotels around the county. You can buy a copy of the book here, where there’s also a directory of contributors, giving insight into the movers and shakers on Shropshire’s foodie scene. Bradt readers can get 15% off Made in Shropshire with the discount code BTG15.
Lots of pots
If you need to update your pots and pans or wish to buy someone a thoughtful, useful and long-lasting Shropshire-made present, try Netherton Foundry for cast-iron slow cooking pots, tagines, casserole dishes, frying pans, saucepans, woks, smokers and other kitchen equipment. Based in south Shropshire and inspired by the 18th-century ironmasters of Coalbrookdale, this company has a strong commitment to provenance, preserving traditional skills and supporting independent retailers. You’ll find a list of stockists on their website, where you can also shop online (with free UK delivery).
Slow Food Ludlow Marches
If you’re inspired to learn more about the Slow Food movement in Shropshire, check out Slow Food Ludlow Marches. I’m especially impressed by the group’s work in nurturing and protecting the Shropshire Prune, an endangered autumn variety that has now been accepted into the Slow Food ‘Ark of Taste’ (now known as a Forgotten Food).