This is my first Foodie Penpal reveal. I joined the scheme after some of my twitter followers had started. It’s a lovely idea to allow people to spread foodie delights around to new friends and contacts.
This month, Anna from Nottinghamshire sent me a parcel and I sent one to Caitlin in Cornwall.
Anna was a good find for me as she is also a forager who makes the best of the free ingredients around her. In her note to me she said:
We love foraging and, with my assistants’ help, I make a lot of jams & preserves.
So the two jars you can see are of dandelion marmalade and blackberry & apple jelly. I am delighted with both and especially the dandelion marmalade. I had seen a number of people on Twitter had made it this year and never got round to make it myself. It’s a rich, fruity conserve, with marmalade bite and smooth sweetness. It went really well on some fresh wholemeal & spelt bread I made.
The blackberry & apple has a lovely hedgerow flavour and colour with a delightful soft set. We’ve yet to try the Stilton cheese. I’ve just made some digestive biscuits which will go really well with it. We’re looking forward to that very much.
We were also fortunate that Anna loves smoked fish & charcuterie. Anna also has a smokehouse local to her. So we received some gorgeous locally made preserved goods.
The fennel sausage smells as good as it looks and was to die for in flavour. A treat indeed.
Also, Anna sent us some gorgeous smoked salmon pâté. I’m afraid it didn’t last for my collected picture of the parcel goodies, as we ate it. It was only once we were tucking in that I remembered to photograph it. So apologies for the dodgy iPhone picture of my plate.
All-in-all, I’m very glad I signed up for Foodie Penpals. I had a lot of fun putting together the parcel for my penpal. The goodies I received from Anna were a delight and gave me some tastes that I would not have otherwise had.
I recommend the scheme if you love food and would like to try new things. If you do, click the badge below to find out more…
Comments
5 responses to “Foodie Penpals – July 2012”
What a lovely idea Carl, and will bring all the ‘foodies’ closer too 🙂
My Husband has been really into “edible weeds” lately, watering our Lamb’s Quarters fervently. I’ve heard a lot about dandelion this and that, but never have tried it. Looks great!
Hi Joanna, I just love edible weeds. Always feels like something for virtually nothing and a great way to turn a problem into a resource. There’s lots of recipes on here for nettles and chickweed. Thanks for popping by 🙂
Ooh dandelion marmalade? I am behind trend on this one, must investigate. Your parcel looks great 🙂
Thanks Carol Anne, we’re certainly very happy here and enjoying our edible surprises 🙂