Devon food and drink to try – The Christmas Edit!

For a talked-about Christmas table

Blakewell Smokery’s Superior Devon Cold Smoked Salmon

The Blakewell Smokery has created a very special treat for Christmas – a 12hr beech wood smoke on their Superior Devon Cold Smoked Salmon. Cold Smoked Salmon is handmade at Blakewell. Traditionally cured, kiln smoked and matured – then hand sliced. This is a truly delicious treat for your Christmas dining table. Order here.

Best Devon Turkeys

If you have never tasted a bronze free-range turkey you have missed out on a great eating experience. Rosamondford Farm turkeys are allowed to roam the pastures and are fed on the finest locally produced ingredients. All turkeys are dry-plucked and hand finished to avoiding bruising or marking of the bird. They are fully prepared for the oven complete with giblets. Find out more.

The Local Scoop Yule Logs

Yule be delighted to know that flavour wizards The Local Scoop Ice Cream Parlour in Dawlish, will be producing their artisan ice cream Yule Logs this year. Ideal for all Christmas gatherings and a huge success last year, they can be ordered in the following fabulous flavours… Ferrero Rocher, Biscoff Cheesecake, Cherry & White Chocolate, Christmas Pud with Brandy Clotted Cream and Chocolate Orange (Dairy Free). £30 | Delivered or collected from the shop in Dawlish between 18th-24th December. Contact hello@thelocalscoop.co.uk or message on their social media.

Lovaton Farm Christmas Meat Boxes

Celebrate the most important meal of the year with Lovaton’s naturally reared, sustainable meat this Christmas. The perfect time of year to celebrate the very best food with friends and family requires the perfect centre piece and Lovaton can offer just that. However you celebrate the big day, they want to help provide you with a delicious and memorable meal for the whole family. The Christmas Meat Box | £50. Order here.

Granny Gothards’ Christmas dinner ice creams

The Granny Gothards girls have gone ALL OUT this year taking ice cream to the next level with the creation of all your Christmas dinner favourites in an ice cream pot! From Turkey, Cranberry & Gravy to Brussel Sprout & Bacon – and not forgetting Sage & Onion stuffing – this is truly ice cream not to missed! Available to buy in 500ml pots online at grannygothards.co.uk with delivery direct to your doorstep. This is one Christmas present that will trump all others (although we suggest Father Christmas doesn’t bring it down the chimney!)

Spindle Wood Farm Christmas chickens

If turkey isn’t your bird of choice try a pasture raised chicken from Spindle Wood Farm in South Devon. Their chickens who have a happy, healthy and enriched life on fresh pasture everyday where they enjoy searching for bugs, scratching about and eating grass. Email spindlewf@gmail.com to reserve your Christmas chicken. £15 deposit per chicken. Visit the website here.

The Bay Tree festive flavours

There’s more to Christmas dining than just the roast on the big day, and The Bay Tree has festive flavours to make every meal over the holiday season taste amazing. They have Christmas Marmalade for breakfast, Cranberry Sauce for dinner, Christmassy Pickle for tea, Boxing Day Chutney for leftovers and plenty more flavours. They also have the best Boozy Mincemeat for incredible mince pies. Available from The Bay Tree website at thebaytree.co.uk

Plant-Based Christmas Delights – with Clive’s Purely Plants

Christmas is a time for coming together and sharing delicious food. However, with various dietary preferences and restrictions, it’s essential to have options that everyone can enjoy, and that’s where Clive’s Purely Plants comes to the rescue. Their new Sharing Nut Roast and Mushroom & Shallot Rustic Tart offer delicious, plant-based additions to your Christmas table. Available at Waitrose, Ocado and Abel & Cole.

Burts Maple Pigs-in-blankets

Treat your ‘elf this festive season. Burts’ Maple Pigs in Blankets are back! Opening a pack of hand-cooked Maple Pigs in Blankets chips will reveal the warming tangs of smokey bacon and sausage flavouring, finished with a delightful, sweet maple glaze for a premium festive snack. Keep an eye out in independent shops, cafes, farm shops and pubs.

Fabulously festive drinks to try

Papillon Sloe Gin launches in time for Christmas

Papillon Dartmoor Distillery have launched their Sloe Gin in time for Christmas. Made with sloes picked in 2021 which have been soaking in Papillon Gin for a year, this fabulous Sloe Gin is then lightly sweetened with a touch of Dartmoor Heather Honey. Delicious in a Dartmoor Sloe Royale with sparkling wine. Buy online through papillongin.co.uk or through farm shops and retailers across Devon.

Salcombe Brewery’s Christmas Tide

Salcombe Brewery Co.’s hugely popular and very special limited edition yuletide ale, Christmas Tide, is back. A well-structured, malt driven beer which will be available to be enjoyed throughout the festive season. The crystal, chocolate and wheat malts bring warmth and body to the beer, ideal for a winter’s day. The plethora of hops build on the chocolatey malt base and add a bittersweet finish to this Christmas ale. (8 x 500ml bottles RRP £19.50). Buy online.  

Rull Orchard Pomological

Pomological from Rull Orchards is rich, spicy, woody, sweet, smooth and bold and will be both a talking point and a sure fire hit alongside your festive cheeseboard, especially for a house with a curious cider lover in residence. You can buy Pomological by the bottle HERE.

Sandford Orchards Figgy Pudding Ice cider

Try Figgy Pudding Ice Cider from cider maker, Sandford Orchards. A limited edition, oak aged ice cider steeped in dried fruit, a fabulously festive English alternative to fortified wines. The rich apple is wrapped in layers of Christmas aromatics including clementine, cloves, allspice and star anise. Each mouthful releases notes of caramel, mince pies and the glorious decadence of the festive season. Buy here.

And from our recent Food Drink Devon Awards, here are some more ideas to tempt your tastebuds…

Andrew King Chocolates – Signature Nine Nut Selection
If you love nuts, this is the box of chocolates for you.  Delicate, crispy chocolate encompassing flavours including roasted pistachio and a raspberry jelly, hazelnut praline with a whole roasted hazelnut and caramelised almond flavoured with a banoffee ganache.  Awarded ‘New Food Product of the Year’,  Signature Nut Nine is available from andrewkingchocolates.com, £13.50.

Luscombe – Passionate Ginger Beer
Named Food Drink Devon’s ‘Drink Product of the Year’, Luscombe’s Passionate Ginger Beer is crafted using only the finest organic Peruvian fresh root ginger, milled on-site at Luscombe’s farm, so it better retains the heat. Blended with organic Sicilian lemons, carbonated Dartmoor spring water and organic passion fruit juice, it is perfect for those looking for something a little different.  Available from luscombe.co.uk, £26.50 for a box of 12x27cl.

Ben’s Farm Shop – Free Range Port Cured Ham
Port Cured Ham is Ben’s Farm Shop’s take on jamón serrano. They cure their free-range pork legs at their butchery in Staverton and then soak them in port before dry ageing for three months.  £3.80, per 100g and available to purchase from their Staverton, Totnes, Exeter and Yealmpton shops and on their Christmas online shop, bensfarmshop.co.uk.

Lovaton Farm – Gloucester Old Spot Pork Rolled Leg
Lovaton Farm’s pork is produced from the finest of traditional rare-breed pigs, the Gloucester Old Spot.  All their pigs are free-range and reared slowly to maturity. The stress-free way they rear their pigs results in delicious, succulent and mouth-watering pork with proper crackling. Visit lovatonfarmmeat.co.uk for more information.

Lovaton Farm – Lleyn Hogget Loin Chops
Reared on clover and herbal rich Devon pasture, the Lleyn hogget meat is tender and full of flavour.  Visit lovatonfarmmeat.co.uk for more information.

Pretty Little Pastries – Apple Box
Pretty Little Pastries’ Apple Box pays homage to chef Samuel’s grandfather. Using homegrown fruit, the Apple Box mixes different apple flavours and combinations including the classic marriage of Apple & Blackberry, ‘Poisoned Apple’ using apple and raspberry, Yuzu matched with Russet apple, a rich Black Apple with Valrhona Bahibe and a nostalgic Baked Apple with raisin, prune and caramel shell.  Available from prettylittlepastries.co.uk, starting from £15.00 for a box of five.

Ridge & Furrow – Cider Naturally Sweet Cider
Ridge & Furrow Naturally Sweet Cider is a delicious easy drinking medium sweet tasting craft cider. Unfiltered, lightly sparkling and made in small batches from 100% cider apple juice from their own wildlife friendly ridge and furrow orchard. Handcrafted using the artisan method of ‘arrested fermentation’ which produces a well balanced cider that retains some of the apples’ natural sweetness. No water or sugar is added.  Available from stockist elstonandson.co.uk, £3.50 for a 500ml bottle (4.5% ABV).

Sharpham Dairy – Sharpham Brie
Sharpham Dairy has been making their Sharpham Brie by hand to their own recipe since 1981.  With a beautiful buttercup yellow which comes from using fresh cow’s milk from their Jersey herd, it is a mould ripened cheese with a unique flavour, creamy texture and rich unctuous flavour, developing ‘mushroomy’ notes as it ages. Enjoy with crusty bread and fruits, charcuterie or even bake with garlic and basil. Works perfectly with the light fruitiness of a sauvignon blanc. Available from sharphamcheese.co.uk, from £6.60 (300g square).

TORS Vodka – Vodka
A wonderfully smooth tasting Vodka.  Just like the granite hill tops that it’s named after, TORS Vodka stands alone in its field. Pure Dartmoor spring water is blended with their British soft winter wheat spirit to create a vodka like no other. Great care is taken to charcoal polish their spirit; a process which takes up to three months before final filtration and bottling.  TORS Vodka is available to purchase from most farm shops across Devon and also online at torsvodka.co.uk, £34.00 for a 70cl bottle (40% ABV).

Springwater Farm – Free Range Mangalitza Pork
Food Drink Devon’s ‘Food Product of the Year’, Springwater Farm’s mangalitza pork goes a cut above free range. The rare breed is slow-grown over organic wetlands with a regenerative farming approach and Amelia and Jason believe their high animal welfare produces high quality pork. Visit springwaterfarmproduce.co.uk for more information.

Aune Valley Meat – Maple Bacon
Aune Valley Meat’s bacon glazed with maple syrup, Maple Bacon, combines the salty taste of bacon with the sweet flavour of maple syrup. Available from Aune Valley Meat’s Loddiswell and Modbury stores, it’s £19.10 per kg.

Beckland Charcuterie – Beef Bresaola
Beckland Charcuterie’s Beef Bresaola is cured topside, produced from grass fed Devon Red Ruby beef raised on local farms. Available from Hartland Farmers’ Market (1st Sunday of the month) and select food festivals across North Devon.  A pack of 6 slices costs £5.00.

Cakewhole – Hummingbird Cake
A deliciously moist vegan and gluten free cake, filled with bananas, pecans and pineapple topped with a layer of cream cheese icing laced with cinnamon and sprinkled with candied pecans.  Visit cakewhole.co.uk for more information.

Langage Farm – Devonshire Clotted Cream
Langage Farm is a family business that has been producing its renowned, award-winning traditional Devonshire clotted cream since 1948. Their clotted cream is made from milk produced by local herds of Channel Island cows grazing on the lush green fields of Devon, producing a high quality, flavoursome milk, giving their clotted cream a rich and luxurious taste.  Their delicious clotted cream is available from a range of independent outlets across the county as well as Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose & Partners stores across the county.  Visit langagefarm.com for more information.

South Hams Drinks – Mulled Cider
A subtle infusion of cloves, cinnamon, star anise and ginger mixed with real Devon apples to create an exceedingly drinkable medium-sweet cider.  South Hams Drinks’ lightly spiced and very fruity Mulled Cider is a festive must-have!  Available from Dean Court Farm Shop (Buckfastleigh) and Stokeley Farm Shop (Stokenham Nr Kingsbridge).  Visit southhamsdrinks.co.uk for more information.

The Husbandry School – Salad with Edible Flowers
The Husbandry School’s Salad with Edible Flowers showcases a delicious, eye-catching array of seasonal salad leaves, herbs and flowers, grown with care for the land and harvested by hand. Salad bags can be purchased from Ashburton Delicatessen (£3.99).  Visit husbandry.co.uk for further information about The Husbandry School.

The Studio Exmoor – Blackberry & White Chocolate Fudge
Made onsite at The Studio, Lynton, Sarah picks her own blackberries on Exmoor every year and mixes them with her homemade fudge and delicious white chocolate to make a fruity, crumbly fudge that melts in the mouth. This delicious homemade treat, alongside other fantastic flavours and fudge gift boxes, can be found at The Studio in Lynton, North Devon.