Ten tasty treats named after the towns they come from Ten tasty treats named after the towns they come from Updated on 12 November 2013 | 0 Comments Share the love Are you lucky enough to live in a town which has its very own cake, pie, cheese, fish, or even soup named after it? We take a look at ten delicacies named after the place they originate from. Arbroath Smokies A type of smoked haddock which was invented, as the legend goes, in the small Scottish fishing village of Auchmithie, three miles northeast of Arboath. Apparently a shop caught fire there one night, ‘cooking’ barrels of haddock preserved in salt as it spread … next morning, the locals discovered that the ‘ruined’ haddock was in fact very tasty. It’s a nice story, but it’s far likelier that the villagers were descended from Scandinavians, where fish is smoked in a very similar way. Smokies are still exclusively produced in the region today, and Iain R.

Spink is leading the way – he’s often extolled the virtues of Smokies on TV shows such as Jamie’s Great Britain and Rick Stein’s Food Heroes, and his Smokies were named one of the top 50 foods in the UK last year. You can order Arbroath Smokies from Iain online . Banbury Cake Not to be confused with an Eccles Cake, which came decades after, a Banbury Cake is a currant-filled spiced flat pastry cake more oval in shape than round. They used to be made and sold exclusively in Banbury, Oxfordshire, and the recipe dates back to the mid-sixteenth century at least. Apparently it was Edward Welchman who made the first batch at his shops on Parsons Street, but the recipe has been adapted a fair bit since then and can now include everything from rum to rose water, nutmeg and mixed peel. Caerphilly Cheese Caerphilly is a crumbly, white, cow’s milk cheese originating from the Welsh town of the same name. Apparently, the cheese was not invented in Caerphilly; only sold at a market there for the first time.

It’s pretty salty and was developed over time to be so, in order to stock the coal miners of the area up with the salt they lost over the course of a hard day’s work. Original Caerphilly is dry in the middle and creamy around the edges – but its production was halted during World War II, as all the nation’s milk was sent to the Cheddar factories to help with the war effort. After the war, the same cheddar factories started making their own Caerphilly, creating a dry and crumbly texture. The latter is mostly how it’s known today. Cullen Skink A thick, creamy and fragrant Scottish soup made from smoked haddock, potatoes and onions (main picture). To be truly authentic, Cullen Skink must be made with Finnan haddie (cold smoked haddock), and be served alongside Scottish oatcakes. Usually, it would be the starter at a formal Scottish dinner. The soup originates from the town of Cullen in Moray, on the north east coast of Scotland, and is fairly similar in taste and texture to American chowder, although it is smokier.

‘Skink’ is a Scots word for a shin, knuckle or hough of beef, all of which were used to make soup – hence the word ‘skink’ eventually ended up meaning ‘soup’. It’s still often served in restaurants throughout Scotland, and it’s the perfect soup for chilly winter nights. Bath Oliver biscuit You’ve very likely had one of these with cheese before. A Bath Oliver is a hard, savoury biscuit made from flour, butter, yeast and milk and it was invented by physician William Oliver of Bath, Somerset around 1750. Apparently Mr Oliver bequeathed his coachman, Mr Atkins, the recipe upon his deathbed, together with £100 and ten sacks of wheat flour to get started – it made Atkins a very rich man. The Bath Oliver business was passed from company to company, and the biscuits are now made by James Fortt – you can buy them in Waitrose . Apparently they go well with wine as well as cheese. Chorley Cake Is it a Banbury Cake, is it an Eccles Cake? No, it’s a Chorley Cake!

Again, these sweet treats are puck-shaped and fruit-filled, but this time they originate from Chorley in Lancashire. Chorley Cakes (or ‘Fly Pie’, as the locals call it) aren’t as sweet as Eccles Cakes and they are commonly eaten with butter on top, and a slice of Lancashire cheese on the side. The pastry is shortcrust, and the only fruit in there is currants. The cake is still celebrated today , and every October the town hosts a ‘Chorley Cake Street Fair’ to promote the Chorley Cake, with a competition for local bakers to produce the largest one. Kendal Mint Cake An absolute must for climbers, hikers and mountaineers, Kendal Mint Cake originates from Kendal in Cumbria and is mainly consumed because of its high energy content. Three Kendal-based companies still produce Kendal Mint Cake, including Quiggin’s –the oldest surviving mint cake company - , which was set up in 1880. All three companies (Quiggin’s, Wilson’s and Romney’s) base their mint cake on the traditional recipe – sugar, glucose, water and peppermint oil.

Although the exact recipe and way of manufacturing Mint Cake is a secret, we know that the basic process involves boiling the four ingredients together; continuously stirring it; then pouring it into moulds and allowing it to set. Mint Cake can be made with either white or brown sugar, and some bars come slathered in chocolate. Liverpool Tart A very pretty tart, warm in colour and sweet in taste, with a sharp lemony kick. Fresh lemons are the key ingredient (as used by generations of Liverpudlian sailors to keep scurvey at bay) and each tart always comes topped with some kind of pastry cut-out – a heart, perhaps, or a liver bird. The recipe dates back to the late 1890s and the distinctive taste comes from the mixture of ‘moist sugar’ (which could have referred to dark muscovado sugar) and a minced boiled lemon. It wasn’t until this millennium that the tart became popular – by 2008 it was being produced as a regular line by two bakeries in Merseyside, including Satterthwaites in Crosby. Manchester Tart A Manchester Tart looks a bit like a cross between a Bakewell Tart and a Lamington .

It sports a shortcrust pastry shell and comes filled with jam and custard, with coconut shavings and a maraschino cherry to decorate. It was often on the dinner menu at schools in Manchester until the mid-1980s, and is apparently a variation on an earlier recipe, the Manchester Pudding, writen by Victorian cookery writer Mrs Beeton. The tarts are still made in Manchester, and the award-winning Manchester Tart Company (set up by mother-and-daughter team Ann and Claire) still uses the Beeton recipe as its basis. Pontefract Cakes Not ‘cakes’ at all, these sweet treats are in fact circular black sweets made of liquorice. They were first called ‘Pomfret’ cakes after the old Norman word for the Yorkshire town of Pontefract, and used to come embossed by hand with a stamp of Pontefract Castle – the workers who did that were called ‘cakers’. Be careful how many you eat, though – in 2004 a Yorkshire woman was admitted to hospital with muscle failure after eating too many of them.

The basic recipe for original Pontefract Cakes involves cleaning, grinding and boiling liquorice roots; adding sugar and a thickening agent; drying and cooling for a week; squashing the blocks into long strands; and then punching out small rounds topped with the traditional Pontefract Cake stamp. There are, of course, plenty more examples we could cite – we’ve already written about the wonder that is Bakewell Pudding , and we’re big fans of Melton Mowbray Pork Pies , too. Do you know of any other local delicacies worthy of mention? Talk to us in the comments box below. Smokies image courtesy of Anne Burgess ; Banbury Cake image from Redrose64 ; Cullen Skink image from Metukkalihis ; Bath Olivier biscuit image from Richard Wheeler ; Chorley Cake image from Dr Greg ; Kendal Mint Cake image from Geni ; Manchester Tart image from Jamesjones79 .

You might also like Roots of History ROOTS OF HISTORY PONTEFRACT's LIQUORICE AND CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY with TOM SHAY DIXON Pontefract may well be home to a once Royal castle, one of the best equipped racecourses in the country and three railway stations, but it is the component part of a small circular black lozenge or sweet which has been synonymous with the town for centuries and for which the town of Pontefract has become renowned throughout the modern world. Who would have envisaged that a once medicinal based lozenge could transform the ancient market town into one of the liquorice centres of the world and establish it as a market leader in confectionery products. Coincidentally, the first issue of the new Digest Magazine makes its appearance at the start of the nine day festival of events celebrating the townï¿½s liquorice heritage and if Pontefract can be considered synonymous with the cultivation of liquorice in Britain then the name of Tom Shay Dixon must similarly be applied to Pontefract liquorice itself.

It was with great pleasure that I was recently invited to visit Tom at his home, Beck House, on Knottingley Road, Pontefract, to hear his fascinating recollections of liquorice growing in Pontefract and his work as a boilerman at Wilkinson's liquorice factory. Turning in to Tom's driveway you are immediately struck by the beauty and expanse of the impeccably maintained grounds to the rear of his home which quite surprisingly are not defaced by the imposing banking of the Swinton and Knottingley Railway which straddles the main road directly outside, courtesy of a quite uncomplimentary iron bridge. Beck House is a three-storey building, two of which are visible from the main road with the upper floor almost on a level with the railway itself. The house was built by Tom's great grandfather, Tom Shay, back in 1810, preceding the construction of the railway by more than six decades. In spite of essential modernisation over the years, the original feel of the house has been carefully maintained and beneath a covering of emulsion, the interior of the attached stable block appears little changed from how it must have appeared all those years ago.

Just off the stables are the specially constructed brick arched underground cellars where the harvested liquorice roots were stored until the price was deemed right to sell. Little do present day travellers utilising the main road outside Tom's home realise that they are actually driving over the top of his cellars. The interior of the house is delightful, offering a light and airy outlook to the rear over the surrounding grounds and across distant fields. Two sets of solid stone steps forming a central staircase connect the three levels with rooms leading to left and right at each level, and not a creaking stair to be heard! It's not difficult to imagine being transformed back in time with only the sweet aroma of liquorice root missing. Outside in the secluded courtyard to the rear of the house you are presented with a wonderful vista overlooking the historic liquorice fields which yielded their final crop of roots in 1970, while through a wrought iron gateway and into a small but carefully maintained planted area, Tom delights in showing me a selection of his thriving liquorice plants. By no means a plantation but a small piece of our history that he continues to tend and nurture for the enjoyment of others and as a constant reminder of his ancestral heritage.

Liquorice is a herbaceous perennial from the genus glycyrrhiza and native to areas of Southern Europe and Asia. The meaning of the Greek word glycyrrhiza is 'sweet root' and it is the roots of the plant that gives liquorice its characteristic flavour, being some fifty times sweeter than sugar. It is believed that the first liquorice plants were brought to Pontefract by Cluniac Monks who came to Pontefract to establish a new monastery. The Priory of St. John stood on an area that we now know as Monkhill and it was here that recent excavations revealed the remains of a medieval pharmacy where liquorice was extracted from the roots of the plant and used in the preparation of medicines. Despite our cooler climate, the liquorice plants thrived in the deep loamy soil, which is an essential requirement for their cultivation as the roots can extend to some four or five feet in depth. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century, Pontefract farmers continued to cultivate liquorice and a thriving cottage industry was established to process and refine the liquorice extract especially for medicinal purposes.

As far back as 1614 it is recorded that a round liquorice lozenge was being produced to ease stomach disorders and then in the mid 1700s an enterprising chemist by the name of George Dunhill developed the ancient recipes further by adding sugar to produce a circular liquorice sweet. The 1800s saw a boom in the confectionery business in Pontefract producing the 'Yorkshire Pennies' which were later to become known as Pontefract Cakes. Returning to Tom's kitchen we sit opposite each other at a table while he begins to relate some of the many stories and anecdotes he has accumulated over the years. His knowledge certainly equals his undoubted enthusiasm and he constantly taps the table to reiterate certain points, which is somewhat disconcerting as my voice recorder is placed on the same table and I am increasingly concerned that his tapping might drown out his narrative. "At the turn of the century..", begins Tom, "...there were 17 liquorice works in the town, but after the Second World War there were just five and now only two remain. It was a very lucrative business.

There was just one refinery in the town, located at the bottom of Broad Lane directly opposite what is now a kitchen showroom, and it was there where the roots were pressed and the juice allowed to solidify into lumps of hard black liquorice. We never sold our liquorice there though, we sold all ours to Boots the chemist in Nottingham where it was used in the pharmaceutical industry to produce cough and stomach remedies." "There were five main growers in Pontefract. The main growers were the Booths and then there were the Woods, the Depledges, the Carters, and my mother's family, the Shays, whose house I live in to this day. The last commercial crop was grown in the fields at the back of our house in about 1970. It takes between four and seven years to grow liquorice from setting the bud. In the warmer climates of the world they can grow liquorice from seeds but we had to grow from 'buds', similar to cuttings, because in our climate, liquorice never seeds - or at least it never did up until last year when every bush I had seeded, which must say something for global warming.

This meant that in Iraq, Iran and Turkey, where it is possible to grow plants in two years, they were producing four or five crops to our one. The liquorice industry in Pontefract was becoming un-commercial and with the increasing popularity of chocolate amongst children there was a gradual decline in the liquorice market." "However, liquorice has many uses, not just in the confectionery business. A doctor at Pontefract Infirmary and also a doctor at the Cromwell Hospital in London discovered that they could use the little shreads that come off the root, thin little pieces just like cotton, for stitching the guts up and they also used it for ulcer operations and cancer operations because they found it stimulates the guts and it melts away leaving no sign of it, so they used it at Pontefract Infirmary, which is quite unique and a lot of people don't realise that. I believe that doctors in London still use it to this day so it has a lot of use within the medical world." "During the war, while many of our troops were dying of thirst out in the deserts and jungles of the world, the Japanese were able to adapt to the conditions and our commanding officers couldn't understand why.

The opposing armies had the same amount of water, endured the same conditions, but they could keep going seemingly for ever, until it was discovered that when Hannibal took his elephants over the alps, they gave them liquorice to chew and also the Arabs on the camel trains across the desert gave all the camels liquorice to chew as it quenched their thirst and stopped them becoming thirsty. Our government cottoned on to this and began issuing liquorice to our troops." "When they were carrying out renovation work on Hadrian's Wall they found a lot of decayed liquorice which it is believed had been brought across by the Romans so whether they used it for medicinal purposes or whether they used it to stop their troops becoming over-thirsty we don't know. But that is a known fact about liquorice." "The first man to use liquorice in Pontefract to make the actual Pontefract Cakes was George Dunhill who was a chemist in the town.

He took the raw liquorice, boiled it, added sugar to it, mollassess, flour, made it into a dough, made a paste, rolled it into little round balls and then he sold it in his chemist shop to the miners going to work because it stimulated the guts, stopped them being thirsty - which they didn't realise it did at the time, but it did, and it also cured any chest ailments they had.ï¿½ ï¿½All the confectionery made in the local factories was produced by hand and each factory had its own unique style. The girls at Wilkinson's used to roll theirs out and nip pieces off onto a tray. Each tray held 240 cakes and each girl was required to complete fifteen trays per hour, so from start to finish they never stopped. The girls acquired the nickname of 'Spanish Thumpers'.ï¿½ ï¿½It wasn't until a man named Roy Pringle came on the scene that the process of manufacture became automated. Roy, who lived just along the road from where I live now, was employed at Wilkinson's and he invented a machine to produce Pontefract Cakes using compressed air, after which time the 'Thumpers' went into decline.

They were becoming obsolete because it was now possible to produce the sweets much quicker by machine.ï¿½ ï¿½In those days you had to serve an apprenticeship to become a liquorice boiler and I was apprenticed to a man called George Firth who was the senior boiler at Wilkinson's and lived in Northgate where he had a little corner shop. Every factory in its day had its own liquorice boiler, like a brewery had its own brewers, and each thought they had the best formulas and could make the best liquorice in the world. They probably hadn't, but they thought so.ï¿½ There were 750 women working at Wilkinsonï¿½s Liquorice Works and I couldnï¿½t pull one of them! ï¿½There were no machines or anything like that in those days; you had to put the flour into the boiling pan with the treacle and the molasses, and boil it. From start to finish each liquorice boiling took four and a half hours. We started at 6.00am in the morning and the first boiling came out at 10.00am.

We then put another one on that came out at 2.00pm and another one that came out at 6.00pm at night. So you worked twelve hours a day. It was the lousiest job I've had in my life! Hot and sweaty, I was covered in acne as a young lad, and my face was covered in plasters due to the burns I received. There were 750 women working in Wilkinson's Liquorice works and I couldn't pull one of them with all those plasters on my face!ï¿½ ï¿½I left to do my National Service, came back home, and went back to Wilkinsonï¿½s where I met my future wife, but I decided there was no future in boiling liquorice - the industry was declining, machinery was coming in to replace the big boiling pans and I couldn't see any future so I bailed out.ï¿½ ï¿½Not many people are aware that the town of Pontefract received acclaim in the film industry.

I donï¿½t know if it was Robinson and Wordsworth, who had their factory in Ferrybridge Road, or Hillaby's that was burned down in around 1947, but most people will have seen Charlie Chaplin in the 1925 film The Gold Rush. In that film Charlie Chaplin is seen eating his boots and laces, and the boots were specially made from liquorice produced in Pontefract but we're not quite sure which factory actually made them. At a later date, the 1979 Bond film Moonraker with Roger Moore, featured a character called Jaws who in one particular scene is seen biting through a thick electric cable while on one of those ski-lifts or whatever you want to call them. As he bites through the cable, sparks begin flying all over the place but the cable was actually made out of liquorice produced in Pontefract and sent down to Pinewood Studios.ï¿½ ï¿½Also, Spencer Tracy and Kathleen Hepburn appeared in a 1949 film called Adams Rib, which also featured an infamous liquorice gun scene.

The gun used in the film was also made out of liquorice produced in Pontefract.ï¿½ ï¿½Introduced by Bruce Forsyth, Acker Bilk was filmed playing Stranger on The Shore on a clarinet on London Weekendï¿½s ï¿½Beat the Clockï¿½ during the 1950s. The clarinet was made from liquorice and made at W.R. Wilkinsonï¿½s, Pontefract, but unfortunately due to the the heat from the studio lights it began to melt and dropped onto the floor.ï¿½ ï¿½I remember the liquorice works of Eubanks was bombed during the war, it was the only liquorice works to be hit and there was sugar and stuff running all down the street at Friarwood, where the hospital is now. I would have been about eight-years-old at the time and me and a group of other kids were picking lumps of sugar up off the floor and eating it.ï¿½ ï¿½All the liquorice factories in Pontefract were originally family owned, every factory borne by a family; there were no big corporations like there is today.

Wilkinson's present factory on Monkhill was established by a gentleman named Mr. W.H. Marshall who came to Pontefract from Somerset to work for W.R. Wilkinson who at that time had a factory down Skinner Lane opposite the cemetery at the back of the old workhouse. Mr. Marshall was a dynamic businessman who ended up becoming the sole proprietor of the company. When I started at the Monkhill factory as a young lad, you could go back there on an evening, which we did on frequent occasions along with many of the girls, to play putting, bowls and tennis.ï¿½ ï¿½After the war, a former employee by the name of Norman Theodore Harrison was asked to take over the running of the factory which he agreed to do. Norman served at Wilkinsonï¿½s with great success and by this time the company were exporting all over the world. He employed around 500-600 women, many of whom were terrified of him. The girls gave him the nickname of ï¿½Buzzerï¿½ because he was always buzzing all over the place and you could never catch up with him.

ï¿½Buzzerï¿½ was an absolute tyrant, working in the factory from 6.00am in the morning until 8.00pm at night, five days per week, but he certainly put W.R. Wilkinsonï¿½s on the map.ï¿½ ï¿½Wilkinsonï¿½s was a family run business but it was a sweat shop - in fact they were all sweat shops; it was extremely hard work and you hadn't a minute to spare. You were allowed to go to the canteen on a morning or afternoon and had two minutes to walk there and two minutes to walk back, so by the time you got to the canteen you had four minutes during which you could either have a cigarette, a cup of tea or a visit to the toilet but you hadn't time for all the lot. ï¿½Buzzerï¿½ ruled with an iron rod and I suppose people hated his guts really but they admired him for his dynamism and effort.

Yes, they were sweat shops and it was the worst years of my life working in those factories.ï¿½ ï¿½Sadly, the Marshall family died within a few years of each other and crippled with death duties they had little option but to sell out to Trebor Bassett of Sheffield. By this time Norman Harrison was 65 years old and he found it difficult to adapt to a big company coming on to the scene and so he retired from the position. However, you couldnï¿½t help but admire his energy and enthusiasm.ï¿½ ï¿½I remember once, shortly after Norman had produced some new mints, he wanted a name for them and a competition was held with people being invited to submit their suggestions. I was the one who suggested they were called ï¿½Wilko Mintsï¿½ and he gave me a cash prize for coming up with the name. I used the prize money to purchase a Lambretta scooter.ï¿½ ï¿½As already mentioned, I met my wife while working at Wilkinsonï¿½s and there is a little story that goes with that.

One day she came home and told me that she had accidentally packed her engagement ring in a packet of liquorice allsorts. Well I reckoned to blow my top but I weren't right bothered cos I didn't give a right lot for it but she doesn't know that to this day. We found out later that those liquorice allsorts had gone all the way to America so somebody in America would have opened a box of liquorice allsorts containing a lovely diamond ring. They had an x-ray machine at Wilkinsonï¿½s but I don't think they x-rayed all the products that went out in those days. It was just luck if they managed to catch something.ï¿½ ï¿½There was one lady working at Wilkinsonï¿½s called Nellie Murray. Now little Nellie lived up Willow Park and she lost her boyfriend on Armistice Day in 1918 and she never ever got over it. She never married and she became a figurehead at Wilkinsonï¿½s.

Itï¿½s been estimated that over the years she must have made 22,000,000 liquorice pipes and in those days all the liquorice pipes were made by hand as well as the cakes and Nellie sat at a table making these pipes every day of her working life.ï¿½ ï¿½As far as Pontefract goes, liquorice is part of our Heritage. Wakefield go on about rhubarb, but you can grow rhubarb almost anywhere. You canï¿½t grow liquorice just anywhere!ï¿½ Tom Shay Dixon was speaking with Michael Norfolk Roots of History with Tom Shay Dixon was published in the Digest Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 1, July 2007. Pontefract cake - definition of Pontefract cake in English | Oxford Dictionaries Definition of Pontefract cake in English: Pontefract cake A flat round liquorice sweet.

Example sentences ‘Monkhill Confectionery in Pontefract, which produces the town's famous Pontefract cakes, employs around 500 staff.’ ‘Another traditional British liquorice confection goes by the name of Pontefract cakes, or Yorkshire pennies, little shiny black liquorice sweets, about 2 cm in diameter, stamped with an impression of a castle and an owl.’ ‘The monks met a confectioner who started to produce the Pontefract cakes as sweets, which are still sold today.’ ‘Liquorice was cultivated by the monks at Pontefract in Yorkshire in the 16th Century and used in Pontefract cakes.’ ‘Not only were there glossy, pornographic pictures of Pontefract cakes and midget gems, there was also an online shop!’ Origin Mid 19th century: named after Pontefract (earlier Pomfret), a town in northern England where the sweets were first made. Pronunciation Which of the following is a type of monkey or ape? spider monkey Which of the following is a type of monkey or ape? bat monkey Which of the following is a type of monkey or ape?

yowler Which of the following is a type of monkey or ape? gorilla Which of the following is a type of monkey or ape? Diana monkey Which of the following is a type of monkey or ape? loris Which of the following is a type of monkey or ape? proboscis monkey Which of the following is a type of monkey or ape? velvet Which of the following is a type of monkey or ape? bonnet macaque Which of the following is a type of monkey or ape? rambutan You scored /10 practise again? Retry Most popular in the world Australia A TASTE OF BRITAIN: Yorkshire Pudding, Parkin and Pomfret Cakes Pudding, Parkin and Pomfret Cakes by Dawn Copeman Do you fancy a Toad in the Hole followed by some Fat Rascals? No? How about some Spotted Dick then? Okay, I admit they don't sound very appetising and that's the problem with British food -- great dishes, weird names, and that can put people off.

So let me take you on a culinary tour of Britain, let me reassure you that we don't actually eat toads, let me guide you through the specialities of each of our regions and help you to taste the best of Britain, past and present and demystify British food for you as we go along. As we're in York, I'll begin with Yorkshire pudding. The word pudding conjures up images of desserts, cream, sweetness and whilst Yorkshire puddings can be eaten as a dessert, they are mainly a savoury dish. Confused? I'll explain. Yorkshire puddings are made from a batter, similar to pancakes. They have been in existence since the middle ages when they were made by placing the tin containing the batter underneath the meat roasting on a spit. The reasoning being that the dripping fat would add more flavour to the pudding. They were at that time known as Dripping Puddings. Incidentally, if Yorkshire puddings weren't being made, a tin would be placed underneath the meat to catch the fat. Once this fat had cooled, it was called Dripping and spread onto bread as a savoury filling. Tubs of dripping can still be bought in butcher shops today.

As a child I regularly ate dripping sandwiches and they taste better than they sound. The modern recipe has its origins in a recipe developed in the eighteenth century by a cook named Hannah Glasse, and from that point on dripping puddings became known as Yorkshire puddings. There are two varieties of Yorkshire pudding: small, individual ones -- often known as popovers, which are eaten alongside the meat -- and flat, large ones, the size of a dinner plate. The traditional way to eat a Yorkshire pudding is to have a large, flat one filled with gravy and vegetables as a starter. Then when the meal is over, any unused puddings should be served with jam or ice-cream as a dessert. This is certainly the way we ate them when I was growing up and delicious they were too, both as starter and dessert. Yorkshire pudding batter is the main ingredient in that famous and confusing British dish, Toad in the Hole. The toad simply means the meat filling.

Originally it was a means of stretching expensive meat so that it would feed more people, (there's an 18th century recipe for toad in the hole using fillet steak), then the toad became a means of using up left-over meat, and now the toad is sausages. Obviously there's more to Yorkshire food than Yorkshire pudding. Wensleydale cheese, for example, has been made in Hawes, West Yorkshire since the French Cistercian monks arrived there in the twelfth century. Traditionally two types of Wensleydale were produced -- White Wensleydale -- a hard cheese with a crumbly, moist texture, which is ripened for three weeks; and Blue veined Wensleydale, which is ripened for six months and is similar to Stilton, but mellower and creamier. Today however, a wide variety of Wensleydale cheese is produced. Go and see for yourself, the Hawes creamery is open to visitors every day except Christmas day. If you fancy something sweet then why not try Pontefract cakes? These sweets were developed as a result of the liquorice plants brought to Yorkshire by Crusaders returning from the Mediterranean in the 15th century.

These plants were then grown and used by monks at Pontefract priory in West Yorkshire. Then in the eighteenth century an apothecary from Pontefract called George Dunhill, decided to use this liquorice to make small, round liquorice sweets, stamped with the image of a castle and thus Pontefract cakes, or as they're also known, Pomfret cakes were born. By the 19th Century liquorice was being grown all over Pontefract, there were 4 factories producing Pontefract cakes and liquorice was the largest employer in the town. There is still one factory producing the sweets today and the importance of liquorice to the town is celebrated by an annual liquorice festival. The Vikings are said to have invented our next Yorkshire food. Parkin is a type of ginger tea-bread, known as a 'cut and come again cake', because it is an economical cake that lasts for a long time. Many versions of Parkin were made around the country, but the Yorkshire one, made with just a little fat is the one which is still made today.

Parkin was often traditionally eaten on Bonfire night, the 5th November, when we remember the attempt by Guy Fawkes to blow up Parliament. In parts of West Yorkshire the 5th November is known as Parkin Day. One place where Parkin is reputedly not eaten on Bonfire Night is St Peter's School in York, where a certain Guy Fawkes was educated. Whilst a slice of Parkin and a cup of tea make a wonderful little snack whilst out shopping in the Shambles, maybe a few Fat Rascals would be more to your liking. These are rich, large, fruit scones made with almonds, cherries and citrus peel. Perhaps you'd like to try a Yorkshire Curd Tart. This type of cheesecake has been made in Yorkshire for over 250 years and was originally made from the fresh curds left over from the making of cheese such as Wensleydale. The traditional version was made using Rosewater, the modern version is usually made with currants. In either case the dish is mild, creamy and sweet a perfect tea time treat! I hope I've given you a flavor of the best Yorkshire food.

Why not try it at home, or, if you're in York, visit one of the many tea rooms. My personal recommendations are: Betty's of York, 6-8 St Helens Square (good but pricey at around $50 for two people) Baileys Tea Rooms (also sell roast meals), 7 Museum Street. Reeds Tea Rooms (again does hot meals), 20-22 High Petergate. Recipes Yorkshire Pudding When making Yorkshire pudding, ensure the batter is cold and the oven is very hot! Ensure you've heated the dripping in the pan before you put the batter in. 1 cup all purpose flour 2 eggs 1 cup milk (or water) 1/2 stick lard or dripping or 3 fl oz olive oil A pinch of salt An eight inch round or square tin for a large pudding, or small tins for individual puddings. Pre heat the oven at 230°C, 450°F or Gas Mark 8. Put the dripping into the tin(s) and let it get very hot. Mix flour and salt in a bowl, make a dip in the middle and add the eggs.

Stir with a wooden spoon, gradually adding milk or water, until all the flour has been absorbed. Add remaining liquid and beat well. It should be fairly runny, similar in consistency to single cream. Pour batter into hot dripping in the tins. Bake a large pudding for 30 mins, small puddings for 20 mins. As a variation on this try my dad's Christmas Yorkshire puddings. All year my mum made the Yorkshire puddings for our meals, except on Christmas day, when my dad made the Christmas lunch. It took me years to persuade him to tell me what made his puddings taste so fantastic, and here is his secret ingredient ï¿½ just add a tablespoon of sage and onion stuffing mix to the dry ingredients, and add a drop more liquid (about a tablespoon) to compensate. Go on, try it. Parkin Liquorice fields to return to the UK after a 100-year absence | Daily Mail Online Liquorice fields to return to the UK after a 100-year absence comments Liquorice is to be produced commercially in Britain again for the first time in more than 100 years.

Planting is to start this week in Pontefract, the West Yorkshire town that was once the liquorice centre of the UK. Farmer Robert Copley, 42, hopes to bring back the kind of liquorice sticks once commonly found in sweetshops. Robert Copley believes he will be able to cut hundreds of six-inch chewing sticks from each plant He believes he will be able to cut hundreds of six-inch chewing sticks from each plant, sell them for £1 each and establish a profitable new sideline at his 120-acre Ravensknowle Farm. He said: 'It is possible to get three to four tons of liquorice from one acre and as the plants grow in all seasons, we will have liquorice all year.' Mr Copley has bought his liquorice from a nursery in Wakefield which supplies them as decorative plants to gardeners. But his plan is to establish the only commercial liquorice farm in the country. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share Liquorice was once so important to the town, the sprawling fields inspired Sir John Betjeman to write a love poem, The Licorice Fields of Pontefract.

In 1885, there were ten companies in the UK producing the sticks but growers could not meet demand. Imports flooded in and farmers gave up the crop. Today, there are just two factories, Tangerine Confectionery and Haribo. Both use liquorice mainly grown in Turkey, Italy and Spain. The plant is described as looking like a privet, which is ornamental and similar to a wisteria but thicker The root was first brought to the town in 1090 by Crusaders returning from their Middle East campaigns and was later grown in the 14th century by Spanish monks who settled at Pontefract Priory and other parts of northern England where the root was even nicknamed 'Spanish'. Its main purpose then a medicine to ease coughs and stomach complaints and by 1614 liquorice extract was being formed into small lozenges. But it was not until 1750 that a local apothecary, George Dunhill, decided to add sugar to the recipe and liquorice became a sweet, known as the Pomfret or Pontefract Cake.

Mr Copley’s 12-inch bushes is expected to grow seven feet tall and three foot wide in two years when the first crop will be ready. He is thrilled to revive a crop that has been so important to the town’s history. He added: 'Liquorice grows well round here because we have the right soil which is sandy and easy-draining. The plant looks like a privet. It is quite ornamental and similar to a wisteria but thicker. 'In warm countries the plant produces purple or pale blue flowers but it’s too cold here for the liquorice to flower. But that’s a good thing because it will make my liquorice roots even sweeter.' He hopes the liquorice will provide another attraction to entice visitors to the farm. He said: 'We are always looking at new ways to create an interesting experience on the farm. No-one else is growing liquorice commercially any more so I thought this was a good idea. 'We have a lot of children visiting the farm and we might decide to experiment with some sweet liquorice recipes. But my idea is sell the liquorice in six-inch twigs as a mouth-freshener or chewing stick.

'People chew and suck on the wood, it goes mushy and then you spit out the mush. I might also dry some out and grind it to a fine powder to flavour ice cream, beer, pork pies and sausages.'

Question: What is the name of the ‘cake’ which is flat, round, made of licorice and named after a Yorkshire town?
Answer: Pontefract Cake