Kokova Magazine

Farmhouse Kitchen was created in 2001 by Steve, Pip and Mo, out of a sense of exasperation at not finding good quality jams, chutneys and marmalades without additives and preservatives being offered at a reasonable price. Based at The Old Piggery in Canterbury, Farmhouse Kitchen are part of Produced in Kent.

The team have known each other for a number of years and were joined by Steve Webb about 18 months ago as the manager at Farmhouse Kitchen. This was at the time when Farmhouse Kitchen up-scaled production and they moved premises to the renovated piggery in Canterbury. It’s a close and small team working together and sometimes they even join each other for social occasions.

Steve and Mo work on recipe development and are now at a stage where they have extended the range to include mustards, sauces, bacon jam, ice cream sauces and curd. Mo wanders around the county delivering the orders, as well as looking for new markets, picking up ingredients, and helping out in the office.

They have a full product list of Single Fruit Jams, Mixed Fruit Jams, Jellies, Marmalades and Chutneys. They may also make other varieties if there is a glut of a particular fruit.

I tried their Raspberry Jam, Loadsa Peel Marmalade, Bramley Apple Chutney, Mellow Mango Chutney and Red Onion Marmalade. I am afraid the Raspberry Jam disappeared on toast, which I ate with the help my children, over the Easter holidays. The children loved it, packed full of fruit and a beautiful colour. The Marmalade was just how I like it; slightly tart, full of peel and tangy on my toast.

One evening I made a curry from scratch. It’s my favourite one-pot recipe and I served it with Mellow Mango Chutney. I thought the chutney was chunky with mango pieces but not too over-sweet - as some brands can be! I served the Apple Chutney on miniature cheese scones as a delicious canapé idea, when we had friends over at the weekend.

Bacon, Brie and Red Onion Marmalade Quiche

This would also be delicious with sausages added in to the quiche.

Ingredients

• 250 g 250g streaky bacon
• 400g puff pastry
• 125g brie, sliced
• 2 large eggs
• 250ml fresh cream or milk
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 (45 ml) chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 4 tbsp (60 ml) onion marmalade

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 °C (convection oven) or 200 °C (conventional oven).
2. Lightly grease a quiche tin or ovenproof dish.
3. Keep 3 or 4 bacon rashers to one side and dice the rest.
4. In a non-stick frying pan, fry the diced bacon and rashers until crispy and keep to one side.
5. Line the greased quiche tin with the puff pastry.
6. Place a few slices of brie on the base and top with the diced bacon.
7. Whisk the eggs, cream, seasoning and parsley together and pour into the quiche tin.
8. Dollop with the onion marmalade and top with the remaining brie and the bacon rashers.
9. Bake for 25–30 minutes.

Overall I found the products to be of a high quality. I do not like over sweet jams and chutneys. These these were not. !
They were all packed full of fruit and I liked the taste of them all, with or without other foods - or as an addition to a recipe.

For more information, visit www.farmhousekitchen.net