Kokova Magazine

If like us you are searching for an alternate to the meat on offer at the major supermarkets but have yet to discover your local fresh producing butcher then take a look at the new Butcher's Boxes available from historic Smithfield butchers Keevil and Keevil. These 'selection boxes' provide butcher-quality meat at prices comparable to supermarkets - perfect for hungry families to stock up freezers to last all month.

Going dairy- and gluten-free can have its limitations when it comes to finding good quality iced desserts and puddings. You either plump for a sugar-laden cake (delicious but not for everyday) or you settle for an alternate form of ice-cream that lacks any of the attributes you desire other than it being cold. Taste seems to go out of the window with free-from iced desserts so we were delighted to discover the Frozen Fruit Company at this year's Speciality & Fine Foods Fair.

The festive party season is on its way - and before you even think Christmas we have Halloween, Bonfire Night and Thanksgiving to think of. So to get you in the party mood and take the strain out of finding great snacks and drinks we took a look at some of the new and upcoming producers at this year's Speciality and Fine Foods Fair at Olympia.

The official cobnut season is well underway, with 'nutters' (as the pickers are commonly known) selecting only the best cobnuts down at Potash Farm - to make into their scrummy Cobnut Fudge. High quality Belgian chocolate is combined with toasted cobnuts to produce a buttery, melt in the mouth fudge. This deliciously more-ish treat is sure to get you into the festive spirit.

After a lovely, yet wet, weekend visit to CarFest South at the end of August we are certainly looking forward to the news that we are about to enter an Indian Summer as autumn starts. And if the glorious sunshine streaming through our office windows is anything to go by, we will be needing more BBQ food and equipment before Summer 2014. So it was exciting to meet so many great business owners and food producers at CarFest.

A few days ago we were basking in the Summer sun, enjoying drinks and bbq's in the garden, looking for ways to keep cool. Now as we sit looking out on to a bleak day of drizzle and cloud it seems almost too early to be discussing Christmas but the onset of Autumn is only two weeks away. And if Autumn is upon us then Christmas will be following close on its heels.