The best of Abergavenny Food Festival

I NEVER tire of Abergavenny Food Festival. I went for the third year with my mum and Auntie Sue and discovered some great products.

It takes over the whole of the market town, which has the beautiful black mountains hovering in the background. There is so much to see and do. We arrived at 9.30am and didn’t leave until 5pm, and that was only because we were tired of walking!

We went to two talks- the first one was with Nick Tonkin of Coedcanlas honey and Hattie Ellis, who is a food writer. They spoke about the wonder of bees and how much they love the humble honey. We tried about 12 different honey, which were so varied.

My favourite was the Sicilian lemon honey, which was delicious, fragrant and light. The lavender was very fragrant and sweet as you would expect. The buttercup honey was very strange- as you would expect!

Nick is passionate about bees. He has 90 hives in the west of Wales. He said he is not overly concerned about the future of bees as they have been around for 70 million years in their current form and are very adaptable. It take two million plants to make one pot of honey, which made the sweet stuff seem even more special.

Later on we went to Ben Tish and Simon Mullins’ Food and Wine of the Basque Country. It was pretty chaotic and organised but that added to the charm of the event. They talked about their restaurants (Salt Yard Group) and their visits to the Basque country.

They cooked eggs on a tomato and pepper base, seasoned with paprika. It was tasty and had a good kick and was served with a delicious wine called Txakoli, which was very light.

They then cooked hake on the bone with mussels, which was also lovely. The fish was meaty and had a depth of flavour. I would recommend this fish again.

As for the products I bought- I would recommend all of the ones I bought.

The Potted Game Company (www.pottedgame.com): Delicious morsels of tender meat in a rich butter. I opted for the Partridge- great with warm, crusty bread.

Wye Valley Granola (www.wyevalleygranola.co.uk): Oats, seeds and nuts gently baked by hand and a lot less sugar than commercial brands.

Coedcanlas honey (www.coedcanlas.com)– some of the best I have ever tried.

Neal’s Yard goat’s cheese (www.nealsyardcreamery.co.uk) I am not even a big fan of cheese but this is lovely- really creamy, zesty and light.

The Port of Lancaster Smokehouse (www.lancastersmokehouse.co.uk) Great smoked mackerel with chilli and lime. Great with pasta.

The Garlic Farm pork scratching (www.thegarlicfarm.co.uk) Incredibly moreish.

British Cassis (www.britishcassis.co.uk) Absolutely delicious raspberry alcoholic drink.

For lunch I had a brisket roll with pickles, Jalepeno’s,  cheese and gravy from the Hang Fire Smokehouse (www.hangfiresmokehouse.com). The meat was tender and flavoursome and I liked the added extras.

And for pudding I would hesitate to recommend Gower Cottage Brownies (www.gowercottagebrownies.co.uk). It was everything you want in a brownie and I would highly recommend this and a visit to Abergavenny Food Festival next year.