Interesting to ponder, for a minute, what you expect when someone offers you a snack. Are you imagining a monstrous, cartoon layered scooby-snack, a weighty slice of bread on the bottom balancing a slab of every meat you can think of, a ginormous slice of beef tomato, a hunk of cheese bigger than a small country and a gravity defying top slice keeping it all together? 

​Or are you, like my children, imagining a chocolate-laden Swiss roll – chocolate sponge rolled expertly around chocolate butter icing and all excessively encased in solid chocolate (because two types of chocolate in a snack can only ever be improved by adding a third). 

Or are you, like me, imagining a wrought iron balcony, looking out to the Mediterranean, a warm breeze ruffling your skirt as gentle music plays and a waiter brings you three little dishes of delicious savoury morsels to accompany a glass of cold rose?

​If you’re on my wavelength, and those three little dishes hold a trio of olives, nuts and sweet chilli rice crackers then you too should have Mr Filbert’s Fine Foods on speed-dial.​

Their foil packages of “really interesting snacks” mean that you can experience the delights of snacking absolutely anywhere and that imaginary Mediterranean balcony can be in the layby off the M5 if your handbag holds a snack pack with Mr Filbert on the cover.

​​We, at Fabulous Farm Shops, recently had the good fortune to review three of their snacks (Pitted mixed olives with rosemary & garlic, French rosemary almonds and Traditional beef biltong) and found them quite delightful (read more here). So another box of goodies was sent our way and the gallant review panel, arms twisted, stepped forward with their hands cupped and ready for the next round of tasting.

​On the table this time:
 
Basil, garlic and coriander marinated olives (snack pack)
Sweet chilli rice crackers (sharing pack)
Peanuts and Hazelnuts with Italian herbs (snack pack)

​Well, anyone offering me my own little packet of olives to snack on immediately goes on my Christmas card list so I, for one, was pretty happy to see olives on the menu again. This time they are marinated in basil, garlic and coriander which is a slightly controversial mixture. Some of the review panel members turned their nose up at the thought of coriander. I have recently learnt that one’s delight or revulsion at the taste of coriander is a genetic predisposition rather than a simple taste preference. If coriander tastes like soapy water to you, then it is just the way you were born! 

​Fortunately, Mr Filbert’s use of coriander in his snack pack of olives is very sparing and the light hint of herbiness across these olives is perfectly balanced. There’s a nod to the Mediterranean without an overwhelming perfume or flavour. 

” a subtle hint of summer nights”

…wrote one reviewer. “Soft and scrumptious” crooned another and “Moreish” scribbled a third.

​The word moreish was deliberated over for a while by the review panel. Meaning “so good it leaves you wanting more” it was certainly applicable to this little pack of snack olives. This was not a sharing pack. It was a small handful of the most succulent, gently flavoured green olives. Some were left desperate for more whilst others felt that the volume was perfect for a little one-person accompaniment to a cool beverage. I certainly didn’t want to share mine with anyone. They can have my last rolo but I’m keeping my Filbert’s olives.

​Next in the bowl were the sweet chilli rice crackers. Now if you’re after a bag of goodies to share with your mates, then you’ve come to the right snack. This is a sharing pack and a generous one at that. The packaging is fantastic as the resealable pouch can be easily closed and keeps the rice crackers gloriously fresh for the next bout of the munchies and there weren’t many who could have finished off this pack all by themselves. They pack a serious punch of chilli sweetness which knocks some sense into you.  Often a sharing pack is just an excuse to eat three times more than you know is sensible but here we had a snack you want to take your time over.

​The crackers are small and intense, a glorious orangey colour with a fabulous crunch. Pop a couple in your mouth and the sweet chilli gets the juices flowing then a powerful kick of flavour demands your attention. It was slightly unexpected on the first mouthful, eyes opened wide and a few coughs escaped but everyone, and I mean everyone, came back for more.

“Fabulous explosion on the tongue!!!!”

… was one comment, followed by a liberal sprinkling of exclamation marks. “WoW” shouted another. “Ker POW” added another (who thought he was in a Marvel comic and not writing for an extremely respectable and serious review panel).

A definite hit.

​Our third and final treat for the day was another smaller snack pack containing a pleasing mixture of peanuts and hazelnuts with Italian herbs.  Everyone noted the packet and were in favour of the realistic and attractive picture on the front. Knowing how hard it is to photograph food and make it look enticing, the consensus was that Mr Filbert’s have got it just right. The packaging gives you a good indication of what your senses are about to experience. Light and colourful but with a cleanness to the presentation which only makes you want to snack more. Excellent work.

​Now for the taste test. Again, eager hands were held out for a good sprinkling of nut magic. And no one was disappointed. An even distribution of herby flavouring was noted and the taste was a “just right” on the Goldilocks’ scale of appreciation.

​“ooh, a real change from the norm” 

…wrote one nut-lover.  “Perky” suggested another and the word “moreish” was rolled out again by various reviewers. One wrote a full essay on the pleasures of enjoying Mr Filbert’s peanuts and hazelnuts whilst watching a game of cricket with a cold beer. It was an excellent essay despite the awful handwriting and the unsightly beer stains on the paper but the message was clear… 

​“I will be buying these snacks in the future”
​ 
​- accompanied by a very good doodle of a wicket keeper. 

​See! – snacks beyond expectation.

If you would like to stock these fabulous little snacks in your farm shop then get in touch with Filbert’s Fine Foods:
by phone 01458 833744
by email sales@filbertsfinefoods.co.uk
or online mrfilberts.com/pages/trade

If you have a product you would like us to review, please contact

theAteam@fabulousfarmshops.co.uk

“Work Hard, Snack Often” could be our office motto here at Fabulous Farm Shops HQ so when a box of goodies arrived from Mr Filbert’s, bearing their wonderful strapline “REALLY INTERESTING SNACKS”, there were some mild palpitations amongst those lucky enough to be on the review panel.

​Up for review were three different snack pouches holding an exotic assortment of yummies:

Pitted mixed olives with rosemary & garlic
French rosemary almonds
Traditional beef biltong

​And the first thing to mention is the concept. These fabulous little pouches are crying out to be poked into the side of a picnic basket or a lunch box or a cooler bag. Imagine packing a picnic for a day at the beach and all you need to do is chill the wine, make a thermos of coffee and open the cupboard to an array of pouches. Hmmm today I’ll have almonds lightly dusted in rosemary!

​Where were these pouches when I was struggling to find interesting snacks for my children’s lunch boxes (is a box of raisins ok for the fifth day in a row, darling?). My son would have been very excited to have a packet of biltong in his lunch box instead of another solid and stinking peperami!

The packaging is lovely too. Fresh and enticing pictures of the product adorn the front of the pouches with a cute little colourful drawing of Mr Filbert in his apron all beautifully coordinated with the title on the packet. I know one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, or a snack by its packet, but if the picture on the front sets one’s juices flowing then it needs a mention. Good packet, good expectations and farm shop customers are much more likely to pop one in their basket. Hoorah!

So let’s get down to business and tell you what we thought of the pitted mixed olives with rosemary & garlic!

​Well, personally I’m an olive fiend. Having spent the first 25 years of my life doing whatever I could to avoid the little blighters, something flicked a switch in me whilst on my travels, I welcomed olives into my life and have spent the next 25 years trying to make up for lost time. To find a pouch of olives which is RESEALABLE (thank you Mr Filbert for thinking of everything), lightly bathed in rosemary and garlic and created without excessive oil… well Hallelulah!

​The packet tells us that this is…

Easy snacking:
No stones, no oil, no mess

​And they are right about that. These olives are well-behaved and could accompany you anywhere. Equally at home on a bohemian beach blanket or a starched white table-clothed dinner table… they are deliciously UNmessy. You could stick these in your backpack, nibble on them whilst traversing the Camino de Santiago and still shake hands with the pilgrims on arrival – without making them greasy.

​The general consensus from our review panel was that there was just the right amount of flavouring. The garlic and rosemary are present without being overpowering and add a smattering of interest whilst letting the olive be the star of the show.

​The only question that divided opinion was of the texture of the olive. Some loved the slightly soft consistency of the pitted olives and couldn’t get enough of them whilst others wished for something a lot harder which requires proper robust nibbling!  

​Almost all reviewers could imagine themselves on a foreign balcony, with a glass of something cold in one hand, a handful of Mr Filbert’s olives in the other and the warmth of a Mediterranean sun warming their skin. Now THAT is a good snack!

​​Next to be poured into our little hors d’oeuvres bowls were the French rosemary almonds and they made quite an entrance.  These are very pretty nuts! Not a phrase I have written before, but a large proportion of the review panel mentioned the glaze on these almonds and how good they looked before they made it into any mouths.

​Words like “enticing” and “gorgeous” and “attractive” were being banded about and they weren’t talking about me!  One reviewer went so far as to scribble “tempting little brown nuggets of nuttiness” which makes me happy just to type!

​The smell of the almonds was also celebrated. A slight dusting of rosemary had one reviewer turning poetic and imagining themselves “brushing through a herb garden” and another “smelling sunshine”.

​But it was the glorious act of snacking on these beautiful nuts which brought the most accolades. The “perfect combination” whispered someone in hushed and reverential tones. “Beautifully moreish – I never want to stop,” said another. “Dangerous” scribbled someone else, as they reached for another. “I would SO buy these”.

The firm crunch is just right, the dusting of herbs is perfect and the sugar/salt ratio is bang on. This little “light aromatic snack” is a unanimous hit with the Fabulous Farm Shops Review Panel and we can see why the packet is the proud bearer of a Great Taste award rosette.

​These almonds were always going to be a hard act to follow and the Traditional beef biltong was going to struggle to compete in these conditions. A little palette cleanse was called for, a walk around the block and a taste reset.

​The field was divided into biltong eaters and non-eaters which always makes the process slightly trickier. Some were self-proclaimed aficionados whilst others were biltong virgins and the results were equally extreme.  For some, the biltong was a bit too “interesting“, a step too far, but then a rallying cry could be heard from the back of the room. “This would be lovely with red wine“ chirped someone….”beautifully moist with a crisp edge” chimed another. “Mouthfuls of aromatic wonder” mused the poet. 

​“You can’t please all the people all of the time” scribbled the scribe and made a mental note of how successful marmite has become despite half the world being less than supportive!

​So there you have it… three of Mr Filbert’s fabulous snacks and our humble opinions. There are other flavours and other products available on their website at mrfilberts.com and some wonderful combination snacking selections from “indulgent” to “vegan” to “tapas” to “for him” collections.

​All the snacks are created in Somerset with carefully foraged ingredients with an emphasis on healthier and delicious snacks which are, as their advertising suggests, truly
​“beyond expectation”.

If you would like to stock these fabulous little snacks in your farm shop then get in touch with Filbert’s Fine Foods:
by phone 01458 833744
by email sales@filbertsfinefoods.co.uk
or online mrfilberts.com/pages/trade

If you have a product you would like us to review, please contact

theAteam@fabulousfarmshops.co.uk

Our review panel like to think they know a thing or two about jam. Several of them make their own every summer and, not wishing to brag, wonder if there is anything out there that could equal or even top their homemade pots of love.

​Step forward Boddington’s Berries. A large box of jars arrived at the Fabulous Farm Shops HQ with a smorgasbord of offerings. Strawberry, raspberry, blackberry jams, marmalade, red onion relish, apple chutney and strawberry vinegar. Mouths started to water.

​We take our product reviews seriously here at HQ. A frenetic bout of photography was followed by some earnest sourcing of tasting accompaniments. Our wonderful local bakery, Lavender Blue (www.lavenderbluebakery.co.uk) was happy to supply us with some scrumptious scones, of the savoury variety to accompany the chutneys and some delicious plain ones for jams (more on that later!) and the excellent Trewithen Dairy   www.trewithendairy.co.uk/shop) couriered us some clotted cream. We could only allow genuine Cornish clotted cream to grace the top of Cornish jam.

​Just on the outskirts of the beautiful fishing village of Mevagissey, Boddington’s Berries have been growing strawberries for over 75 years and making preserves for the last 20. This part of England has the perfect climate for sweet, plump strawberries as the fruit ripens gradually, allowing the sugar content to increase as much as possible.

​But… the proof is in the pudding, as they say, so we settled in to an afternoon of tasting. A reverential hush descended on the room as we warmed the scones, applied the strawberry jam (jam before cream, of course, this IS Cornish jam and cream) and dolloped on the cream. Eyes rolled in heads, crumbs fell, small noises of pleasure escaped from various corners of the room. Heaven had come to earth.

​The scones were incredible, seriously delicious, and the cream was thick and dreamy and the jam, oh the jam! This was strawberriness personified. This was summer in your mouth. This was fruity sweetness at its most alluring.

​The smell of the jam took me back to my childhood and picking strawberries at our local farm with juicy fingers and itchy legs and the glorious juice of the stollen berries bursting into your mouth. It has a good body to it as you sink the spoon into the jar but gloopy enough to drop with gravity onto your toast. 

​The feedback was unanimous. Incredible strawberry jam!

“A taste of summer on a cold February mid-week evening – I can almost hear the birds singing, and ‘almost’ feel the sun on my face!”

“It is loaded with strawberries. “

“Consume within 1 month of opening it says. Who are they kidding? This will be finished within a couple of days. I’m spooning it straight from the jar into my mouth”

​The jam-makers amongst the review panel were particularly vocal. And several had even scribbled down “I’D BUY THIS” which was all they really needed to say. It is homemade, made in small batches with no preservatives, just sugar and lemon juice added to the many, many berries. And it tastes just like that. Home-made but without the palaver. No-one was surprised when it was revealed that it has won awards (Taste of the West gold winner 2022). It certainly gets the Fabulous Farm Shops seal of approval!

​Loosening our belt buckles, we moved on. Could the raspberry jam and blackberry jam be this good? 

​Both have an exceptionally high fruit content and are made in the traditional way with no added setting agents. The raspberry jam is simply berries and sugar. The blackberry jam has the addition of lemon juice. And let me tell you, both are delicious.

​The raspberry jam is pure fruity fabulousness, tasting the way a raspberry does when it is picked straight from the cane and popped into your mouth, a slight tang but then the sugar – a wonderful viscous burst of joy!
It conjured up visions of staying in a beautiful B&B by the seaside, coming down from a blissful night’s sleep to a table in a bay window, with white cotton table cloths and a toast rack…and Boddington’s Berries raspberry jam, decanted in a little cut glass jam pot. But I digress…

​Hard to believe but the blackberry jam was my favourite, just inching ahead by a nose. Perhaps that’s because I’m the one who loses herself in the hedgerows in Autumn, fingers purple and smudged, reaching for those plump, dark fruits amongst the brambles. There was a definite hint of the lemon juice to the flavour, which I loved, and the colour of the jam as I spooned it onto my bread and butter was jewel-like and regal. 

“Divine”

“It’s going in my basket”

“Freaking amazing”

…were amongst the scribbled comments from other panel members. Another winner!

​Could we take much more? Fearless reviewers, we plunged on. This time into a pot of marmalade.  Described as “fine to medium shred” and again made only with the purest ingredients and no suspicious additives. This is simply oranges, sugar and lemon juice.

​The colour is magnificent. Think stained glass window with the sun shining through or golden syrup topping vanilla ice-cream.  And the taste is tangy and sweet all rolled into one delicious, tongue-twisting mouthful. It’s quite runny – you have to have your wits about you when getting it onto your bread and butter – but that makes you get it into your mouth quicker. The marmalade I currently have in my fridge is set so hard, I almost need a chisel in the mornings, so this made a welcome change.

“reminded me of my grandma – she’d have put this in her cakes”

“mmmmmmmmmmmmm”

“not usually a marmalade fan but I actually really enjoyed this”

…were some of the sticky scribbled notes I received to collate. Another success!

​Time for some savoury treats. The cheese scones from Lavender Blue were warmed and cut (light and fluffy with a delicious texture), a selection of cheddar was sliced and we cleansed our palettes with water before settling in for some chutneys.

​The apple chutney was first up. The jar tells us it’s light and fruity and not overly spiced and bingo! – that’s exactly right. It has a subtle hint of spices which complements its accompaniments rather than over-powering them like so many chutneys.

“I could have just kept spooning the apple chutney long after the scone had gone!”

​One panel member often finds relish too sweet but found this one a perfect pitch of spice and sweetness. Another often finds relish too scented but, again, this one hit the spot. The Goldilocks of chutneys…just right!

​The red onion relish did it for me. I loaded it on in a most un-ladylike manner and became quite gluttonous for a few minutes there. No-one was allowed to talk to me whilst I savoured the experience and it was tough to leave the jar at HQ and not snaffle it up my sleeve or “accidently” drop it into my bag.

​Others agreed with me.

“does just what it says on the label – Delicious and Versatile”

“I dream of it spread over cheese, cold meats, bubble and squeak, sausages (mmmmm with sausages), and even on toast, pork pies, sausage rolls the list goes on.”

“Beautifully spiced and not at all vinegary, a wonderful accompaniment” 

​..and that’s from the lady who makes her own.

​Boddington’s Berries – we salute you. You have done things with berries that most of us only dream of and preserved things in jars that our grandmothers would have been proud of. Thank you for sharing these delicious pots with us and with the general public.

​If you have room on your farm shop shelves, then stock these beauties…and if you don’t, then make room! You won’t regret it.

Get in touch with Boddington’s Berries online at
www.boddingtonsberries.co.uk
www.boddingtonsberries.co.uk/trade-enquiries

If you have a product you would like us to review, please contact

theAteam@fabulousfarmshops.co.uk

The review team here at Fabulous Farm Shops takes its job seriously but when a new product arrives in HQ exclamations of “ooh” and “aaah” , even squeals of “eeeek” and, on one occasion, a little Irish jig have been witnessed at the unboxing stage.  This is particularly so when  an innovative product arrives, something none of us have ever seen before and, may we say, something we did not know that any of our lives were missing….but, ooh aah and eek, things change.

The good folk at Sizzll love their sausages and have been pondering for years how to stop a banger rolling about on its tray, wallowing in its own grease.  We know what they mean – that annoying sausage which will not turn over and cook its undercarriage no matter how nicely you try and coax it over with your tongs.

And after you have cooked, eaten, rubbed your belly with satisfaction, you then have the pain of washing up the grill pan or tray and scraping off the baked on grease in a sink which is rarely big enough to accommodate the pan. 

If these things have been putting you off your Sunday breakfast, then may we introduce you to the Sizzll.

Unboxing the trays from their packaging, we were struck by their ergonomic beauty. Perhaps that’s a funny thing to say about a tray to cook sausages in but they are hard to resist. “Strokable” was a word that emerged from one member of the team. “Ooh shiny” was another response (she does have rather magpie-esque tendencies!)

Coming in four choices of finish, there is one for every kitchen and just on looks alone, we would recommend them as a fabulous gift for the cook who thinks they have everything! Shiny stainless steel for the minimalists out there and three different coloured enamel finishes for the country kitchen enthusiasts among you (cream, racing green or black).

Pre Christmas and yet to fill up on turkey and pigs in blankets, we chose our weapons and each took a Sizzll home with us to try out.

One of our wonderful local farm shops, Kimbers’ Farm Shop in Charlton Musgrove, Somerset, had provided us with some of their delicious, free-range pork sausages for us to use in the Sizzll pans, so we were all set to ready, steady, cook.

There is room in the tray for eight sausages and each one sits in its own perfectly formed little bed. The shallow grooves hold the sausage in place and make it exceptionally easy to turn them once whilst cooking. These little built in walls are shallow to allow even cooking and the sausages are held slightly higher than the rest of the basin so that the fat from the sausage (should your sausage have a high fat content) sits in the depressions and is held away from the meat, making the sausage healthier. “More fun. Less fat” is the first half of Sizzll’s slogan!

In our separate kitchens across the South West, we all stared through the glass of our ovens (you can use a grill too!) and watched our sausages sizzle on their Sizzlls. And we all, unanimously, thoroughly enjoyed turning them over half way through their cooking time. A quick flick-over was simple. Not a single stubborn sausage rolled back and refused to turn, not a single expletive was uttered, not a single sigh heard. The Sizzll certainly solves the rolling sausage issue.

When the cooking time was up, the sausages lifted easily out of the pan. Again there was a unanimous verdict that nothing stuck to the tray, not a sausage (do you see what I did there?!)  One reviewer went so far as to say:

“After being quite sceptical about the Sizzll tin, I was really pleasantly surprised and, can I say, almost excited by the outcome.  The sausages looked beautifully plump, and nicely browned; most importantly they weren’t sat in their own fat, and didn’t stick to the tin, pulling off the all important crisped skin.  The sausages looked like very smart uniformed soldiers, all lined up in the very attractive Sizzll tin”

It’s a tough job but we managed to eat the sausages up (thanks again to Kimbers’ for our delicious teas) so that we could test the Sizzlls for their third and final claim…Less faff. Washing up time!

Washing up the grill pan is one of those jobs that everyone in my house fights over…fights over avoiding. “Sorry mum, I have so much homework tonight.”  “Sorry mum. My fingers are really sore from watching tik tok”. “Sorry darling. I’m rushing out to…do anything that’s not washing up”.
Excuses, excuses.
​Well, this pan is a joy to clean. Let me tell you that this could be the new THING…staying in to wash up your Sizzll could be the new going out.

Every member of the review panel said how incredibly easy it was to wash the pan. The grease pours away easily and then a bit of a soak and a brush and the grease lifts away from the tray leaving it completely, and I mean completely, clean… none of that baked on brown stuff that seems to linger on anything else I put in the oven. Beautiful!  Obviously, they also go in the dishwasher too but, trust me, you might actually choose to do it by hand, it’s so good! A great example of British-made quality. Hoorah.

SO there you have it. More fun. Less fat. Less faff.

We are living proof that the slogan is correct. These innovative pans make cooking your sausages a very, very pleasant experience and they look good in your kitchen. They are also suitable for one pan cooking so you could throw in your mushrooms, tomatoes, parsnips and carrots with your sausages to cook together and save time and washing up.

They have a fairly substantial price tag (retailing between £24 and £35, depending on the finish you choose) but 95% of the reviewers said they would absolutely love to receive one as a gift (even the vegetarian!) and the other 5% doesn’t like sausages and never does the washing up!

To take a look at the Sizzll website click here
You can order your own Sizzll pan direct here
​or get in touch here if you would like to stock Sizzll pans in your own shop

If you have a product you would like us to review, please contact

theAteam@fabulousfarmshops.co.uk