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April 2008
This has been a busy winter for us, with a staff shortage and several export orders. So we have not had as much time as we would like to experiment with new recipes. However we made a new fruit vinegar - from greengages - and a Green Label (no added sugar) Quince Jam. The latter was a customer request. We are always happy to make up new preserves for customers - as long as we can source the ingredients. So DO let us know if you have a craving for something that is not already on our list!
The Green Label jams and marmalades are made in very small quantities, but they still take a lot of cooking to get them anywhere near a jam consistency. Please remember, if you order them, that they do not have as firm a set as jams made with sugar, and they are also much darker than usual, due to the long cooking.
The fruit prices this year have all gone up much more than usual, due to poor crops and increased demand (mainly from an expanding Chinese market). In fact some of the dried fruits we use are already sold out so that we have to wait for the 2008 crop to come in, later this year.
We have made some changes to our website, and one of these makes online payment possible - through Paypal. if you have any comments to make about this, we would be pleased to hear them.
Your packages come to you filled with the surplus cardboard and paper that we shred up - we have a most useful and efficient machine. For the gardeners among you, the compost heap is a good place to dispose of it. Also for any gardeners who come to visit us at Felin Wen, we have a huge supply of bark chippings which you are most welcome to help yourself to - bring heavy duty plastic sacks. The trees in our woodland are growing really fast in all this rain and we have had to do a lot of trimming and cutting back. The bark makes excellent mulch for beds.
For the gift section we still have the very pretty lined silk drawstring bags embroidered with our tree fern logo. We put a light wicker tray in the base to make them hold their shape. You can choose from the following colours of silk: Apple green, ivory white, peach, aquamarine, violet or chestnut brown. The bags will hold 3 of the 340g jars - £9.00 plus the cost of the 3 jars you choose. Long term, the bags are most useful to organise small items like alarm clock and glasses when packing a bag - or around the house for sewing gear or whatever.
If you plan on sending a larger gift, please phone or email to tell us what you would like to send, and we will find a basket of the right size to pack the jars.
The large 900g jars are still available. Jams and marmalades are £8.30 (for 340g jars priced at £3.90), £8.70 (£4.05), £9.10 (£4.20) and £9.50 (£4.35) . For the chutneys and pickles, the corresponding prices are £9.60 (£4.30), £10.00(£4.40), £10.25 (£4.55), £10.65 (£4.70) and £11.20 (£4.80).
If you can be in London between 24th and 27th April, please come and see us at the Realfood Festival at Earls Court - Stand P494. There will be hundreds of small food firms like ours, selected on the basis of the Slow Food movement. This began in Italy in 1986 and is now international - encouraging small specialist producers of good food and drink. You can find our more on www.slowfood.com and details of the Festival are on www.realfoodfestival.co.uk We look forward to seeing you there, and if you would like an order brought for you to collect there, please let us know in advance - we will not be able to bring our entire range with us. If you wish to buy a ticket in advance (at a reduced price) please use the code RFP011, when you go online.
Kind regards
Wendy
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