For centuries Essex has harvested fish, fattened cattle and sheep on its marshlands, worked the fertile lands of the interior and hunted game through its forests. Most towns celebrated local produce with seasonal festivals. Villages such as Tiptree have historically been fruit growing and in the past held Gooseberry-Pie days. Coastal villages had Sprat festivals; bacon and ham were the focus of the Dunmow Flitch. Locals have always consumed beef, pork, lamb, mutton, venison, poultry, game and wildfowl with gusto. Our coastal marshes still provide grazing land and a fattening area for sheep and cattle. Local meat, including organic fare, is available from farm shops and delicatessens all over the county. In the weeks before Christmas, there are often queues of customers waiting to secure themselves a Kelly's Turkey for the festivities. Farm shops like Ashlyns Organic Farm near North Weald, The Food Company in Marks Tey and Hepburns of Mountnessing (01277 353289) offer the freshest and best local produce available, as well as more exotic imported fare.
Where there is meat there is dairy produce: milk, buttermilk, cream, cheese and more recently, yoghurt and ice cream, the Doomsday book records cheese-making from ewes milk on the coast around Canvey. Immigrants into East London and Essex have bought the best of their culinary expertise with them. Italians found huge local appreciation of their ice cream and the trade thrived at the seaside pavilions and piers. The Rossi family of Southend has been at Marine Parade for 100 years. Amato's Penny Licks, scoops of iced cream sold in re-useable glass dishes, were once the hallmark of Southend's Golden Mile.
In any pretty village (and there are many in Essex), gingham and pine go with cakes and tea. But the ubiquitous Victoria sponge has been elbowed aside by more creative patisserie. Across the county there are cakes, puddings, biscuits, buns, jams and preserves on sale at markets and farm stores. The Essex Rose in Dedham and The Lock in Heybridge Basin are a must if you are in the area and fancy a cream tea..
Ice cream from Hadleys (01787 220420) and ‘Yoggipops' from Boydells have a formidable local reputation. There is also the world centre of jam making at Tiptree; home to Wilkins jams and preserves (James Bond's favourite!). A treat to visit, the Wilkins factory has a visitor centre where you can find out how the delicious jams are made, try them in the tea room and take some home gifts as gifts for someone special or as a treat for yourself.
Two other well known Essex food brands are Coles in Great Chesterford, producing a cornucopia of delicious puddings that can be eaten at any time of the year and Elsenham Quality Foods, specialising in sauces and condiments.
Why not have a coffee or ice cream and a browse in the lovely old Essex Barn that houses Graces Farm's Country Gift Shop (01371 830387). Visit the farm, pick your own mouth-watering fruit or be tempted by their very own range of fruit pies. Felsted Vineyard set in a 12 acre site, is the oldest commercial vineyard in East Anglia. It is open all year except for Christmas. Why not refresh yourself with a tasting whilst watching wine and cider making at work?
