Who puts the jam in your Bake Off

Is there a secret to making great jams?

Yes - more fruit, more time, more  love.

Traditional jam recipes are simple but often time consuming, using equal quantities of fruit and sugar. Commercial producers can use as little as 350g of fruit per kilo with some jams using even less fruits and more additives and flavouring. Water and extra sugar are added to create the ‘jam effect’. 

‘Extra’ jam has a legal minimum requirement of 450g of fruit per kilo.

Stokes meets the minimum and more with our Strawberry, Raspberry and Blackcurrant extra jams. The blackcurrant jam has 510g per kilo – 51% delicious fruit as traditionally our grandparents would have made it.

In the Old Stables at Rendlesham, knowing eyes watch over slow cooking blackcurrants, as they simmer, waiting for that very fine line between ‘perfect’ and ‘oops’. 

The staff in the kitchens here have an enviable expertise and are as passionate about their jams, preserves, relishes and sauces as we all are.

But it’s not just the amount of fruit. Use 50% poor quality blackcurrants and you can only create poor jam. 

We go to uncompromising lengths to make sure the blackcurrants we use have that signature juicy sweet / tart flavour; the raspberries are rich, sweet and luscious; and the strawberries’ succulent essence have keynotes of Wimbledon.

Stokes use unrefined cane sugar, which is a typical artisan sugar. Produced in smaller batches, it is less processed and retains all or most of the cane molasses around the sugar crystals. This natural sweetness and additional depth of flavour cook well with the extra fruit to give the deeply flavoursome jams we love to deliver.

For recipes for appreciative gravy and leftover lamb, please read more here.

Discover Forest Holidays and save 10%, just because you love Stokes - here.

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

The versatility of leftover lamb

Add love to your lamb

For value for money, we love to buy a joint of lamb at the weekend. Sometimes it's a leg plugged with rosemary and garlic, cooked pink with gorgeous gravy and roast winter veg.

The absolute favourite is a slow cooked shoulder, tenderising over four or five hours on a trivet of vegetables into which its juices slowly drizzle, steaming under a foil top which is removed  to crisp up the juicy fat for the last half hour on a higher heat.

A special piece of meat deserves a loving gravy to honour it. Here's a suggestion. Make your gravy as you would normally then add Stokes:

• For a fruity sweetness - stir in a spoonful of  Stokes Redcurrant Jelly to taste
• For a minty compliment - stir in a spoonful of our special Mint Sauce
• For a deep flavour with zesty chilli warmth - stir in a spoonful of Chilli Jam
• Try a spoonful of Mint Sauce and Redcurrant Sauce together - simply superb.

Butterless gravy without a roux

To cut down on butter (sad but true) we came up with this easy, quick and mouth-watering alternative.
You need a hand blender, pan and imagination.

Roughly chop an onion, a couple of sticks of celery, as much fennel as you like and a couple of pointed sweet red peppers (which are great value on the market at the moment). Add boiling water to only just cover the vegetables.

Pop a beef stock bouillon into the pan and simmer for just 3 or 4 minutes then blend to a smooth 'gravy' consistency. If you need to thicken it, blend in a cooked potato or two, or add more water to thin.

You're serving fresh, healthy vegetables as a sauce or gravy.

Again, by adding a spoonful of Stokes, you can intensify and move the flavours in whichever direction you want.


Lovely leftover lamb

Lamb is probably the most versatile of leftover meats. Its texture and flavour can take just about anything you throw at it - sweetly spicing it Persian style;  currying it Indian style; or refreshing it Mediterranean style.

          Lamb Tagine                                           Lamb Curry                                        Moussaka Boats

Lamb Tagine - as a shepherd's pie.

This works best with leftover shoulder, shredded as small as you can. Put the meat in a pan with a tin of chickpeas (washed) and any cooked, sliced carrots you may also have left over.

Make a 'butterless gravy' (as above) to which you add a teaspoon of Ras El Hanout (Moroccan spice mix) and a spoonful each of Stokes Spiced Apricot Chutney and Chilli Jam - all adjusted to taste. Pour the sauce into the pan and cook warm the meat thoroughly.

For the shepherd's pie version, spoon the tagine into a casserole and cool while mashing potatoes. Try oilseed rape instead of butter and mash with frozen petit pois and a good spoonful of Stokes Creamed Horseradish Sauce. Spoon this over the cooled meat and bake on a medium heat for half an hour or until the meat bubbles and the mash browns.

Lamb Curry

Leg meat suits this as it holds together more whilst cooking.  Cut the meat into mouth size pieces and toss thoroughly in a couple of spoonfuls of Curry Powder and set aside to make a 'butterless gravy'. This time, add a tin of chopped tomatoes and blitz. You will need to thicken it with a couple of cooked potatoes.

Add a tablespoon of Stokes Brown Sauce and two of Curry Ketchup. Pour the sauce over the meat and simmer at least until the meat is piping hot. The longer you leave it the more the flavours will marry. Serve it with chopped coriander on a bed of fluffy basmati rice.

Moussaka Boats

The softer sweeter shoulder cuts work in this fun take on a moussaka. For a snack or starter use one aubergine between two. Brush them with oil and bake on a medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until they are tender when pricked with a fork. Set them aside to cool, halve and scoop out half the flesh to create aubergine boats.

Make a butterless gravy (as above) adding Chilli Jam and our Award-Winning Tomato Ketchup and half the aubergine flesh that was scooped and set aside earlier and blitz.

Chop a couple of tomatoes adding them to the meat in a pan and pour over the sauce. Warm through until piping hot and spoon into the boats. Sprinkle grated Cheddar and torn strips of Mozzarella on top and grill until the boats have warmed and the cheese has melted. It's impressive.

 Enjoy !


Learn more about Stokes Extra Jams here.


Discover Forest Holidays and save 10%, just because you love Stokes - here. 

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

Stokes 10% discount with Forest Holidays

10% OFF luxury cabins in idyllic locations

With time well spent in one of Forest Holidays' luxurious cabins, you have every opportunity to relax and revitalise or just have family fun.

Charming locations across Britain include: Sherwood Forest, Keldy, Blackwood Forest, Cropton, Deerpark, Thorpe Forest, Ardgartan Argyll, Strathyre, Beddgelert and the Forest of Dean.

You will have plenty of time to spend days relaxing in the cabin and hot tub, taking walks in the forest and getting active with one of their outdoor activities such as archery, cycling, canoeing or Go Ape.

With an abundance of attractions near all of their locations you will be spoilt for choice for days out. Whatever you decide to do the choice is yours.

 Stokes special offer - save 10%

Our friends at Forest Holidays have given Stokes Sauces a 10% saving at Forest Holidays. Escape to one of ten idyllic locations, choose from luxurious cabins set deep in woodlands, on the edge of mighty lochs, or in bright forest meadows and make your holiday your own.

Take an uplifting break in the forest. Enjoy invigorating woodland walks as the forest awakens around you.

When the slowly lengthening days drop into dusk, head back to your cabin for a cosy fireside meal, then the thrill of the hot tub in the cold night air.


To get your discount

When you have chosen your holiday, enter STOKES to save 10% at forestholidays.co.uk. You must book and holiday by 30th August 2018.

The 10% discount can be taken at any time of the year including school holidays and Bank Holidays and can be taken across all Forest Holidays' cabin types, from the great value Copper Beech to the ultimate luxury of a Golden Oak Tree House.

Terms

• Discount code applies cabin price only and not any extras.
• Discount code may not be used in conjunction with any other offer and cannot be applied retrospectively.
• Forest Holidays reserve the right to withdraw this offer at any time.

Don't forget your sachets !

Learn more about Stokes Extra Jams here.


For recipes for appreciative gravy and leftover lamb, please read more here.

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

Happy peaceful yummy January

Back to basics

After the energetic culinary juggling of the festive season, it's good to get back to basics.

You can't beat a good ole' sausage sandwich. Well in fact, yes you can. Just add Stokes Red Onion Marmalade for a 'posh' sausage sandwich - delicious. 

Fridge Soup

I emptied the fridge of the last of the vegetables last week to make 'fridge soup'. Half a dozen carrots, a lonely onion, celery hearts and a couple of rather droopy parsnips were boiled in a light chicken stock with a few straggly herbs.

The hand blender made light work of the softened combination which were drained through a colander into another pan. A good spoonful of Stokes Chilli Jam, another of Stokes Chipotle Ketchup adding a rich smokiness to the soup with a subtle chilli heat coming through.


 Competition

And with just 3 more weeks left before entries close (1st February 2018) for the competition for a holiday of three nights in Crete - if you haven't entered, now's the time to do so.

You'll meet the grower, taste the oil at its source and have £500 spending money to help soak up the atmosphere of this wonderful Mediterranean island.

Click the image left for details and to enter.



Not going out - with Cheese on Toast

On dark winter nights we prefer to stay in at the weekend. After chores and a pub lunch we bolt the doors and relax.

When the stomach rumbles a little later on we slice some bread, grab a strong cheddar and reach for the relish for cheese on toast. Stokes relishes with the cheese grilling on top, lift a simple cheese on toast supper to new mouth-watering heights - like the melted brie and Red Onion Marmalade in the image above..

With any of these relishes you can create taste combinations from chilli kicks to the sweet back tastes of Bramley apples. The horseradish or our English Mustard add a subtle lingering heat.

For a tangy fruit lift spread Stokes Red Onion Marmalade or Burger Relish on the bread then grate the cheese on top - please let us know and share your favourites on Tweet here or Post here.

Leftovers as an Omelette

Just about anything you have leftover or lurking about at the back of the fridge can be warmed up, chopped up, mixed up, added to and served in the fluffy embrace of an omelette.

There's the obvious:

• Peppers, spring onions, tomatoes - delicious with Burger Relish
• Ham & cheese - elevated with Red Onion Marmalade
• Bacon, baked beans and cooked potatoes - breakfast omelette ... Brown Sauce or Ketchup? 
• Mushrooms & thyme - a classic made better with Curry Ketchup
• Ham and spinach - for a Florentine add Real Mayonnaise at the last minute

The specials:

• Shredded Brussels fried with bacon and ginger - add Chilli Jam and lime juice for zing
• Poached and smoked salmon with red onion - spoon on Mustard & Dill Sauce
• Turkey (chicken, pheasant etc) and avocado - with Cranberry Sauce
• Shredded duck leftovers with spring onions and cucumber - add our Hoisin Sauce
• Basil, tomato, mozzarella and salami - with a spoonful of Chilli Jam
• Feta cheese, olives, tomato, onion and green peppers - with Fig Relish for Grecian delight

What else have we got in the larder for January?

The first big foodie occasion is on 25th January as we celebrate the life and works of Rabbie Burns - Burns Night.

Haggis neeps and tatties are not everybody's cup of tea but personally - we love it, particularly with a wonderful Scottish gravy - a glass of single malt.

Here's an idea from Mr @StokesSauces (as Rick Sheepshanks is now known on @StokesSauces) for a veritable cocktail of a gravy to go with your haggis. First, from a nice rich beef stock, build your gravy.

Then whilst it is simmering, reduce to intensify the flavour, add a desert spoon of Stokes Chilli Jam and the same amount of Stokes Cranberry Sauce and blend them into the gravy with a wee (though not insignificant) dram of whisky.

Finally, grate a cube of dark, high cocoa content chocolate into the gravy to further enrich the flavours.

Thank you Rabbie for this reason to eat and thank you too for your words - what a treat.


It's the olive oil that makes Stokes Mayonnaise so ...  Real

The majority of the oil we use is British, from British Oilseed Rape, which paints the fields with a glorious sunshine yellow in May and June.

Great though this is, on its own it wasn't enough. It made a really good mayonnaise ... just not a great one.

We needed more. We needed to add extra virgin olive oil (or EVOO). Another huge challenge because there are so many of them. Spanish? Italian? Greek? And within all of these - which?

Which olives? 

Which olives? Which island? Which hillside? Which producer?

We quickly decided on Greece, tried over 30 different EVOOs in hundreds of different ratio permutations of extra virgin to rapeseed oil.

After m any trials, we got it right: Koroneiki extra virgin olive oil.

3,000 years of history and its abundance on the hillsides of Crete can't be wrong - and nor were we.

Finally - adding 5% Cretan Koroneiki extra virgin olive oil to the mayonnaise made it good enough and us proud enough to call it Stokes Real Mayonnaise.

Koroneiki olive trees produce a small olive but in abundance. It creates an intense, rich green oil with a uniquely exquisite flavour. They have some of the highest polyphenol content possible, boasting powerful health benefits - and it tastes great too !

Crete - it's full of surprises:

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

The ultimate turkey sandwich for the ultimate Christmas

What will you be roasting next week? Are you a traditionalist with a beautiful Norfolk Bronze Turkey or will it be a rib of beef - perhaps a goose?

Together with a ham, poached salmon, nut roast and squadrons of pigs in blankets, there are bound to be lovely leftovers.

In fact, after a traditional breakfast of ham and poached eggs, nibbles with drinks as the neighbours pop in and smoked salmon with phase two of present opening - we often can't do the roast justice.

It's later in the evening after a typical Christmas afternoon of washing up, charades and a snooze - only now does a turkey sandwich sound like a great idea.


The ultimate turkey sandwich

But if you're going to have a turkey sandwich, make it a good one - no, make it the ultimate turkey sandwich. We don't mean with fanciful additions like chopped chives or diced capers (nice though). There's no need to grill rashers of smoked streaky bacon. And no salad fillings or garnish.

Leftovers are one of the treats of Christmas. Will you be able to wait until Boxing Day or is this Christmas evening wrapped up?   

Our 'ultimate' is a simple fayre. 

Spread a good sleek coating of Stokes Real Mayonnaise on a slice of buttered bread; cover with thick slices of turkey breast meat with leftover stuffing and slices of apple freshness; add a finger twist of Maldon salt flakes (for little bursts of salty flavour).

Crown the delicious bird with a good spoonful of Stokes Cranberry Sauce  and the other slice of bread.

Just what Santa ordered.


Stocking up for Christmas

You still have time - just - to stock up so you have everything you'll need to keep everyone happy next week.

We have lots of tasty ideas. From our Award Winning Tomato Ketchup and perhaps Tartare Sauce to make a fishfinger sandwich snack yummier still when you've finished wrapping those presents.

Don't forget the Cranberry Sauce or even better - Cranberry & Orange Sauce with Port to raise a pulse with the Turkey.

And perhaps Coronation Sauce for instant Coronation Turkey on Boxing Day. As well as relishes galore to bring cold cuts to life.



Make Christmas taste better with Stokes.

From everyone here at Stokes, 

have a very happy, tasty Christmas

Read on...

Scroll down to previous tasty tips including:

Ten Top Dips

9 'just add mayo' dips

Party Bites & finger food

 Cranberry Sauces from Stokes

Where to buy your Stokes Sauces

Store cupboard essentials for the festive period.

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

A life in the day or a real mayonnaise

Creating and enjoying a mayonnaise as sensationally good as Stokes Real Mayonnaise is a true love story.

Not your typical chic flick or Bronte's obsessive compulsion to match her eponymous Jane Eyre with Mr Rochester.

Our 'Wide Sargasso Sea' to find true love is the Mediterranean, en route for Crete. Our star is the beautiful dark green extra virgin olive oil of the Koroneiki olive which grows in abundance on the hillsides of this sun drenched island.

It's grown with love, harvested with a passion and pressed to extra virgin olive oil with joy

...and makes yummy egg mayonnaise too!

It wasn't exactly love at first sight because we tried thirty different oils before finding and choosing Koroneiki EVOO to add the final extra smooth luscious depth to our real mayonnaise.

The love is for refinement and quality. The passion is in the uncompromising search for the finest ingredients. The romance is the joy of getting it right.

Why? 

So the king of burgers can wear it's own crown. So a humble prawn can feel like a lobster, wrapped in velvet white. So that when you've carved a slice of leftover turkey and put it on a bread coated in our Cranberry Sauce, you can make it the best turkey sandwich ever by topping it with Stokes Real Mayonnaise.


Marvellous Mayonnaise

When it comes to condiments, mayonnaise takes the biscuit - literally. It's so versatile. From a simple dollop on a tomato to - well - just about anything you can imagine, from simple to sophisticated.

 ...with poached salmon:

• a simple spoonful from the jar.
• mix chopped fresh dill and basil leaves into your mayonnaise.
• two parts mayonnaise to one of crème fraîche and little pearls of fish eggs (above).
• stir in a spoonful of Stokes Cider & Horseradish Mustard for a warming zing.
• or add Sweet Chilli Sauce for a gentle hint of chilli.

Staying in

The best thing about Christmas is the rare moment of peace when you can shut the door and stay in. No rich food, no noisy youngsters (thanks grandma), no polite smiles and no Christmas jumper.

Eat what you want, when you want and wash it down with whatever you fancy - perhaps the good stuff at the back of the cupboard.

Just imagine - a fish finger sandwich with all three of Stokes' originals.

One for all and all for one.

Competition Time

If you haven't already entered, this is your chance to win a three night trip to Crete.

You'll meet the grower, taste the oil at its source and have £500 spending money to help soak up the atmosphere of this wonderful Mediterranean island.

Click the image right for details and to enter.



Read on...

Scroll down to previous tasty tips including:

Ten Top Dips

9 'just add mayo' dips

Party Bites & finger food

 Cranberry Sauces from Stokes

Where to buy your Stokes Sauces

Store cupboard essentials for the festive period.

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

10 new dips to win friends and influence palates.

We all have our favourite party dips. Delightful little bowls of delicious compositions in which to dunk our crisps, carrot sticks, celery bits, chicory leaves and parsnip chips.

The good news - you don't have to have a party to enjoy your old dip recipes, or one of these Ten Top Dips.

Try them on the build up to Christmas and perhaps add your own flavoursome twists.

A table spread with dips, crudites, finger food and canapés is a beautiful collection of colour and tastes - something for everyone to enjoy.

All you need to get your party going

All good dips start with a reliable base - and there's nothing more reliable than Stokes Real Mayonnaise. Made with eggs from British free range hens, British rapeseed oil and additional extra virgin olive oil from the Koroneiki olive groves of Crete giving it its exceptional velvety depth.

Put a few spoonfuls of our mayonnaise in a bowl and, now - just add:

• Add Stokes Dijon Mustard to make simple cocktail sausages sing.
• Add Bloody Mary Ketchup to dress prawns in Bloody Mary Rose Sauce.
• Add Creamed Horseradish for velvety warmth in a crudités dip. 
• Add Sweet Chilli Sauce to dip mini meatballs and falafels.
• Add Mustard & Dill Sauce to dip goujons of cod.
• Add crème fraîche, Coronation Sauce and chopped tarragon for pure wow. 
• Add Chipotle Ketchup for a Chipotle Aioli sauce.
• Add Dijon Mustard and lemon juice for a delicious remoulade.
• Add thin slices of crisp streaky bacon and chopped spring onions for 'baconaise'.

And one top tip...

Enjoy !

Competition Time

If you haven't already entered our competition to win a 3 x night trip to Crete then click on the image (below) and you can do so now. Good luck.

Read on...

Scroll down to last week's tasty tips including:

Party Special foodie ideas

9 'just add mayo' dips

Party Bites & finger food

Where to buy your Stokes Sauces

Cranberry Sauces from Stokes

'Taste of Luxury' & 'Selection for Cheese' gifts

Store cupboard essentials for the festive period.

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150