Beechs Truffles - All you need is love and Chocolate ......

All you need is Love and chocolate, a perfect sentiment and one I couldn't agree more with. So we were delighted when our friends at Beechs Chocolate sent us some of their delicious new truffles to taste test. (Tough job I know !)

Packaged in a luxurious box of 9 truffles, we taste tested the Anglesey Sea Salted Caramel and the Champagne truffles from their new truffle range.

Anglesey Sea salted caramel truffles , gorgeous thick decadent milk chocolate with a rich soft oozing caramel centre, with a distinctly salty edge, dusted with cocoa. My personal favourite and very very moreish. I was delighted to see the sea salt was from Anglesey, I am assuming Halen Mon which means "Anglesey salt". 

Luxury Champagne Truffles, rich creamy milk chocolate with a luxurious well flavoured centre, definitely champagne, then dusted with icing sugar, these were great and would make a perfect gift for someone special.

Available to order from Beech's Fine Chocolates or  through carefully selected retailers including QVC. There is also a Prosecco truffle included in the range.

Lancashire Food - Elderflower Challenge

Recipe sharing Blog Challenge - an easy great fun event to celebrate Summer !

I really Elderflowers, its summery muscat scent that needs to be captured whilst the frothy blooms billow on the hedgerows. As some of you know I love it so much I grow a large bush in my garden so I can ensure its not sprayed or polluted, this is what I use to make a supply of summer delights. Over the years I have posted numerous recipes which feature this plant so I thought I would run a seasonal recipe round for all things elderflower, that quintessential forage ingredient for Summer.


Its easy to take part, just use the linky blog button thing (kindly designed by Synergy Imaging for me) and post on your blog and link back to this blog post by putting a link on this page. At the start of July I'll post a summary of all the lovely recipes posted.

LANCASHIRE FOOD - ELDERFLOWER CHALLENGE GUIDELINES 

• Post your blog URL link to the "linky" below, please include your email and the name of your elderflower recipe. Closing date for contributions is 30th June 2012.
• Copy the code from the challenge button below to add on to your post which will link back to this post.

• Please tweet that you have contributed to the fun!, use #elderflowerchallenge and mention @LancashireFood in your tweet.I will retweet any I see.
• The recipe can be your own or one you have seen somewhere else, please be respectful of copyright and give credit where due , please feel free to publish old recipes or old blog posts, but make sure you add the lovely challenge badge.

I haven't posted a recipe for cordial as they are hundreds available on the internet plus mine seems to change every year. Here are the links to some of my earlier elderflower posts

Elderflower champagne

Elderflower sorbet

Elderflower delight

Remember you can also use elderflower in ice cream, panacotta, glace icing, cake mixes, jellies and many other recipes and you can also use the flowers in jams and preserves.

I am planning on trying deep fried flowers, elderflower cake and a couple of other recipes this year, so I'll post and link as and when these are available.


Above all have fun and use this great seasonal  forage ingredient whilst you can !

Elderflower Champagne recipe

Ingredients

• 4 litres of cold water,
• 2 1/2 cups white sugar,
• 4 large flower heads, (I sometimes use a few more depends on the size of the heads),
• 2 lemons sliced,
• 2tbsp white wine vinegar.

Method
Put all the above in a bucket and cover for a couple of days ( don't worry if it goes scummy), then strain and bottle.
Ready after approx 2 -3 weeks, best served chilled.
Just watch out for the pressure rise in the bottle, you may need to chill your bottles to calm fermentation or alternativelt degass every couple of days.