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The Food of Cumbria
Cumberland Sausage
Cumberland Ham
Lamb Roaming free on the fells sheep graze on the natural herbage thus giving their meat a quality flavour. Sheherds or cottage pie is made with either lamb or beef to which onions, mushrooms, carrots, pureed tomatoes and spices are added, and all are cooked together. The mixture is then put in a dish and topped with cooked, mashed potatoes and cheese; then heated in the oven. Another type of stew is known as Cumberland tattie pot. This recipe uses the same ingredients except for tomatoes and adds swede and black pudding, then layers potatoes with the meat mixture. Pickled red cabbage is a side dish. A traditional sauce served with ham or lamb, Cumberland sauce, is made from the juices of an orange and a lemon to which redcurrant jelly, mustard, port and ginger have been added. All ingredients are cooked until well incorporated. Slacks, a family run organic farm, produces bacon, sausage and ham in a traditional stone barn. Beef The becoming-organic family farm, Hallsford, at Hethersgill near Carlisle, sells both beef and lamb. At Lyth near Kendal, Savin Hill Farm, www.savin-hill.co.uk raises pure bred British White cattle and Middle White pigs, producing marbled beef, pork and dry cured bacon and hams. Game Game, fish, sausage, cheese and more can be found at the Old Smokehouse, www.the-old-smokehouse.co.uk , at Brougham Hall. Other smoked and cured meats and game are sold by Saddleback at Aldby Farm, Dacre. They use local products as much as possible. Dairy
Seafood Herring, often stuffed with a breadcrumb and seasoning mixture, is served with a mustard sauce. The Artic char, left behind by the ice age, is served potted or in fish pie. Fruit Historic apples grown in Cumbria include autumn harvest, Carlisle codlin, forty shilling, lemon square, longstart, Nelsons favourite, and greenup pippin (found in a Keswick garden in the late 1700s). The nutty-tasting damsons, a type of plum grown in the Lyth Valley and harvested in September, are used for making and flavouring tarts, pies, cakes, ice-cream, cheese, jam, Westmorland plum chutney (kernels from stones can be added to add an almond flavour), wine, punch, gin and beer. In the past they were used to dye cotton produced in the mills of Manchester. A well known dish is damson and apple tansy. Apples and damsons are cooked in an egg custard. At Howbarrows organic farmshop, 1.5 miles from Cartmel, you can purchase organic fruit and vegetables, organic herbs, lamb and chicken, and a variety of puddings including dairy and gluten free ones. For complete details visit their website: www.howbarroworganic.co.uk Specialties Cumberland Honey Mustard has been an Alston product since 1983. The company makes seven varieties: original, garlic, horseradish, green peppercorn, vulcan, whisky, and organic. For full details and to order visit their website at www.cumberlandmustard.com Goodies
A whig is a type of flavoured bread, traditionally baked in Lakeland villages with each village having its own variation on the recipe. In Hawkshead caraway seed was added.
For sticky toffee pudding try the Cartmel Village Shop www.stickytoffeepudding.co.uk . For other puddings contact Country Puddings at Lodge Farm, Dacre, www.countrypuddings.co.uk
Hill Farm Foods at Thurstonfield, Carlisle is a mecca for those people who cannot eat gluten. A wide variety of gluten free and wheat free baked goods are available.
To purchase local food try the farmers markets. www.cumbriaorganics.org is the website of the Cumbria Organics. Here you will find a consumer and trade directory, a list of places to stay and information about organic farming. Lakes Speciality Foods Photo courtesy Graeme Dougal , Fond Ewe Fine Cheeses Ltd , Lakes Speciality Foods and Furness Fish Co © 1997-2008 by The Cumbria Directory. Reproduction of this work in whole or in part, including images, and reproduction in electronic media, without documented permission from The Cumbria Directory is prohibited. |
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The traditional foods of Cumbria evolved from the land
itself: farms raised lamb for meat dishes, pigs for sausage and ham, and cattle for dairy
products. The moors and mountains provided wild game such as duck and deer. The seas and lakes
were replete with herring, char, shrimp, trout and salmon.
Homemade Cumberland sausage comes coiled like a rope and is
sometimes sold by length. They can run up to four feet long and are often baked whole. They have
a high meat with spices and herbs added in natural casings.
Paul Hevey of Lakes Speciality Foods won
the National Champion award for Britain's Best Sausage in 2007 and was crowned National King of
the Banger. The company is a specialist butchers (meat suppliers) who supply locally sourced
product with a seasonal slant. Their products, which have won several awards (Pork and Black
pudding, Cumberland, Pork, Mango and Stilton are all gold medal winners), have been developed to
ensure traceability, locality and low food mileage. In addition to buying directly from them, you
can also purchase their products from their website 
Traditionally dry-cured Cumberland ham is first salted and
sometimes rubbed with brown sugar after which it is cured for a month, then washed, dried, and
hung up for two or more months to mature. Chemical additives and preservatives are never used. It
is important to note that this traditional curing process does not cook but preserves the ham,
and cooking needs to be done before eating.
Some places to find traditional hams and sausages are:
Homemade chocolates are sold in a number of Cumbrias specialist grocery
shops. Toffee is another favourite. Photo Penrith toffee shop window display
Grasmere Gingerbread is
a well known Cumbrian treat as is Kendal Mint Cake.
For a variety of homemade goodies stocked in many
Cumbrian stores, try Country Fare 
Another bakery that
makes both traditional and many gluten and wheat free products is the Village Bakery at Melmerby.
Order online at