'Ave a oggie in yew and boy!

[Gob]

Who, What, Why: What exactly is a Cornish pasty?


Cornish Pasty Under new rules, Cornish pasties can be baked anywhere but must be prepared in Cornwall



Cornish pasties have been given protected status by the European Commission. So how do you define this savoury foodstuff?

It has been a long journey from the tin mines of Cornwall to the corridors of Brussels, but a lunchtime dish familiar to millions is now about to get the recognition its fans insist it deserves.

Following a nine-year campaign by producers, the Cornish pasty has been given Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status - elevating it to a culinary pedestal alongside Camembert cheese and Parma ham.

From mid-March, only those pasties produced in Cornwall can be called Cornish. An authentic example should have a distinctive "D" shape and be crimped, or folded into a rope-like pattern, on one side - never on top, says Phil Ugalde of the Cornish Pasty Association, which first applied for protected status in 2002.

The rules also state that the filling needs to be "chunky", made up of "mince or chunks of beef with swede, potato and onion and a light seasoning". This is then wrapped in pastry glazed with milk or egg, and then slow-baked.

Additionally, the pastry must be "robust enough to retain its shape throughout the cooking and cooling process without splitting or cracking". The pasty itself should be made up of at least 12.5% meat. No artificial flavourings or additives can be used and all ingredients must go into the pasty raw.

* Having been granted Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status, a Cornish pasty must have been produced in the county
* It should be "D"-shaped, crimped at the side,
* Filling of "chunky" beef (making up at least 12.5% of the pasty), swede, potato, onion and a light seasoning - no artificial ingredients. Must go into the oven raw
* Pastry glazed with milk or egg and then slow-baked without splitting

* Cornish pasty name is protected
* 'Proper Cornish' pasty protected

In order to earn a PGI designation, the dish could still be baked elsewhere in Britain but would need to have been prepared in Cornwall.

As a result, those produced outside the county, and those with such flavours as lamb and mint, chicken balti and vegetarian will still exist - but these can only be labelled as pasties, not Cornish pasties.

The dish now joins Whitstable oysters and Scotch lamb as one of 19 UK products given PGI status.

According to Mr Ugalde, the designation will be a huge boost to members of the CPA, who produce 106 million pasties a year, worth a total of £65m per annum - a figure equivalent to 3% of Cornwall's gross domestic product.

But, he believes, the cultural impact will be even greater.

"If you know anything about Cornwall, you know that pasty-making is a very emotive subject," he says. "People feel very proud of it - this was the original fast food."

Indeed, the evolution of the pasty in the county has been long and distinguished.

Primitive versions

Les Merton, author of The Official Encyclopaedia of the Cornish Pasty, points to cave paintings on the Lizard peninsula showing a woman eating a pasty-like foodstuff, suggesting the tradition stretches back to prehistoric times.

A very early pasty, he believes, would have been encased in leaves rather than pastry, but he says the evidence nonetheless suggests that even such primitive versions would have had their edges crimped in some way.

Though the Oxford English Dictionary suggests that the pasty was identified in around 1300, Mr Merton says that it was with the advent of tin mining that it took hold in the county.

The self-contained nature of the dish meant that miners could easily carry it underground, he adds, and the crust could be held onto with dirty hands and then thrown away without eating - arsenic poisoning being an occupational hazard of working with tin.

Other traditions, which have not made it into the PGI formula, insist that skirt steak - known locally as "chuck" - is used as meat and that the pasty is branded with the initials of its owner, so miners could eat part of it and retrieve the rest later.

However, although it is widely believed that pasties were produced with one savoury and one sweet half, Mr Merton says this does not appear to have ever been common practice.

He also argues that, whatever the European Commission rules might say, a genuine Cornish pasty should never be baked in what he calls "the country next door to us, England".



He says: "Pasties are in our genes. The skills and knowledge are passed from generation to generation."

Nonetheless, the emigration of large numbers of Cornish miners in the 19th and 20th Centuries resulted in a significant pasty diaspora in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Brazil. An annual Pasty Fest is held every July in Calumet, Michigan.

The protected status reflects a wider move upmarket for a product once commonly associated outside its indigenous region with refrigerator cabinets in motorway service stations.

For example, the West Cornwall Pasty Company, founded in 1998 with a business plan to offer a more refined product to consumers outside the county, was sold to a private equity house in 2007 after years of sustained growth.

[@meric@nwom@n]

Margarine? Philistines!

[The Hen]

I am so hungry now.

Do you have to post food based threads? I have food based issues.

I will start referring to you as FTOTU (Food Teaser of the Universe).

[Scooter]

At least this time I saw the single "pasty" before coming across the plural. In previous threads, "pasties" took on a completely different connotation for me.

[loCAtek]

What, gay strippers use'em too?

I hadn't noticed male dancers used'em for hens (female hetros)

[Scooter]

No, male strippers don't use them. But I am nevertheless familiar with the concept.

[rubato]

Make a Cornish Pastey? They're fish-belly white already. They need SUN not more pastey.

yrs,
rubato

[Gob]

I'm glad i checked that post, LOL!!


Spot on rubato...

[Gob]

Cumberland sausage joins the list...

Cumberland sausage has been successful in its bid to be made only in Cumbria.



It now ranks alongside the likes of Champagne, Parma ham and Greek feta cheese in having Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status under EU law.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the move would guarantee its heritage and be a major boost for Cumbria's butchers.

Other protected UK food and drink products include Cornish clotted cream and Stilton cheese.

To display the PGI mark, the sausage must be produced, processed and prepared in Cumbria and have a meat content of at least 80%.

Recipes vary from butcher to butcher, but must include seasoning and be sold in a long coil.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-12777166

[Gob]

A group of Mexican pasty makers have visited their Cornish counterparts to learn more about the popular snack.

The group of five bakers from the mining town of Real del Monte travelled more than 4,500 miles (7, 242 kilometres) for the week-long Cornish visit.

The Mexicans also tried their hand at crimping a pasty in the Cornish-style.

The group visited ahead of the opening in March 2012 of the world's first pasty museum near Mexico City.

The historic links between Cornwall and Real del Monte date back to 1824 when Cornish mine workers settled in the area to help rebuild Mexico's struggling mining industry.

The Mexican version of the pasty is called the 'paste' and is made to a slightly modified recipe.

Jaime Soto, Chairman of Consejo Regulador del Patrimonio Cultural Real del Monte Cornwall AC (The Regulatory Council for the Cornish Heritage of Real del Monte), said: "In Mexico we do not have any branding or images, posters and books.

"We now want to include this in our pasty shops and create an organisation to work for the industry in Real del Monte."

Real del Monte also holds the world's only International Pasty Festival which took place last month and attracted 20,000 visitors.

The group's tour of Cornwall has been organised by Richard and Pam Williams of the Cornish Mexican Association.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-15697923

[Gob]

Sea salt from Anglesey can class itself in the same league as Parma Ham and Champagne after it was granted protected status.


The protected food name status was awarded by the European Commission.

It recognises foods, which are produced, processed and prepared in a specific region using recognised expertise.

West Country beef and lamb are also joining 62 unique British products with the marker.

A business expert says the award is likely to boost the company and wider Anglesey area.

Pembrokeshire Potatoes won the status in October, while the growers of Denbigh plums, have also applied for recognition.

Other products with the status already are Stilton cheese, Arbroath smokies, Newcastle Brown Ale and Melton Mowbray pies.

It is estimated the foods have helped contribute more than £900m to the European economy.

The prestigious award also helps protects the authenticity and origin of the food from imitation and fraud.

The Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (Defra) is working with the food industry to inspire further applications for protected food name status.

The protected food name status is expected to benefit Halen Mon, a family-run business, which predicts it will be able to expand its workforce by 25% this year as a result of the award.

Alison Lea-Wilson from the firm, which began supplying locally 15 years ago but now sells to supermarkets and to outlets in 22 countries, said she was "absolutely delighted" with the award.

"Consumers can now be 100% sure that when they buy Halen Mon Anglesey Sea Salt they are getting a product which has been harvested and packed in Anglesey," she said.

Sonya Hanna, marketing lecturer at Bangor University, said the status was likely to boost the company and wider region.

"Being granted EU protected status for its Anglesey sea salt, Halen Mon, as the producer of this niche product, will aide in generating positive visibility.

"This may well induce investment and expansion leading to greater social economic benefits for the region as a whole."

[oldr_n_wsr]

Long Island Sea NaCl
I want the copywrite.

[Gob]

'Cynnyrch glân gloyw Cymru yw Halen Môr Môn, distylliad gwfreiddiol o haul a heli, tir a môr'.

[oldr_n_wsr]

You talkin' to me!?!?!?