Finally after 4 years hollyandtheivy.co.uk will be attending the prestigious Ludlow Food & Drink Festival with their range of uneque handmade Preserves and Chutneys. Lin has also been invited by the orginisers to do 2 cooking demonstrations in the main marquee demonstration kitchen. Lin commented that the dishes she will be prepering will be using as much "local" produce as possible including some of her now famous Smoked Garlic & Aubergine Chutney

After comments from a regular customer at the recent Moseley Farmers a new idea came to Lin for a twist on an old English favourite pickle. Thus PICCACHILLI was born !!!!!. Based on a best selling "Luxury Piccalilli" that hollyandtheivy.co.uk has been producing for some 2 years Piccachilli is full of the expected crunchy, chunky vegetables in a mustard sauce, but our special pickle has added ginger, cayenne and cumin as well as CHILLI. This new pickle will be available as from the 6th June at Solihull Farmers Market. COME AND SAMPLE IF YOU DARE !!!
Suitable for Vegetarians

Come and try our Smoked Chillies we have for sale. We now have limited amount of Green, Scotch Bonnet & Thai Red FRESH CHILLIES Smoked in Apple Wood. Smoked Chillies still have the bite you would expect, but smoking gives them a very unusual taste when used in food.

hollyandtheivy.co.uk have been contacted by an external promotion company on behalf of Ribena regarding our availability to attend the Birmingham leg of the “Ribena Harvestival 2008” which will arrive in Victoria Square, Birmingham on the 16th /17th June 2008 from 11:00 to 15:00.
hollyandtheivy.co.uk along with 4 other “local” Farmers Market traders will have a selection of their products available for visitors to the “Ribena Harvestival 2008” to sample free of charge.
Purchases of the sampled products will not unfortunately be available for sale to the visitors, but can be purchased from our normal monthly Farmers Markets we attend or via our on-line shop which is available via our WEB Site. Please ask for details when sampling !!!!!!

Lin has been approached by the organizing body if she would produce a "West Mids Chutney" for the 2008 show. Lin who always enjoys new creations commented " I was delighted when I was approached by the organisers and accepted the challenge without question. The thinking cap had to come out, but I have decided the Chutney will be based on my latest range of successful smoked products. Therefore I will be producing a Smoked Red Pepper and Garlic Chutney, but like all my products it will have a twist !!!!".
With this Chutney Lin has now created 4 specially commissioned products with were Shrewsbury Chutney (for the Shrewsbury Flower Show), Criers Choice (for the Stafford Town Crier Championships) and a Pumpkin Chutney for the Stone Food & Drink Festival.
The West Mid Show product will be available for purchase only from the hollyandtheivy.co.uk stall at the show in a limited supply.

The Tolkien weekend returned for it's ninth year at Sarehole Mill. Again this year it was possible to catch a bus ride from Sarehole Mill to Perrott's Folly in Edgbaston, plus other Tolkien related sites like the Oratory and King Edwards School.

David Isgrove Chairman of Mosley Farmers market has been again asked to arrange for the prestigious FM to attend the festival again this year which hollyandtheivy.co.uk will again be attending both on the 17th - 18th May 2008.

There were be guided walks over the weekend to 'walk in the footsteps of Tolkien', through the Shire Country Park.

Address:
Sarehole Mill
Cole Bank Road
Hall Green
Birmingham
B13 OBD
Time: 11:00 - 16:00

hollyandtheivy.co.uk will be at the Tewkesbury Food & Drink Festival during the mayday weekend. Come and see us along with other fine producers of local produce

Don't forget this Saturday 11th April we will be at Harbourne Farmers Market. The Farmers Market is located in Harbourne High Street from 9:00 till 14:00. For this week only purchase any 3 products from our range having a total price of over £6:00 and receive a FREE jar of hollyandtheivy.co.uk Green Peppercorm Mustard.

Don't forget this Friday will be the first time hollyandtheivy.co.uk will attend the Farmers Market located in Solihull High Street between 9:00 till 17:00. As an opening offer purchase any 3 products from our range having a total price of over £6:00 and receive a FREE jar of hollyandtheivy.co.uk Green Peppercorm Mustard.

"Since the new range of "smoked" products hit the shelves 2 weeks ago we have been overwhelmed by the success" commented Lin "And it has been a job to keep up production especially of the Garlic & Aubergine which appears to have become a great favourite with our customers".

I have to my surprise had my customers enquire if we sell the Apple Wood Smoked Garlic we use in our products in the raw bulb format.

Generally the Garlic Bulbs are smoked over Oak Wood which is quite a strong smoke in my opinion, but our Garlic Bulbs are gently Cold Apple Wood Smoked in a Bradley Smoking Cabinet a Canadian company for a minimum of 8 hours, this then gives them a delicate Apple Wood smoked flavour while maintaining a strong Garlic character.

hollyandtheivy.co.uk offer you only the finest smoked garlic bulbs specially selected and smoked to perfection.

Apple Wood Smoked Garlic is extremely versatile and can be used to flavour any food. It is extremely good with chicken and fish dishes. It can be used both cooked and raw. The garlic adds a lovely barbeque flavour to any food and is particularly good when chopped and added to salad dressings.

The strong flavour of garlic is created by a chemical reaction when cloves are chopped. Therefore, a garlic bulb that is left whole when cooked has a much milder flavour. When garlic is smoked, it is similar to cooking it and gives a smoky taste and a much softer texture.

Although it was my original intention not to sell the raw smoked bulbs I have decided due to customer demand to sell the smoked bulbs at the Farmers Markets and shows we will be attending during the 2008 season at a cost of 80p per bulb.

Postal orders are accepted by an e-mail or phone call to hollyandtheivy.co.uk where the postal charge will be calculated dependant on the number of bulbs required.