Menu
 

Latest News

Hoteliers Enjoy the Delights of Home-Grown Produce

Date: 13/10/2004 | Posted by John Garton
Leading tourism professionals will be served a Genuine Jersey meal tomorrow to raise awareness in the trade of the quality and diversity of local produce. Sixty members of the Skal Club – which represents the Island’s travel industry – will enjoy a four-course lunch at the Highfield Country Hotel on Thursday, October 14th which will be prepared and served by twenty-two catering students at Highlands College alongside the hotel’s restaurant staff.

The meal will feature a range of produce from members of the Genuine Jersey Products Association (GJPA) which encourages locals and visitors alike to buy ‘local’ wherever possible.

The lunch will begin with a pea and mint soup using Jersey Dairy crème fraiche and served with a mini Jersey cabbage loaf. Diners will then enjoy a Jersey Granite made from Jersey Grapple (a mixture of grape and cider) and Jersey Apple Brandy provided by La Mare Vineyard. The main course will be Trinity Manor Veal, pan fried in Jersey Butter and Jersey Apple Brandy sauce with Jersey Royals and locally-grown vegetables. The meal will finish with a Jersey Black Butter Ice Cream Surprise using Jersey Dairy Ice Cream.

David Lord of the Highfield Country Hotel says: “Visitors to the Island are becoming increasingly interested in what is produced locally and being able to offer them fresh, local ingredients is a big selling point for us. As hoteliers we are constantly impressed with the imagination and skills of our local producers who continue to introduce new crops or develop new high-quality products – and I thought this meal would enable us to celebrate their success”.

Sales of the Trinity Manor Veal, which was introduced earlier this year, are a good example of how successful some areas of local food production have been. The meat is currently only available from The Village Butcher in Gorey which is just about keeping up with the demand from local restaurateurs and customers.

Farm manager at Trinity Manor Farm Rob Stevenson says: “We have been delighted with the success of the project which has been helped by getting the veal on the menu at a number of the Island’s leading restaurants including Genuine Jersey members Portinfer Farm Tearooms and Jersey Pottery”.

The meal at the Highfield Country Hotel will also be a good opportunity for local catering students at Highlands College to put their skills to the test.

Peter Queree, Programme Team Coordinator for the Academy of Culinary Arts, says: “This will be a good opportunity to get our students working outside their comfort zone and in a real life situation.

“It will also give them first-hand experience of working with local produce which will help them learn about the seasons and how to go about sourcing local goods. It is a concept which should be embraced and will no doubt form part of their training throughout the course.