Cumbrian Food & Recipes For Lovers Of Good Food

Artisan Food is a web site packed with ideas and information about Cumbrian food. It is the original idea of Claire and Martin who are based in Grasmere. The BBC Olive magazine says of them "Artisan Food.com is the essential hub for the Lakes food scene

Click image for a great Cumbrian food site, Check them out on Facebook too.

Cranston's Cumbrian Food Hall's are the place to get the very best Cumbrian food. The business was started in 1914 in the village of Kirkoswald and this BBC slide show provides some great images from the history of the company.


Cranston's Stores can be found at:

Cranstons Cumbrian Food Hall and Cafe Oswald's
Ullswater Road, Penrith, CA11 7EH,
Open Mon - Sat 8am - 6pm, Closed Sundays and Bank Holidays
Winner of North West Region Best Rural Retailer 2005
Taste of Cumbria Award Finalist 2010.

Carlisle
44/46 Fisher Street, CA3 8RF, 01228 521345
Open 8am - 5pm except Friday when we stay open until 5.30pm.
Closed Sundays and Bank Holidays

Brampton
Front Street, CA8 1NG, 016977 2362
Open 7am - 5pm except Friday when we stay open until 5.30pm.
Closed Sundays and Bank Holidays

Penrith
10, King Street, CA11 7AJ, 01768 865667
Open 7am - 5pm except Friday, when we stay open until 5.30pm.
Closed Sundays and Bank Holidays

Hexham
7, Cattle Market, NE46 1NJ, 01434 602271
Open Mon-Sat, 6am - 5pm.
Closed Sundays and Bank Holidays

image credit Rubber Slippers in Italy


Here's the recipe for an alternative to Cottage and Shepherds Pie Cook It Simply the Cumberland pie has an additional top layer that may consist of breadcrumbs, cheese and butter.

image credit Traditional Cumberland Sausage.com


A unique and tasty sausage, the Cumberland Sausage is absolutely delicious. Here's a terrific recipe from Rick Stein...Cumberland sausage with red wine, rosemary and lentils or perhaps this form Gordon Ramsay takes your fancy Cumberland sausage boulangere

image credit Kendrick Street deli


A unique sauce Cumberland Sauce named after the Duke of Cumberland. Here's a recipe

image credit Grasmere Gingerbread Shop


Delia Smith gives this great recipe Rum Butter
Cumberland Rum Butter

image credit Look What We Found


Absolutely scrumptious and not to be confused with other hot pots. Here's a recipe
Tatie Pot

A traditional Cumberland pudding that features the Damsons and Apples of the lake district. Damson and Apple Tansy recipe can be found here. Damsons are a speciality crop of Cumberland.

No walk should ever be without Kendal Mint Cake

image credit and recipe Pepper Cake


Additional recipes can be found here...Pepper cake and here...
Great British Cooking

image credit Char and Char Pots - The Lakes


Potted Char Cook It Simply Potted Char Recipe

This speciality can be obtained from Bennets of Silloth

Silloth is a loveley seaside town. As a kid I used to go on holiday here.

image creditEden I Cumbria


As kid I remember being told the story of my uncle being pulled into the river Eden by a salmon. Another great salmon river is The River Lune

Fishing for salmon is a popular pastime on and the fish makes for good eating

Here are two recipes you might try:

Grilled Salmon with fruity Salsa
Wild River Lune salmon

Cumberland Ham is a speciality of award winning Cumbrian butcher Richard Woodall. The traditional method of preparing this ham is to dry cure it with salt and then rub in brown sugar. The Ham is then hung for up to 2 months to mature. Whilst the ham is preserved by this method it does need to be cooked before eating.

A huge range of delicious and lesser known varieties of apples are grown in Cumberland. The website of the South Lakeland Orchard Group is a great way to find out more.

The names of the varieties are fascinating, and include, Carlisle Codlin, Forty Shilling, Longstart, Bradley's Beauty and Greeups Pippin. Certainly none of your supermarket standards there! Many of the varieties go back hundreds of years to Tudor times and before and many have been specially cultivated for the Cumbrian micro climate which can be damp and cold.

Cumbria even boasts its very own Apple Day which is held annually on or around the 21st of October.

Here are some more links:
Apples and Orchards of Cumbria
Cumbria Apple Project

Looking for Apple Recipes?
Cumberland Apple Pudding
The Apple Orchard Juice Company

Hugh goes to Lake Coniston during a trip of North England and Scotland and cooks local food, including recipes for Char and Damsons.

Buy the DVD from River Cottage


US readers might only be able to buy it via UK Amazon as an alternative.

Jennings Brewery

Richard Woodall Traditional Cumbrian Food. Highly recommended.

I was introduced to this pub by my cousin. We went walking in Troutbeck and the Wansfell Pike area near Ambleside. A great pub!

Whitemoss can be found at the northern end of beautiful Rydal Water, between Grasmere and Windermere, in the heart of the Lake District, once owned by the poet Willam Wordsworth it has been the home of Sue and Peter Dixon since 1981. Sue is an avid Squidooer too ansd she has created some fascinatiing lenses on lake distric topics.

Described as an ''An excellent, small, personal place.'" in The Good Hotel Guide. it has to be a place to visit.