With a past that’s rooted in agriculture, Yorkshire has long been synonymous with great-tasting, fresh food. Today, the area is home to an exciting range of artisan producers who make everything from sourdough bread and mustard to apple juice and ice cream. Here’s some of the best local produce you must try.
Haxby Bakehouse
This independent bakehouse in the town of Haxby was founded in 2008 by Phil Clayton and his wife, Tina. Phil enjoyed baking bread at home to share with his family and friends but when his daughter commissioned him to make some loaves for an entrepreneurial challenge at her school, he realised they were in high demand and vowed to open his own bakehouse within a year. The Haxby Bakehouse’s philosophy is all about using seasonal, organic and locally-sourced ingredients to produce traditional artisan loaves. As the business has grown, these are now freshly baked each day at a unit in Clifton Moor and there’s always a wide range to choose from. You’ll find wholemeal tin loaves, bloomers and brioche here, along with the Tiptree World Bread Award-winning Yorkshire Mill Loaf and the bakehouse’s speciality, a wonderful sourdough that comes in many different varieties. These breads have made their way onto the menus of cafes and restaurants across North Yorkshire but they can also be purchased from the bakehouse’s shop in Haxby. This welcoming delicatessen sells cheeses, preserves, homemade pies and sweet treats. You can even pick up your own bread making ingredients here to take home with you.
Swaledale Butchers
Established in 2009, this sustainable online butchers is run by Jorge Thomas and his brother-in-law Charlie Cowling. The business started when Jorge – a fan of the delicious meat reared in the Yorkshire Dales – began to work with the area’s best farmers to supply their produce to restaurants around London. As the company has expanded, Swaledale’s meats can now be bought from their website and shipped to homes across the UK with next day delivery. The butchers champion small scale farms who are doing their bit to preserve heritage and native breeds. All of the company’s meat is traceable and their butchery is nose-to-toe, meaning that nothing is wasted. Swaledale’s cuts are ‘always fresh, never frozen’ and arrive vacuum packed, insulated and packaged in recyclable materials. Among their offering, you’ll find grass-fed, dry-aged, cured and smoked meats, including the Great Taste Award-winning Yorkshire Breakfast Chipolatas, venison from the Harewood Estate, outdoor-reared pork and free-range chicken.
Wensleydale Creamery
Home of the world-famous cheese, the Wensleydale Creamery can be found in the picturesque town of Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Cheese has been made in this part of the country for hundreds of years, since French Cistercian monks came to live here bringing a recipe for crumbly cheese with them. Nowadays, Wensleydale-style cheeses are produced across the UK but those from the Wensleydale Creamery are the only ones to have European Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status. The creamery uses its own starter cultures and milk from local farms to craft the moreish cheese we know and love. Visitors here can learn all about the history of cheese making in the Dales and can watch demonstrations of the processes involved in creating a wheel of Wensleydale. You can also enjoy a guided cheese tasting, or visit the creamery’s shop where you can purchase classic, oak smoked and old style Wensleydale as well as Wensleydale Blue and Wensleydale Dry Yorkshire Gin.
Yorkshire Wolds Apple Juice Co.
Turning fresh apples into thirst-quenching juices, the Yorkshire Wolds Apple Juice Co. is a family-run enterprise that’s been going since 2008. The firm’s original and perhaps best-loved juice is its award-winning traditional cloudy apple, which is made with one of the country’s finest dessert apples, the Cox’s Orange Pippin. The Yorkshire Wolds Apple Juice Co. also makes apple and ginger, apple and damson and Braeburn apple juice, as well as elderflower cordial and a tasty spiced apple that can be served hot as a winter warmer. These can be bought online or from shops in the local area, including The Patisserie in Malton, The Old Weigh in Pickering and The Bishy Weigh, Hairy Fig and Prickly Pair in York. If you’ve been growing your own apples, the company also offers a service that will turn these into juice for you. On their farm outside Malton, your fruit can be pressed and bottled for you to take home and share with family and friends.
Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil
If you’ve ever passed through the Yorkshire countryside in late spring, you may have spotted glorious yellow fields of oilseed rape, a vibrant crop that produces an oil rich in Omega 3. Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil has been bottling this goodness since 2008 – a story that began when Adam Palmer took over his family’s farm at Breckenholme in the Yorkshire Wolds. Adam wanted to try something new, so he started to press his own rapeseed oil to sell at farmers markets. Since then, the company’s range has grown and now includes flavoured oils, dressings and Yorkshire mayonnaise – all of which are made on the farm using the same rapeseed oil that has now won a Great Taste Award. This oil is cold pressed, meaning it still retains all of its nutritional benefits. It boasts a delightfully nutty flavour and has a high burn point, making it ideal to cook with. You can buy oils flavoured with chilli, garlic, rosemary, lemon and more from the company’s online shop, as well as salad dressings made with local honey and mustards. Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil is also stocked in more than 150 shops across Yorkshire, including The Little Green Weigh in York, Scoops of Malton, The Refilling Station in Leeds and The Old Weigh in Pickering.
Ryeburn Ice Cream
Based in the North Yorkshire market town of Helmsley, Ryeburn Ice Cream was born in the 1980s, when dairy farmers the Otterburns were looking for a way to use up their milk quotas. The business began with an ice cream van but as it grew in popularity the family decided to build a shop and cafe on their farm. Ryeburn’s delicious ice cream is still made in small batches on site each day and there are now 48 different flavours to try. These include gin and lavender, praline pecan, peach and brandy and Christmas pudding, while those who would rather avoid dairy can enjoy refreshing sorbets with options like champagne, pink grapefruit and passion fruit and Passoa. The talented team at Ryeburn are also known for their scrumptious chocolates, which are handcrafted by Belgian-trained chocolatier Andrew Feather using real Belgian chocolate and local cream and butter.
Yorkshire Mushroom Emporium
Recently featured on the Hairy Bikers, this little mushroom farm was started in 2021 by a group of five old school friends. Callum, Ed, James, Jonny and Niall had become aware of some of the problems surrounding agricultural supply chains during the pandemic. Motivated by this, and concerns about the climate, they decided they wanted to ‘make a difference in the way food [is] grown and eaten’. They began to rent a garage in Ilkley, where they grew their first mushrooms to supply to cafés and restaurants in and around Leeds. As their business gained attention, they were then able to move to a larger growing space. The emporium’s produce now includes pearl, golden and eye-catching pink oyster mushrooms. They also sell shiitake and the fluffy-looking Lion’s Mane. You can have mushrooms from the farm delivered as part of your Leeds Veg Box or can order them online to collect from Leeds Bread Co-Op. If you live further afield, the Yorkshire Mushroom Emporium also sells kits that include everything you need to grow your own gourmet mushrooms at home in just two weeks – all you need to add is water.
Images @haxbybakehouse @swaledalebutchers @ryeburn_icecream
