The School of Artisan Food Examines Chatsworth's Sweet Tooth

Published On Thursday 23 May 2019 by Sticky Beak
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The sweet tooth of one of England’s grandest country estates will be up for inspection as part of a menu of talks, tastings and demonstrations by The School of Artisan Food at this year’s RHS Chatsworth flower show.

Following its success over the past two years, the award-winning school, based on the Welbeck Estate in the heart of Sherwood Forest, has been invited by RHS to put together a programme of food and drink demonstrations for the Dig In Theatre.

Former Head Housekeeper at Chatsworth, Christine Robinson, is sure to be a highlight as she shares her first-hand experience of what confectionery means on a grand aristocratic estate.

She reveals that in Victorian times the Chatsworth confectionery room produced huge quantities of chocolate, ice cream and elaborate desserts but, less appealingly, that the room was also used for the preparation of hair lotion, freckle remover, boot polish and even rat poison!

Happily, food and poison are kept apart at today’s Chatsworth and Christine will be sharing stories of the history of Victorian ice-cream from the confectionery, just one of many talks and demonstrations from The School of Artisan Food during the show.

David Carter will be demonstrating how to bake artisan bread in flowerpots alongside pesto dough balls; Chris Moorby and Andrew Sharp will be conjuring a meat feast including sausage making and how to create the perfect hand-raised pork pie; Simon Reed will be brewing apple cider vinegar; Katy Fenwick will be demonstrating how to make paneer at home; while Ian Waterland will be promoting the many benefits of ‘Mindful Bread Baking’.

There will be further mouth-watering demonstrations, tastings and talks in The Woodland Theatre from 2pm each day. The School of Artisan Food’s own stand will be serving up wood-fired pizzas and bbq tasters at lunchtimes and they’ll be mixing honey flavoured ice cream in the Discover and Grow area every day from 3.30pm.

Julie Byrne, managing director at The School of Artisan Food, said: “We’ve made all our food demonstrations about something that people can do at home with their families. It’s part of our mission to spread the word on good quality artisan food and to show that it doesn’t need to be difficult and it’s something we can all do at home.”

Now in its third year, the RHS Chatsworth Flower Show is set in the spectacular grounds of the Chatsworth estate, and brings innovative gardening ideas, insightful talks theatres and hundreds of trade stands to Derbyshire.

Tickets are available from www.rhschatsworth.seetickets.com/content/ticket-options

For more information on The School of Artisan Food, go to www.schoolofartisanfood.org