Showing posts with label Heritage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Heritage. Show all posts

Thursday, 1 August 2013

Yorkshire Day- a reason to celebrate Yorkshire's finest food and drink

Here at United by Design, we are very proud to be situated in Yorkshire. You could probably already tell this from our previous blog post, highlighting some of our favourite places to visit from around the county. We're back today, on Yorkshire Day no less, to sing the praises of some more of our wonderful clients, who produce some award-winning food and drink goodies right here in the heart of Yorkshire.

SLOEmotion

Sloes, damsons and cherries, plucked straight from the hedgerows and orchards of Yorkshire, are the key ingredients for the delicious range of spirits, chocolates and chutneys available from award winning SLOEmotion. The spirits can be enjoyed on their own, or as part of a cocktail, (see their website for some great ideas), and their SLOEmotion No.7 fruit cup is a great addition to a summer party.

SLOEmotion can be found at many of the fayres and shows around Yorkshire, the next place to spot them is the York Food & Drink Festival coming up on September 20th - 29th.

Sloe Motion Miniatures
Sloe Miniatures. 


Choc Affair

As we've discussed before, York has strong ties to chocolate, with some of the worlds most well-loved brands starting their lives in the city. Nowadays chocolatey innovation is still taking place, and Choc Affair are really pushing the boundaries of pairing chocolate with unusual, yet delicious flavours – Lucy recommends the lime and lavendar. Their brightly packaged bars, lollies and other yummy treats can be found in several stores around Yorkshire (see their website for more information), and you can even go and visit the factory (enquire online).

Choc Affair flavour range
Just some of the flavours available from Choc Affair.


Lu Lin

From sourcing the leaves, to it arriving in your teapot, Lu Lin oversee everything, ensuring you the highest quality loose leaf tea. It's that good that you can find it in Harrods, and the company have won several Great Taste Gold Awards. Lu Lin also have all the kit to make your tea time special, including teapots and teacups especially for loose tea. Their Tea Cubed and blooming teas are real innovations and bring a sense of the futuristic to a drink that has been a world favourite for over 4000 years.


Lu Lin Tea Range
Lu Lin Tea Range.

Treboom Brewery

Currently undertaking their first foray into bottling, Treboom's mission is to bang the drum for good beer, and as far as we are concerned, they are succeeding. Their beers can be found on tap in several pubs around York, and we can expect bottles to be hitting shelves some time in the next few months. Treboom have won several awards for their beers, have brewed a special beer, Myricale, in support of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, and their Kettle Drum Best Bitter is being used in Harrogate Preserves Co.'s Ale, Fig and Apricot chutney, they are a very busy brewery! But they even made time to have an art, beer and food festival in June, called Brewery Beats. We are sure there are even more great things in store for Treboom, so make sure you keep an eye out for those new bottles!

John and Jane, Treboom
Jane and John at Treboom Brewery, Image from York Press.


Elland Brewery

Originally formed in 2002, Elland Brewery ales can be found on tap and in bottles. The brewery has won several awards from SIBA and CAMRA, and this year launched a Pale Ale, Charity, at Clifford Beer Festival, to help raise money for FDM (For Disability Mobility). Elland's beers have been sampled by Christine Talbot from Calendar, who attended the brewing of Charity, and Holly Willoughby on This Morning. We are very proud to have worked with Elland on the design of the pump clip for Charity, and hope that it's success has helped FDM in their hard work.

FDM operate a specially modified minibus to provide transport for the elderly, disabled adults, people with mobility problems, and children in the south Leeds area. The bus can be used for shopping trips and days or evenings out.

Christine Talbot Elland Brewery Charity
Calendar's Christine Talbot at Elland Brewery.


Indie shops and food festivals

As big foodies, we love to shop from the independent stores, and Yorkshire has no shortage of those! From York, Leeds and Malton, to Bridlington, Hull and Whitby, everywhere has their own specialities to shout about, and this makes Yorkshire a great culinary experience for all. One of the best things about Yorkshire's love for food is the vast array of markets and festivals that can be found around the county. Market towns are aplenty, and one in particular, which we're quite fond of, Malton, have a monthly food lover's market, you should check it out, you may even see some of our lovely clients there! We're also looking forward to York's Food & Drink Festival, which we've already mentioned is coming up soon.

York Food & Drink Market
York Food & Drink Market.


Happy Yorkshire Day everybody!


Do you have a favourite Yorkshire delicacy, or a favourite indie food shop? Let us know, tweet us @ubd_studio

Thursday, 24 January 2013

Got some time for tea?

Facts about tea infographic
Tea Infographic: Fun facts about tea!
‘Ahhh’ tea, nothing seems to hit the spot quite like it, not for the Brits anyway, especially us Yorkshire folk. In the office, a couple of us can’t live without a good brew; it just makes us feel better, especially if it has been a particularly stressful day! In fact, it seems like a lot of you share our love for tea, so go grab yourself a cuppa and read all about the stuff that gets us through the day!







Yorkshire - the past, present and future of tea

Lu Lin Tea Cubed
Lu Lin's cubed teabags.
So, if you think of Yorkshire and tea, you think of two things; Yorkshire Tea and Betty’s. Would you be as surprised as me to find out they are owned by the same people?! Betty’s bought Taylors of Harrogate, (who make Yorkshire Tea), in the 1960’s and they have been working together ever since to create the perfect afternoon tea experience. Who is Betty you may ask? Well we don’t know, and they don’t know either, but what we do know is that if you are looking for some high-class afternoon tea, you will struggle to find somewhere better! But if you do want to shop around, Yorkshire does have it’s very own tea trail that can be found here.

Lu Lin Carnation Blooming Tea
Carnation Blooming Tea.
Although the traditional afternoon tea is lovely, tea seems to be moving forward somewhat. No longer are English Breakfast and Earl Grey the only variations we have heard of. Green tea, white tea, even blooming tea are now on our radar. Especially ours here at UBD, we work with a fantastic company called Lu Lin Teas, who specialise in Chinese Teas. Their futuristic looking cubed tea bags show how something so traditional is able to move with the times, and their blooming teas are a real showstopper!

Not since the 1990’s, when PG released the pyramid tea bag has there been significant innovation to enhance the flavour of bagged tea. While researching the pyramid PG even considered using a top hat shape!

Finished your brew yet? Good, so have we, and it’s about time we put the kettle back on! Leave us a comment telling us about your favourite tea.



Sources of information: 
http://www.lulin-teas.com/
http://www.tea.co.uk/teafacts
http://www.taylorsofharrogate.com/about-us/taylors-history.asp
http://www.yorkshire.com/what-to-do/delicious/delicious-tea-trail
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/foo_tea_con-food-tea-consumption
http://www.tea.co.uk/tea-glossary-and-faqs
http://www.bettys.co.uk/About_Bettys/The_Bettys_Story.aspx
http://www.pgtips.co.uk/timeline/

Wednesday, 16 January 2013

York's Affair with Chocolate

Choc Affair range of products
Some of the lovely Choc Affair products
Now, we know it’s the New Year, and you’re all probably trying not to think about the abundance of chocolate you have scoffed over the past few weeks, but we’d like to draw your attention back to that yummy goodness. In particular, York’s chocolate..

We have the pleasure of working with Choc Affair, a wonderful Fair Trade chocolate company based in our lovely city. They hand make and amazing array of chocolate products that definitely get our mouth’s watering. And this got us thinking, how and when did York’s affair with chocolate actually begin?
 
Sweet Beginnings

Blue Kit Kat wrapper 1942
The blue Kit Kat (1942)
York’s first fling began as far back as 1725 with a lady called Mary Tuke, whose grocery shop was sold to the Rowntree family in 1862. Since then the company has been responsible for household names such as KitKat, (a studio favourite!), Smarties and Polos. Part of the success of the brand was down to a man called George Harris, who used then ‘American’ promotional methods: product development, advertising and branding, to bring those household names to life. Amazing how something that we now practise everyday was such a new concept less than 100 years ago!

Although Nestlé bought Rowntree’s in 1988, the name ‘Rowntree’ still means a lot to the city of York. Rowntree Park provides a beautiful green space for residents and tourists alike, and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation helps the UK’s poverty stricken, homeless, and aging populations.

Packaging for Terrys Chocolate Lemon and Terrys Chocolate Apple
The lesser known Chocolate Lemon and Chocolate Apple

Another chocolate-fuelled romance was budding in 1823 when Joseph Terry entered the York scene. His son, Joseph Terry Jnr was responsible for the ever-popular Chocolate Orange and the somewhat lesser known Chocolate Apple and Chocolate Lemon! Kraft took over Terry’s in 1993, but the brands that the nation still love live on, and will always be mine, not Terry’s, (let us know if you remember those adverts!








The present and the future

Nowadays chocolate is much a part of York as it was back then. Although Terry’s has left, Nestlé remains in the original Rowntree’s Factory and still employs around 1800 people and produces approximated 1 billion Kit Kats a year!

Although York still seduces some of the big brands, it’s the independent, artisan chocolatiers that really give York its title as the ‘home of chocolate’, and keeps the sweet stuff firmly in our hearts. York Cocoa House combines a shop, café and school run by Sophie, a lifelong chocolate lover, who wants to share her passion with the world. Also, Monk Bar Chocolatiers, a family run company, has been making high quality handmade chocolates within the walls since 1999.

York's Chocolate Story Logo - ContinuumWant to learn more about York’s cocoa dusted past? All of the city’s flirtations with various chocolate companies can now be found in York’s very own chocolate museum: York’s Chocolate Story. It even has a ‘chocolate bar’ where you can really indulge; cakes, choctails, and hot chocolate are just a few of the treats they have on offer.

So there you have it, we think it’s fair to say that York has a very chocolaty past, present, and probably future. All that talk of chocolate made you hungry? Go on, have a break, have a Kit Kat, you know you want to!


Information and images from:
http://www.choc-affair.com/
http://www.historyofyork.org.uk/themes/victorian/rowntree-co-chocolate-manufacturers
http://www.historyofyork.org.uk/themes/victorian/joseph-terry-sons-chocolate-manufacturers
http://www.scribd.com/doc/78692048/TERRYS-Timeline-of-Brand-Milestones
http://www.bq-magazine.co.uk/success-story/york/y13-ss2/
http://www.yorkcocoahouse.co.uk/
http://www.monkbar.com/
http://www.yorkschocolatestory.com/