WIN a Herb Garden Workshop, Chocolate Powders or Food Safety eLearning Course in our Christmas competition

Make sure you take part in our spectacular 12 Days of Christmas competition as we have some fantastic prizes on offer, 37 in all.
Over the next few days we'll be telling you about the prizes you could win and today we feature the fourth three…

Designing a Herb Garden for Health, Beauty & Cooking Workshop from Roots Shoots Leaves

Roots Shoots & Leaves offers a range gardening courses, rural skills and craft courses in south Hampshire.


All courses are run from their very own home and garden.
A day that will test your five senses: from tasting, to identifying, eating, smelling and handling a great variety of herbs, showing you how to design, plan, sow and plant your own herb garden.
Whether you are interested in herbs for your kitchen or for your health or beauty, their will be recipes to demonstrate how easy it is to make herbal teas and beauty potions with your own herbs. Their will be easy to make recipes for everyday cooking.

Find out more about this Roots Shoots & Leaves workshop on their website here

West African, Ecuador and White Couverture Chocolate Powders from Mortimer Chocolate Company

Husband and wife team, Adrian and Felicity Smith set up the Mortimer Chocolate Company in 2006.
Using Adrian’s expertise as a Mars-trained cocoa taster, they produce fantastic tasting chocolate powders.
All chocolate powders are free from gluten, dairy, soya, nuts and palm oil and are suitable for a variety of uses including making into a hot drink, baking and confectionery.

Find out more about Mortimer Chocolate Company on their website here

Win 1 of 8 Licences for CIEH eLearning Level 1 or 2 Food Safety from The Red Cat Partnership

The Red Cat Partnership are made up of a team of people that are are highly skilled and experienced Food (& health and safety) consultants – that are all from an Environmental Health background.
They are offering these eLearning courses to eight lucky entrants and the courses can be undertaken anywhere and are designed for anyone working in a business where food is prepared, cooked or handled to introduce them to food safety.

Find out more about The Red Cat Partnership on their website here

There are many more prizes in our 12 Days of Christmas competition so why not head over to The Artisan Food Trail website and
This competition has now closed

Look out for further posts where we focus on the prizes you could win and remember the competition closes at midnight on 12th December 2014.

Chocolate & Beetroot Cake

Photo: © childsdesign

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Chocolate and beetroot is actually a very good combination and even if you say you don’t like beetroot, it really does take on a whole new taste sensation this way.

This is a cake of contrasts and contradictions. So dark in colour it should be exceedingly rich, but surprisingly it is quite light. The beetroot lends a little sweetness and also its reddish-purple juice manages to tint even the darkest of chocolate.

Serve with a dollop of cream or creme fraiche.

View recipe

Photo: © childsdesign

Big stockist for Mortimer Chocolate Company

The Mortimer Chocolate Company has made its first deliveries of its award-winning hot chocolate products into Sainsbury’s Supermarkets all over the UK, just in time for customers to warm themselves up with the delicious chocolate drinks.

Their award-winning West African Chocolate Powder (which is already stocked in Waitrose) is going into nearly 600 Sainsbury’s stores, while their Ecuador Chocolate Powder will be stocked in nearly 400 stores.
This is good news for The Mortimer Chocolate Company which aims to bring fine chocolate drinks to a UK market dominated by sugary drinks lacking a real chocolate credential.
“Having our chocolates in the two top quality supermarkets in the land shows just how good our chocolates are!” said Adrian Smith, managing director of the Mortimer Chocolate Company. “Walking into my local Sainsbury’s and seeing two of our products side-by-side on the shelf is a great feeling! I want to tell all their customers how good a drink it is. And it is now available all over the UK!”

The Artisan Food Trail says: “Both chocolate powders have received our AFT Approved status and we are pleased for Adrian and Felicity whose knowledge, passion and hard work has produced a fine chocolate product which will now be available to a greater customer base.
Wider availability also means customers have more choice and the opportunity to make a better choice.
Being stocked in a supermarket has not meant that the products have been compromised though. Mortimer Chocolate Company have stuck to their original principles and it is heartening to know that they are getting the recognition and respect from the larger stores.”

Adrian added,“Our customers tell us how much they love our chocolate, now we hope that Sainsbury’s shoppers will fall in love with it too.”

To find out more about Mortimer Chocolate Company visit their page on The Artisan Food Trail here

Thame Food Festival: 29th September 2012

In the words of Lotte Duncan, patron of the Thame Food Festival, it is ‘fabulous food fun’. The festival promises to be a showcase for all that is best in local food and drink and will be fantastic free day out for all the family in the heart of the historic market town.
Thame has a thriving agricultural heritage and provides the perfect setting for the festival.

Now in its fifth year there will be a line-up of star chefs and celebrities in the cookery theatre including Adam Simmonds of Michelin starred restaurant Adam Simmonds at Danesfield House in Marlow, Laurie Gear of The Artichoke in Amersham and Marcus Bean celebrity TV chef who runs The New Inn Pub, Baschurch.

Raymond Blanc will be signing copies of his cook books at the ‘Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons’ stall as well as giving a demo in the cookery theatre with Kush. Festival regulars Katie & Giancarlo Caldesi have entitled their demo ‘Cucina Contadina’ – The Peasant Kitchen.

In addition to the cookery theatre there will also be food related demos, workshops and talks – in the AGA shop, the Town Hall and the stables of The James Figg Free House.

As part of the lengthy line-up of food producers taking part will be four of our Artisan Food Trail members. They are:

Mortimer Chocolate Company – Award Winning Chocolate Powders; to make delicious hot chocolate, ideal for creating stunning chocolate recipes and for melting and dipping, they even have a fondue for the BBQ.

Womersley Fruit & Herb Vinegars – Artisan maker of fine fruit vinegars and herb jellies. Balanced recipes allow maximum versatility in the kitchen ensuring that the true aromas of all the flavours shine through.



Cotswold Gold – Extra Virgin Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil grown and produced on the family farm by Charlie. This is a very healthy and versatile oil for all culinary needs.

David's Chilli Oil – A rich, exotic, healthy and intensely flavoured chilli oil perfect for drizzling over food, cooking, marinating and dipping. Made with quality produce from the Cotswolds.



For more information about the festival visit the website: www.thamefoodfestival.co.uk
You can also download a PDF of the programme here

World Class Flavour: Mortimer Chocolate Company

Photos: © Mortimer Chocolate Company

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The Mortimer Chocolate Company is very much a family business run by Adrian Smith and his wife Felicity who helps out in between looking after their three young children.

The company was started after Adrian decided to leave his position at Masterfoods where he’d enjoyed a successful career for nearly 20 years managing well known hot chocolate drinks brands as well as being one of their top cocoa tasters.

Major chocolate manufacturers blend cocoas to make a product that tastes the same year after year, a process which Adrian felt was depriving the consumer of real and distinct chocolate flavour. This spurred him on in his mission to find and produce fine quality chocolate from around the world. By focusing on small growers who nurture their cocoa to produce fine quality beans, the cocoa is made into a 100% plain chocolate powder, retaining its unique flavour, with no need for additives.

Chocolate is made from cocoa beans, which, like coffee and wine, vary in flavour according to the soil, season and region in which they were grown. Adrian uses his experience and knowledge to select cocoas direct from origin, such as West Africa, Ghana, Ecuador and Venezuela, to produce a 100% chocolate powder, ideal for making delicious chocolate drinks. This way the consumer can experience and understand the variety of cocoa flavours from around the world.

Mortimer Chocolate works with local growers towards Rainforest Alliance and Fair Trade Accreditation. Although some growers are just too small for such a step, Adrian is currently working with a co-operative in Ghana to do just that.

As well as making delicious hot chocolate drinks, this unique range of global chocolate powders can be used for cooking, particularly in recipes requiring a good quality dark chocolate.
Felicity’s nutritional and culinary expertise quickly revealed the extent to which the quality plain chocolate powders can be used. By experimenting with a variety of recipes, it became clear that they can be used in savoury,
as well as sweet recipes, not to mention making actual bars of real luxurious chocolate.

Find out more about Mortimer Chocolate Company on The Artisan Food Trail here

Chocolate Mousse

Photo: © childsdesign

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This dessert is a real treat and trouble-free to make from Mortimer Chocolate Company. We used their Ecuador Pure Dark Chocolate powder which gave the mousse a rich distinctive flavour. Mortimer describe their Ecuador chocolate as having notes of tropical spices with a hint of smoky tobacco flavour.

And to join their West African Chocolate Powder, we are pleased to award Mortimer Chocolate Company ‘Artisan Food Trail Approved’ status for their Ecuador Pure Dark Chocolate powder.

We really like this recipe as it is not too sweet, only the small amount of sugar in the powder is required with no need for any extra. The texture is rich and velvety too.

View recipe

A social community for chocolate lovers

Subscribers to Mortimer Chocolate Company's newsletter will already know that they have been busy getting to grips with social media and branching out into the realms of Twitter.

They already engage with their appreciators through Facebook and now Mortimer Chocolate Company are creating a social community for chocolate lovers called ChocolateFriends.com, where you can join them to share your recipes, find out about chocolate events going on, add your own events and comment on what is new.

The interactive website is being built at the moment and will be up and running very soon.
In the meantime you can follow Chocolate Friends on Twitter @chocfriends

To find out more about Mortimer Chocolate Company visit their page on The Artisan Food Trail here

Snuggle up with a deeply dippy chocolate fondue

Photo: © childsdesign

We tried out the BBQ Chocolate Fondue from Mortimer Chocolate Company over the weekend and before you wonder what us crazy people were doing having a barbecue in the depths of winter, we chose to use the oven method. That's the beauty of this kit as it can be enjoyed any time of the year come rain or shine.

Read full review

If you fancy indulging someone for Valentines why not order a BBQ Chocolate Fondue from Mortimer Chocolate Company.
Visit their page on The Artisan Food Trail here where you'll find links to their website/shop.

Chocolate Brownies

Photo: © childsdesign

There's nothing more irresistible than a chocolate brownie. Somewhere between cake and fudge, the intense gooey texture is lip lickingly good. The secret to a decent brownie though, is to use good quality chocolate and this recipe is from Mortimer Chocolate Company, makers of high quality chocolate powders. The powder isn't like cocoa powder, in fact you could just eat it straight out of the packet (confession: we did) it really is that good.
Mortimer's West African Chocolate is best for brownies and this recipe does actually feature on the back of the pack. The chocolate is very easy to use and produces a fantastic result with a deep, rich and almost fruity flavour.

View recipe

To find out more about Mortimer Chocolate Company visit their page on The Artisan Food Trail here

Mortimer Chocolate Company win Best Drinking Chocolate 2011 award!

Thank you to everyone who voted following our requests via Twitter and Facebook, a couple of weeks a go. You nominated Mortimer Chocolate Company to win the Best Drinking Chocolate 2011 award and the response was just fantastic!

Adrian Smith received the award from Yael Rose, organiser of The Chocolate Festival, this week, for Mortimer Chocolate's West African chocolate.
We're very proud to have Mortimer Chocolate on The Artisan Food Trail – we've already tried some of their products and can say that they are very good indeed. Look out for some articles and recipes on the AFT blog soon.

Vote for Mortimer Chocolate Company and WIN a year's supply of drinking chocolate!

The people at The Chocolate Festival are looking for your favourite drinking chocolate and we are hoping that we can count on your support by nominating one of our Artisan Food Trail members.
Our most recent addition is Mortimer Chocolate Company that makes some truly amazing chocolate powders that can be used in a variety of recipes and of course, can also be mixed into a wonderful hot chocolate drink.

All we're asking you to do is visit The Chocolate Festival's voting page, where you'll find instructions, to make your nomination. Everyone will be entered into a prize draw and one lucky winner will receive a year's supply of drinking chocolate from some of the nominated brands.*

Just state Mortimer West African chocolate drink when you nominate.

Vote here!
Sorry – the poll has now closed
Did they win? Click here

For more information about Mortimer Chocolate Company visit their page on The Artisan Food Trail here
*The competition is run by The Chocolate Festival and is not associated with The Artisan Food Trail