Yorkshire Parkin

While walking the Pennine Way I was in need of sustenance to keep me going through the day. While I found some good biscuits, cake is less prone to disintegrating (or at least more easily squished back together). Having spent quite a while wandering along the route through Yorkshire I was pleased to find a supply of Parkin, a cake with strong local connections.

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Yorkshire Tea Biscuits

In walking the Pennine Way I spent quite a while within Yorkshire – with the opportunity to try some of the wonderful delights on offer that go well with a nice cup of tea.

I had occasionally seen Yorkshire Tea Biscuits advertised on TV, but never found a good supply of them. In Hawes I was delighted to find numerous shelves fully stocked with a wondrous range of these biscuits, though disappointingly I probably only had room for two packets of biscuits in my rucksack, so I chose the Original and Chocolate Chip varieties – leaving the Oat & Honey and Ginger ones for another time.

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Cornish Fairings

Cornish Fairings truly are ‘A taste that’s out of Cornwall‘, and it is a great shame that they are not more widely available – considering that they have been a Cornish favourite for over 100 years. It was only a few years ago that they almost became an endangered species when the factory was forced to close due to lack of demand – which would have been a great tragedy for Fairings fans. Thankfully someone saw sense and they were rescued.

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English Estate Tea from Tregothnan

Tea was reputedly discovered in China in 2737 BC by Emperor Shen Nung when he was sitting beneath a tree being served boiled drinking water by his servant. A leaf from the tree dropped into the water – and thus the first cup of tea was born brewed.

It was not until 1615 that tea was first mentioned in British literature, and it was the British who took it all over the world and cultivated it in large quantities in India and Africa.

At the forefront of novel plant introductions the Tregothnan Estate began the search for the perfect tea when it was recently shown that high quality tea could thrive in Cornwall.

Now I just have to find some Cornish Fairings biscuits…

Welshcakes (picau ar y maen)

Welshcakes can be traced back in time to one of the earliest forms of baking, where a flatstone would be placed onto an open fire and small flat cakes would be griddled on top of the hot stone.

It is a shame that they are not more widely available outside of their native Wales as they make a fine accompaniment to a nice cup of tea.

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Saffron cake

Cornwall is one of the few places in the UK where saffron is used to make cakes and buns, though similar delicacies can be found in a few places around the world.

Saffron cake is a rich yeast dough cake that is flavoured with saffron and contains currants. With the delicate saffron flavour also comes the rich and distinctive yellow colour to the cake.

Traditionally saffron cakes were only made at Easter time, though thankfully they are now available to enjoy all year round with a cup of tea!

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