Jane Hutton is the Founder of Trinity Holistics, a “confirmed foodie” and nutritional scientist. She is an incredibly busy lady: from developing her own line of organic foods to hosting Nutrition Retreats in and around Devon, she’s a guru on farm-fresh food and topics in the area. She graciously wrote the following article, regarding diet and sourcing local in 2015, for the App for Devon. She even included a recipe for Hollandaise sauce!

Visit Trinity Holistics here: http://www.trinityholistics.co.uk/

So, Christmas is a distant memory, the January blues are over with, and it’s all down hill to spring!  Winter is such a busy foodie time for me, with all the celebratory cooking that goes on. This winter, and Christmas in particular, have been even more foodily fantastic, thanks to the incredible upsurge in local producers, and markets. 

The best thing was seeing how popular the markets were – I could barely move at Royal William Yard’s monthly producer market, or at Crocadon, or Totnes; people from all walks of life had their taste buds out in force, appreciating everything from Devon Ruby beef to fruit juices, goat’s cheese to veggie curries, and even eggs from a chap who knew the name of each hen (and which eggs they’d laid) who delivers to your door!

The plethora of Christmas markets also featured a healthy selection of artisan food businesses, all here for life (I hope), not just for Christmas. How wonderful to see small farmers bringing their meat and vegetables, so fresh they scream health; smokehouses bringing salmon, fish, duck and chicken; pies, pasties, soups, eggs, cakes, quiches, wild mushrooms, jams, chutneys, pates, and most of all, the staff of life, bread.

Many times, when a client has stomach problems, I’ve suggested eating true artisan bread. In the majority of cases, with a couple of other tweaks, they discover that wheat and gluten weren’t the problem; ingredients and processing were triggering other issues.

My point here is that fresh food is real food; real food is healthy food. Packaged equals processed, with most of the goodness stripped out; fruit and veg might look fresh, but how fresh are they in reality? Sometimes weeks old, nutrients degrading with every day that passes. As far as bread was concerned, properly made loaves used to be hard to find, but not any more – all you need is a monthly market, and that’s your bread sorted (as long as you have a freezer) The variety, taste, nutrient and health benefits offered by well made bread can’t be beaten.

The supermarkets have cottoned on to the demand, but ask the right questions and you find that the artisan offerings aren’t as fresh and unprocessed as the clever marketing suggests. So do yourself and your tummy a favour: visit a monthly market and stock up, and not just on bread either. When you’ve got a lovely loaf, some fresh eggs, and a few rocket leaves, have a go at this hollandaise sauce for a gorgeously decadent meal. Enjoy!

Here is one recipe that can be fully sourced using Devon ingredients:

Hollandaise sauce

4 large free-range egg yolks


250g cold unsalted butter, diced


1 tbsp of lemon juice (adjust to taste)

Seasoning

Put a cold, heavy-based pan (like Le Creuset) on the hob, add the yolks, butter and 2 tbsp of water. Begin to heat very gently, whisking the contents constantly. The butter will melt, and the sauce will begin to thicken, but keep the heat low; this is not a quick process, but worth it! Overheat and it will split.

Once the butter has melted, you can increase the heat a little, whisking vigorously until the sauce thickens. Should it begin to get hot, take off the heat, but keep on whisking.

When the sauce is thickened to the consistency you like, stir in the1 tbsp lemon juice (or more if you like it sharper) and season.

Serve immediately, or keep warm in a bowl over a pan of hot water (don’t let the water touch the bowl) Spoon over your eggs, asparagus, or anything else you fancy!