Food Fayre Sponsored by…
A feast of the finest Scottish food and drink awaits at the ACE Winches Scottish Traditional Boat Festival on Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd July 2023. Alongside the flotilla of heritage boats which will sail into Portsoy harbour for the 30th anniversary of the event, a range of artisan producers, award winning products and global flavours will be on display in the festival Food Fayre on the Back Green.
Aberdeen Angus beef, pickled onions and handmade pies are just some of the delectable delights for your tastebuds, whilst locally produced rum, whisky, gin and freshly pressed apple juice will also be on the menu.
Visitors will also be able to eat their way around the harbour, with local seafood from the Crab Company and Seafood Bothy. Enjoy a slice of Haydn’s Woodfired Pizzas or a delicious burger with onions or steak sandwich from Bannerman Butcher. Plant-based options will be available from Thistle Catering and taking a taste of Spain to Portsoy is Paella Escocia. Desserts and sweet treats can be found at Popsey’s Pancakes and make sure you indulge in a sundae or waffle cone with a scoop or two of the famous Portsoy ice-cream!
In the Food Fayre, fourth generation, family-run business, Bannerman Butcher from Inverbervie will have their range of high-quality meat, sausages and famous home-made pies. Chris and his team deliver a personal service and are committed to serving only the best quality, full of flavour Aberdeen Angus beef, farmed just three miles from their shop. Bannerman Butchers has recently expanded their product range to include dry cure meats and charcuterie.
From classic beef and onion pie, made with aged, belted Galloway beef to the ultimate classic pork pie or lush lamb and prune pie, Wark Farm Pies are handcrafted using their own secret recipe, hot water pastry. Using locally sourced ingredients, the pies are made on their farm in Alford, Aberdeenshire.
Zingy-Tingy Beetroot return with their range of delicious, pickled onions, beetroot and cabbage. Business owner Nic Flavell established the business during lockdown, using a secret family recipe which dates back to 1850.
North East Food and Drink Awards finalist, Snochery Jock’s will have their delicious small batch oatcakes and shortbreads available to buy. Handmade by grandad, Allan Smith from his home kitchen in Kintore, Snockery Jock’s oatcakes are made from his late mum’s special recipe and are rising in popularity, coming third in the World Oatcake Championships.
Budding bakers can pick up a Col’s Baking Kit which features step-by-step recipes and all the required ingredients to make butteries, biscuits, bread, cakes, pancakes and muffins. Great fun for adults and children.
Larch from Fraserburgh is a homebased cupcakery and chocolate creator, specialising in cupcake bouquets, which are almost too good to eat. At the festival you can indulge in Larch’s delicious cheesecakes, cheesecake eclairs, chocolate lollipops, croissants and savoury treats including sausage rolls and quiche.
Staying on the coast, Blue Toon Bakes from Peterhead will return to this year’s event with a variety of baked goods, traybakes and treats. Hamlyns of Scotland Oatmeal will have their range of fine Scottish milled oatmeal bags and products to browse and buy.
Owen Foster began making jam at 12 years old. Looking for ways to earn some extra money when his job selling free range eggs came to an end, Owen asked his granny to teach him how to make jam. Selling them to his neighbours in Forfar, Owen sold 50 jars in a week and from then, his business Owen’s Angus Jams was born. His range includes jams, marmalades, boozy jams and fruit infused gins, all made with natural ingredients and using traditional methods.
Visitors with a sweet tooth will find lots of sweet treats at LJ Toffee, Kilted Fudge and The Green Cocoa Team.
There will also be a variety of drinks producers in attendance including, Elgin’s Orchard. Re-igniting apple growing and juice production in Scotland, Elgin’s Orchard planted 3,000 trees, which would harvest up to 25 tonnes of apples and press into 20,000 bottles of apple juice per year. Ron and Valerie Matheson and Angus Dixon founded the business with the aim of producing natural, great tasting apple juice in Morayshire. The apples are picked, pulped, pressed, pasteurised and bottled at Elgin’s Orchard, communities are also welcome to take their own apples to be turned into juice and enjoyed!
A taste of the Caribbean can be found at the Twice Buried Rum Co stand. Distilled in Aberdeenshire, using local botanicals, ripe juicy strawberries from Barra Berries, honey, salted caramel and warming spices, Twice Buried Rum has a unique flavour and an intriguing story to tell. Named after ‘Twice Buried Mary’. Mary Elphinstone who was married to a local laird and died just a few weeks after their wedding. Buried in her wedding dress wearing her cherished diamond wedding ring on her finger, two local rogues saw an opportunity to retrieve the ring and proceeded to dig up the grave. However, Mary wasn’t dead at all but in an unconscious state and awoken by the attempt to cut her ring finger off.
Highland Boundary from Perthshire will offer their range of spirits created using local hand-picked botanicals. Alcohol and fruit liqueurs will be available from The Ellon Spirit Company, including strawberry, raspberry, rhubarb and lemon gin liqueurs and their latest products – cherry gin and pineapple liqueur – delicious! Mixing it up will be Macduff Distillery, with a range of different cocktails available for visitors to try.
Ovenbird Coffee Roasters from Glasgow will be serving coffee and their delicious hot chocolate, which is a must try – it’s the best!
David Urquhart, chairman of the ACE Winches Scottish Traditional Boat Festival commented: “The festival really is a feast for the senses and the Food Fayre has an abundance of delicious local flavours and products available to try and buy. We’ve brought together a real mix of businesses, many who have not attended the event before and some who come year after year. As well as fresh seafood and fish, we’re bringing an international flavour back with Paella Escocia and their delicious paella, which was a big hit last year. We’re certainly hoping for a sunshine filled weekend and we’ve plenty Portsoy ice-cream to keep people cool while they enjoy our packed programme of entertainment.”
The Food Fayre is sponsored by Gray Composting Services Ltd. Thanks also to our sponsors ACE Winches, Glenglassaugh, Puffin Wood Fuels, Moray West, Macduff Shipyards, Portsoy Thrift Shop, Urquhart Joinery Services, Twice Buried Rum Co and Hamlyns of Scotland Oatmeal.
Entry to the festival is discounted when purchased in advance online, for a day festival pass the prices are £15.30 for an adult, £9.90 concession and £6.30 for a child. Alternatively, a family day pass can be purchased for £35.10, or an adult weekend pass is £19.80. A weekend family pass, for access to the festival on Saturday and Sunday is £45.00. Tickets can be purchased on the festival website: https://stbfportsoy.org/buy-tickets.