...a global, grassroots movement with thousands of members around the world that links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment.Slow Food UK runs educational projects and has a local group network which promotes the Slow Food way of life at a local level. One of its campaigns is the Forgotten Foods Project, which 'travels the country collecting small-scale quality produce threatened by industrial agriculture, environmental degradation and homogenization.' As they point out, 'Those artisan producers who opt to swim against the tide of ‘fast life’ need [...] help in explaining to the public why their products are special and, usually, cost more to make than mass-produced counterparts.' Sounds like a great idea to me. And I was delighted to discover that one of their targeted foods is the Cornish Saffron Cake.
In the fast modern junk food environment, Slow Food is the voice of calm reason and quality. We work to promote the greater enjoyment of food through a better understanding of its taste, quality and production.
Now, the Saffron Cake is part of my childhood. Not only was I born and brought up in Cornwall, but my grandparents and parents, along with my uncle, ran a family bakery. Saffron cake is in my blood. Apparently, when I was about three I was asked what I would like for my birthday tea, and my reply was 'Bread and butter and sashron cake.' And it still has a place at my special-occasion tea table, nearly fifty years later.
There are various recipes for Saffron Cake. As far as I'm concerned there are four basic characteristics that it must have to be entitled to the name. It must be loaf shaped. The dough must be yeast-based. It must have plenty of currants and my personal taste is to have a good helping of sultanas and/or raisins as well. As my mother-in-law says, it's no good if it's a 'station cake' - one currant here and then you have to go miles to get to the next one! And it must be that deep fragrant yellow that you can only get by using plenty of saffron. I'm afraid that the Saffron Cake on the Slow Food website is far too pale for me: you would never have seen one as wishy-washy as that at Trethewey Bros Bakers!
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| The Saffron Crocus Picture Credit |
It's interesting that such an exotic and expensive spice came to be so much part of the culture of a small rural society in one of the farthest corners of the UK. From Medieval times, though, saffron was grown in Cornwall, and production was still going on in Bude in the C19th. Saffron is the dried stigma of the Crocus Sativus, and it takes about 150 flowers, all harvested by hand, to produce just 1g of the spice. No wonder saffron is incredibly expensive - in fact, there is a commonly held myth that ounce for ounce it is more expensive than gold. This isn't quite true, however, as current gold prices are around £30,000 per kilo, whereas saffron is only £4,500! Still - pretty expensive. My mother remembers my grandfather keeping the saffron in a shiny metal box in the bakery safe, because it was the most precious thing on the premises.
Of course all this reminiscence about Saffron Cake meant I had to make one. So here's the recipe for the cake I made this weekend.
Saffron Cake
1 tsp dried saffron (real saffron threads, not 'saffron powder' - and don't skimp!)
125ml milk
500g plain flour
pinch of Cornish salt
1/2 tsp dried easy action yeast (real yeast would be more authentic, but harder to get)
250g chilled butter
250g caster sugar
130g currants
120g sultanas (or raisins. Or you can use all currants)
Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it is just boiling. Drop the saffron in, give it a stir, cover, and leave steeping for as long as you can, overnight if possible. Obviously of you're leaving it overnight, put it in the fridge! I left mine for about four hours and that was fine - it was lovely and fragrantly golden by that time. Alternatively you can do it my mother-in-law's way, and steep it in a small amount of boiling water, then make it up to the required volume of liquid by adding milk the next day. She also recommends a pinch of salt in the water to intensify the colour.
Sieve the flour and salt, and mix in the yeast. Add the butter, and either rub in, or food-process until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Stir in the dried fruit.
Warm the saffron-infused milk again, to about hand-temperature, and pour it over the mixture. Stir it in, then use your hands to bring it all together into a soft dough.
Place the dough into a buttered 1kilo (2lb) loaf tin (or two 1lb tins which is what I did), and leave in a warm place to prove. It won't rise much - it's not like bread, it will have a denser texture - but it should rise a bit. 30 to 45 minutes should do it.
Cook in a pre-heated oven (180C/350F/Gas Mark 4) for 45 mins to an hour. It should be golden verging on brown and have risen more. I took mine out a bit early, and it was slightly too doughy in the middle, so I would recommend you check carefully. I didn't do the skewer test, so it's my own fault!
Place on a cooling tray in its tin, and when it's cool enough to handle, slip out of the tin to finish cooling.
You can serve it spread with butter, but to be honest, this recipe is so buttery it doesn't need anything other than a cup of tea on the side. And even though it could have done with five more minutes in the oven, it was lovely!
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| Sorry - forgot to take the picture of the whole thing! |
