“Chemistry experiments of health exuding, taste-bud pleasing, and local potable delicacies.”
Proudfood & Co. - Winchester
My wish to have time to forage for herbs, spices, the edible and steamable, the delicate and soakable flora of our hedgerows, treats which are continually updated seasonally, is generally overtaken by my daily hectic life, leaving me to instead imagine the delightful outcomes of such oneness and understanding of nature and its products. However, to my delight, I discovered a gem in Winchester providing me with the fruits of such labours already formed into their own chemistry experiments of health exuding, tastebud pleasing, and local potable delicacies.
Proudfoot & Co. take inspiration from historic recipes and folklore remedies to serve flora-filled infusions which satisfy my curiosity to be in touch with historic ways of living, my interest in local foods and seasonality, and my desire for an unhurried, calculated enjoyment of time, company and sustenance. My particular choice was ‘Hampshire Honeydew’, a refreshing and tastebud tantalising tonic. The menu and proprietors educated me of the drink’s anglo-saxon roots, brewed and fermented for 6 weeks- a concoction of local honey and local herb infused fermented vinegars. I was offered a selection of enjoyment styles: as an iced slushie, cold over ice, or hot and spiced with local foraged hogweed seeds. Considering the chill on the morning of this mid-December visit, I opted for the latter and it proved the ideal blend of comfort and intrigue. The selection of my fellow sippers included a nod to coffee lovers: ‘Native Roots Coffee’, comprised of a magical combination of native roots, spices, and condensed milk. Serving this in cafetiere-like receptacle, a Vietnamese Drip, bewitches you by the chemistry before your eyes, providing the perfect paragon for their mantra: ‘Preserve the past to innovate for the future’. A short perusal of the menu before delving into the idiosyncrasies of fabulously odd but underused ingredients led my eyes to 2 words which I have not read on a menu since the 1990s and which brought rather more pleasure to my saliva glands than might be healthy. Brandy snaps were on the menu: my choice of accompaniment was settled. And they did not disappoint: crispy, sufficiently rich in flavour, served rolled in a nod to French patisserie.
The experience of trying various different homemade syrups, described and poured by an obliging proprietor, dispensed from flirtingly shiny jars on the wall shelves, was one which was not conducive to a quick tea in a café or a desire for swiftness. But, purely for that reason, it was much more enjoyable, symbolising time and money well spent, than other rushed consumption experiences. A rare experience where non-alcoholic drinks become the centre of marvelled attention, you once again learn to appreciate the flavours and scents this country has to offer; you are re-educated around the idea of seasonality, something most supermarkets have been at lengths to make us ignorant of, and discover a wealth of traditional hedgerow knowledge we seem to have lost. Give time to enjoy this incredible burst of flavour, bringing past recipes very much into the very palatable present. A wonderful time, well-spent.
