Jersey — cuisine, coastline and cows

Transcript: Jersey — cuisine, coastline and cows

Not quite British and not quite French, Jersey packs thousands of years of history, incredible coastlines and delicious food into its 120 km². Join Lois Hoyal as she discovers the best that Jersey has to offer in an extractAuszugextract from our travel story.

In the first extract, Lois takes part in a Jersey food tour. Listen and answer these questions:

• What’s an informal way to describe someone who’s very interested in cooking and eating food?
• And what is Jersey black butter?

Fish and chips?

My next stop is the village of Gorey and its picture-­book harbour on Jersey’s east coast. I’m here for a Jersey food tour, led by Clare Minihane, who’s accompanied by her daughter Katie. Minihane, who used to work as a cookery teacher and admits to being a foodie, tells me, “It’s all about family here on Jersey and it’s all about food.”

We start off in style: a glass of homemade sloe ginSchlehenginsloe gin, topped up with Prosecco. To go with my new favourite drink, there are Grouville Bay oysterAusteroysters followed by a small bowl of local potatoes called Jersey Royals.

“Everything I’m giving you to eat comes from this parish,” says Minihane. “I grew the Jersey Royals in my own field and dug them up myself a few hours ago.”

How can a simple potato taste so good? The addition of Jersey sea salt and lots of rich Jersey butter probably helps.

Minihane explains that she begins to plant Jersey Royals in January and harvests them from the end of March until July. They’re exported for only six weeks of the year, although in May, the main export season, up to 1,500 tonnes can be exported daily.

We walk to a côtil — a steepsteilsteep, slopingschräg, abfallendsloping field that faces south — where Jersey Royals are grown. It’s near the sea, benefiting from both the sun and sea salt. seaweedSeetangSeaweed from the beaches, known as vraic, is used as a natural fertilizerDüngerfertilizer to give the potatoes their special taste.

I complete my food tour with a taste of Cheddar cheese topped with a touch of Jersey black butter — a concentrated type of apple preserveKonfitürepreserve, flavoured with ciderCidre, Apfelweincider and spicesGewürzespices. Minihane also gives me a Jersey Dairy ice cream, covered with salted caramel sauce.

I tell myself I’m never going to eat ever again.

Are you feeling hungry after that? I certainly am. So, what’s an informal way to describe someone who’s very interested in cooking and eating food? You can call them a “foodie (ifml.)Feinschmecker(in)foodie”. And Jersey black butter is a concentrated type of apple preserve, flavoured with cider and spices.
In the second extract, Lois meets a diver who makes his living fishing for seafood. Listen and answer these questions:

• Up to how many scallopJakobsmuschelscallops can the diver catch each day?
• And how much of his business is door-to-door delivery?

A good catch

There are between 80 and 100 fishing boats active in the waters around Jersey. The next morning, I meet one of their owners, Josh Dearing, who earns a living diving and to scuba-divetauchen (mit Gerät)scuba-­diving for crabs, lobsters and scallops for his company, The Jersey Catch.

“Diving is the most environmentalhier: umweltfreundlichenvironmental way to fish for scallops without killing everything else,” he says. “The amount is unlimited, so I can catch up to 600 scallops a day. That’s around 100–120 kilograms. A dredgerSchleppnetzdredger might catch two tonnes a day, though. I’m restricted because I can only spend an hour under water.”

Once caught, the scallops are processed, packaged and delivered directly to local restaurants within an hour — “so fresh that they’re still to wrigglesich winden, zappelnwriggling inside”.

Dearing also delivers his produce directly to homes — 40 per cent of his business is door-to-door delivery. In pre-corona times, he would sometimes fly to London in the winter to deliver personally.

A former diving instructor, 27-year-old Dearing dives the whole year round. In winter, he simply puts on a thick pullover and gloves under his drysuitTrocken-, Neoprenanzugdrysuit. It can be a dangerous way to earn a living. “Last February, I fell over the side of the boat and a big wave swept over me. It was only six degrees. You can die from shock. I normally dive by myself and was alone that day. Lots of fishermen die after falling over the side.”

 Dearing catches up to 600 scallops each day. And 40 per cent of his business is door-to-door delivery.