Year: 2015

Introducing Model Farm

Caroline Grindrod beef, Cow Share, Farms, Sustainability, Welfare 0

We work with this inspiring Family be able to offer you some of the best beef available in the UK through our ‘cow share’ way of purchasing. Read why it is so important to support farmers like these.

Model Farm

Simon Cutter Farms on the wonderful rich pastures and meadows of Model farm, near Ross on Wye in Herefordshire.

Simon Cutter is the founder of Model Farm Society. Educated at Cirencester Agricultural College between 1977-1980, he has studied and practised traditional farming for over 30 years including time spent farming in Australia. Simon has been a pioneer in the rearing of Organic livestock and produce long before the ‘Organic bandwagon’ started to roll in the wake of the BSE crisis in the early 1990′s

Model Farm is home to a herd of 270 Hereford Beef Cattle and 400 Easy care ewes on sustainably managed grassland and forage crops. Simon’s cattle and sheep are 100% pasture fed and receive NO grains. Model Farm is managed to soil association standards for Organic status, the land receives no in-organic fertilisers or sprays and a forage crop rotation system produces natural organic foods for any winter feeds required.

‘Easy Care’ is a breed of sheep ideally suited to this topography and organic management system. They require minimal management and even shed their own fleece, so don’t require shearing. The torpedo shaped head of the lambs allows for easy lambing and Simon’s careful selective breeding program has led to the health of the flock to be nothing less than exceptional in the absence of routine medical intervention. The sheep require a small amount of supplementary feed in winter and this is provided by way of a home grown red clover hay.

Of the 270 Cattle, 100 hundred are breeding cows, the health of the herd is outstanding and the vet visiting is a very rare occurrence. There is NO routine medicines used and Simon maintains, that with extensive healthy grassland and soils, the cows and sheep receive all the nutrients they need to stay healthy from the diverse range of plants they eat.

The Hereford breeding stock stay outdoors on pasture, all year round. Hereford Cattle are a hardy traditional British breed originating in this area so are ideally suited to its climate and terrain. The young stock usually come in for the wettest parts of the year to avoid poaching the delicate grassland. Indoors the young stock will be bedded on local straw and fed Lucerne silage. Lucerne is a green, nutrient dense plant that grows very deep roots, it can access reservoirs of minerals not normally available to normal grasses and is considered a ‘superfood’.

The Beef is outstanding, due to the diet of the cattle consisting ONLY of natural herb rich plant matter and organic home grown super foods. The animals are getting all the minerals and vitamins they need and these will naturally pass on a range of these beneficial nutrients to you. The beef is dry aged for a minimum of 21 days.

Simon is ‘pasture for life‘ certified.

Simon handles all the transportation to a local abattoir and the meat will be cut by Simon’s butcher on the Model farm in a new purpose build unit.

Introducing Hill Top Farm, Malham

Caroline Grindrod Cow Share, Farms, Sustainability 0

23Sep

We work with this inspiring couple to be able to offer you some of the best beef available in the UK through our ‘cow share’ way of purchasing. Read why it is so important to support farmers like these.

Hill Top Farm

Neil Heseltine with Partner Leigh Weston farm the very beautiful ‘Hill Top Farm’ at Malham in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Neil and Leigh are passionate about producing 100% pasture fed beef from their 100 strong herd of Belted Galloway Cattle.

The Cattle are grazed all year round on limestone pastures and are never housed. In the most extreme of winters if the cattle need extra sustenance they are fed home grown hay or silage.

This is no hardship for these animals, Belted Galloway Cattle are renowned for their hardy and agile nature and are well equipped for the wind and cold they will experience on the higher Moors of this extensive Farm. Originating in South West Scotland the breed is very distinctive due to its ‘belt’ of white on a black, dun or red body.

Belted Galloway Cattle are incredibly efficient at converting rough grassland into very fine quality beef.

The beef these animal produce is exceptional, due to their diet consisting ONLY of natural herb rich plant matter. The animals get all the minerals and vitamins they need for supreme health in their diet and therefore need no medical intervention. No anti biotic residues here! The meat they produce will naturally pass on a range of these beneficial nutrients to you, and is arguably among the most nutritious meat you can buy.

“All our cattle are finished on grass or occasionally hay, they do not get fed grains at all,” LEIGH

This breed of cattle are at their best and most content when allowed to express their natural instincts. If managed in harmony with their nature you will see them wandering as a herd over the large open areas, occasionally wallowing in the watering areas. The ‘in-calf’ Cows will sneak off to calve and keep the newly born calf hidden for a few days until it is strong enough to be with the herd.

Limestone pasture is a delicate habitat that has been damaged by increased sheep grazing over the last few decades. Sheep graze only the most palatable grasses, and in many areas this has resulted in the rare and important species becoming choked by rank grasses. Hardy native cattle are ideal for restoring the diverse range of flora, their grazing action is less selective so reduces the long grasses. The grazing and trampling action opens up pockets of soil allowing important native species to successfully re-seed. Neil and Leigh farm the Belted Galloway cattle as part of a conservation scheme to regenerate these delicate and important habitats.

The couple Farm within a very High Tier of Higher Level Scheme which encourages farmers to manage land for the benefit of the environment.

“IT RESTRICTS YOU IN TERMS OF WHAT NUMBERS YOU CAN GRAZE, THE TIMINGS OF GRAZING AND WHAT YOU CAN FEED THE ANIMALS, AMONG OTHER THINGS, BUT I DON’T SEE ANY OF IT AS A HINDRANCE. I DO IT BECAUSE I BELIEVE IN IT.

“I BELIEVE THIS IS HOW AGRICULTURE SHOULD BE. THE KEY FOR ME IS IT SHOULD BE SUSTAINABLE, ENVIRONMENTALLY AND FINANCIALLY- NEIL.

The couple are so passionate about sustainable Farming that they do not ‘finish’ the Cattle, they simply allow them to continue grazing year after year until they reach the correct conformation for slaughter. This is often more than double the duration of a commercial grain fed beef animal.

Neil and Leigh want to see their good work continued to the very end, by working through us, to reach out to ‘conscious consumers’ they can make sure the nutritious ethical meat they have spent several years bringing to your table will be FULLY appreciated.

High Welfare Meat

Caroline Grindrod Welfare 0

09Sep

I would like to make something clear, we are not about anthropomorphising animals (and in fact cannot even say it!).

We do not think animals should not be treated like humans and accept that pets are treated differently to the animals that produce our food.

Farm animals are bred and reared for the sole purpose of feeding us, any meat eater should accept this fact instead of ‘delegating’ the morally hard choices to someone else, then criticising it when it goes wrong!

Anybody who has decided they can not live with the moral responsibility of eating meat, frankly, should turn vegetarian. If you are a vegetarian for this reason, I salute you and wish more people would make a stand for what they believe in.

If you are a meat eater, I hope you understand that there are thousands of different systems, run by millions of different characters, in hundreds of different countries that produce your meat.

There are some general principles of purchase and labels carrying regulation that may help you chose meat less likely to be neglected or reared in conditions that are unacceptable. RSPCA Freedom foods, Organic Certification among others, will offer detailed standards to potential customers and inspect producers to try and hold them to these standards.

The principle and terminology of ‘free range’, ‘grass fed’ and ‘outdoor bred’ may give you some indication of what system has been used to produce your meat but it is very difficult to prove and regulate that the system is producing high welfare meat – it is wide open to abuse, in more than one way!

At the end of the day, when that inspector has walked away from their short Farm visit for another year, how are these regulations going to be enforced? They can’t be.

‘WE DON’T NEED A LAW AGAINST MCDONALS OR A LAW AGAINST SLAUGHTERHOUSE ABUSE, WE ASK FOR TOO MUCH SALVATION BY LEGISLATION. ALL WE NEED IS TO EMPOWER INDIVIDUALS WITH THE RIGHT PHILOSOPHY AND THE RIGHT INFORMATION TO OPT OUT EN MASSE’
JOEL SALATIN.

So how do we guarantee high welfare meat?

Well, we think it is down to judging the character of those who rear our animals. To get to the heart of issue you need to find out several things.

Why are they farming or running this business? Is it just for profit? because that what their family has always done, or because they are passionate about the environment and the animals they rear?
How do they talk about and act around animals? what terminology do they use? is it respectful? does it indicate empathy?
When they handle their livestock, are they gentle with an understanding of how the animals tick? Do they appreciate and work with the animals instinctive social and mothering habits?
Are their animals healthy? Is there any tell tale signs of neglect, disease, poor land management or indications that they are not thriving? Only another stock-person could judge.
Are there any hints that they are just not being truthful about what they are saying?

By working closely with our farmers and getting to know their characters we can make the best possible choices of who we can trust to produce our meat.

Grazing animals are designed to eat plants and require large amounts of fibre in their diet for their digestion to work correctly. When an animal is fed a grain based diet the nutrients are supplied very quickly, enabling the animal to fatten faster, returning a better profit.

Unfortunately this allows fermentation acids to accumulate in the rumen, stops the animal absorbing essential nutrients and often leads to ulcers and eventually abscesses on the liver. Anti biotics are then required (in some parts of the world these are routinely fed and added to the food) to manage the disease. The anti-biotics alter the microbial balance of the animals gut, leaving it the perfect place for pathogens to flourish.

In the US, feed lot beef is often subject to mass recalls due the difficulty in managing the e-coli problem, particularly worrying are the strains that seem to be resistant to the acid shock of the stomach. Farmers now face the problem that some animals are no longer responding to anti-biotics due to their overuse. There are also concerns over the effect of eating anti-biotic residues in the animal flesh and the effect this may have on humans.

Animals are designed to graze, moving around in the sun and the rain, they are acting in a natural way and therefore their welfare state is high. The ‘pasture for life’ label ensures that animals have been grazing and eating pasture for their whole life. By default this will allow them to have had a higher quality of life.

Grazing animals have adapted over thousands of years to know when something is wrong with their health, and what they need to eat in order to self-medicate. In extensive grazing systems, it is interesting to see the animals eating different plants and trees at different times of year. The grazing action keeps their teeth and gums clean and healthy and a farmers running a pasture based system rarely have to intervene medically with their stock, often they calve easily, lameness is rare, there is no need for mineral supplements and requirement of a vet is dramatically reduced if not eliminated.

Sustainable meat – how it all went wrong!

Caroline Grindrod Sustainability 0

09Sep

Sustainable Meat – Where did it all go wrong!
In the UK we are lucky to have avoided (on the whole) the huge industrialised farming units of America, but much of our meat is still reared on cereals and the animals many don’t get the chance to see the great outdoors let alone eat a blade of grass!

How did it get to this?

The use of cereal feeds came about at the time of subsidised arable production when grain prices were falsely low. Around the same time, grasses and cereal plants were cleverly manipulated and planted in place of mixed herb rich grassland. These rye grass leys and strains of grain plants, yield much higher if supplied with N P K fertilisers, these fertilisers were still relatively affordable at the time and the use of fossil fuels was not so obviously unsustainable.
The outcome was a move away from traditional pasture reared livestock, to ‘finishing’ systems based on housing animals and feeding them cheap grains (and often food factory waste products too, I worked on a farm that fed Cadbury’s rejects, wrappers included!). Much land turned over to producing crops and inexpensive fertilisers replaced farm yard manure. Often the same crop is planted year after year and grassland was deemed unprofitable.

It worked quite well until –

Grain prices sky rocketed in correlation with exorbitant petro-chemical prices and unsustainable supply of fossil fuels.
The soils became degraded and unable to retain their moisture, so need regular irrigation. The soil is unstable, so after every heavy rain storm, tonnes of soil washes down becks and gullies.
Cultivated land hold less water too so it is much more likely are lower land and towns will flood.
The carbon that was once safely locked up in healthy nourishing humus, has been released into the atmosphere and is contributing to our climate change.
Our cereals and vegetables are depleted of essential vitamins and minerals as there is little to uptake from the soil.
The livestock that are fed these depleted cereals, are less healthy, need routine medical intervention and produce food that is of a very poor quality in comparison to the nutritious, delicious, grass fed meats, milk and eggs of early in the last century.

Aren’t we clever!

So let’s have a look at a pre war system, in my opinion this was the time when the lessons of the last 10,000 years of agriculture came to a perfect point and the land was able to produce optimal amounts of nutritious foods. People were healthier, animals were healthier and the planet was healthy.

Most farms adopted a ‘mixed farm’ and its greatest highly valued asset was its pasture. The benefit to the soils health from this system is great, grass transfers the sun’s energy into food for a whole underground world of organisms. Microbes in the soil are responsible for breaking the organic matter in soil and recycling the nutrients into a form that can be taken up by plants. In the process they ‘lock up carbon’ taking harmful CO2 out of the atmosphere and keeping it safe below ground.

This wonderful pasture contains a diverse range of plants and flowers, some of these plants have very deep roots that can tap into deeper nutrient stores including water in times of drought. The various species flower and seed at different times, ensuring a good balance of lush rich grass with fibrous material throughout the growing season, perfect for maintaining gut health in grazing animals.
The deep rooted sward stabilises the soil and prevents it from washing away in floods. The grazing animals have a secure and nutrient dense food source that will last all year round.
Our uplands act as a sponge to provide a slow release of water into the rivers and valleys.
When required, the fertile pasture can be ploughed and vegetables or cereal crops can be planted, its natural fertility is enough to produce a bumper crop without need for chemical fertilisers.
The use of the fields would be rotated to prevent fertility loss and manage any disease transfer.

I addition to the global climate benefits of the pasture based system, there is a great local biodiversity advantage too. A mixed farm landscape is ideal for flora and fauna and will have a range of different habitats to allow multiple species to thrive.

Traditional regional breeds of animals are well adapted to survive some very hostile grazing environments. Mountains, cliffs and fells are unable to produce food that requires cultivated land, they can however, still contribute sustainable meat, by providing grazing for hardy breeds. It is vital to maintain regional diversity and support rare breeds, each breed has particular characteristics that have evolved to adapt them to the local topography, climate and terrain.

You may be sceptical about the profitability of a mixed farm type system and may question if it can really produce enough food to feed our hugely increasing global population. The answer is yes.

It is very difficult to quantify the volume of food produced from a mixed farm as, by its nature, it is producing a mix of vegetables, grains, meats, eggs and milk. A hectare of modern arable land producing a high yielding crop of grain may produce an impressive tonnage, however remember that the grain may then end up being fed to animals to indirectly produce food.
Almost half the British wheat crop is fed to animals, to produce 1KG of beef it takes 8KG of wheat grains. Modern grain usually requires irrigation, fertilisers, and harvesting it is usually ‘carbon’ heavy. The food that is produced is unlikely to nourish us well, and the range of species we are regularly eating are becoming fewer. In times of drought and flood this system is very prone to failure so offers poor food security.

In the 1950’s Andre Voisin did a series of studies on grazing productivity and eventually published his remarkable findings in the hugely popular ‘grass productivity’. He concluded that with a particular way of grazing (now called mob grazing) grassland could produce more food per hectare than arable crops. This method was well accepted and followed in the UK but sadly fell out of favour with the introduction of Subsidies. The Government generously encouraged the growing of crops through the EU Common Agricultural Policy and made it impossible for a business minded farmer to ignore.

I think it’s time to take a long, hard, objective look at how we produce our food. You can vote with your pound, seek out producers who refuse to take leave of their inherent wisdom and stubbornly keep producing great food in a way that benefits us all.

Mutton

Caroline Grindrod mutton 0

08Sep

Mutton

Mutton was, up until the Second World War, a delicious meat fit for kings. The Victorians including Mrs Beaton consumed it with a passion, so why is it now considered a fatty chewy second rate product.

Pre war cooking methods were ideal for cooking mutton, before the ‘fast food’ revolution most food was cooked long and slow on a range, instant heat from gas and electric was not available.

Mutton was in times gone by, meat from the sheep at the end of a sheep’s useful life. In these days sheep were kept primarily for wool production (certainly not the case now) so female and male sheep would be kept for many years to get multiple wool clips. The animals would be grass fed and the skilled shepherds would know how to ‘finish’ the animal to produce superb meat. Careful hanging and butchery and an experienced housewife would then produce delicious meals with this beautiful product.

During the war most of the skills involved in producing fine mutton disappeared with the men who were fighting, the reputation of this meat was further degraded by some of the worst examples of mutton being cooked badly for large volumes of people during the blackouts. The stigma of Mutton being, tough, old, fatty meat has proved to be a difficult one to shake off.

Mutton’s fate was sealed, when during the war meat production had to be fast and efficient, favouring the use of young lamb. The demise in the wool industry further compounded the situation and effectively made Mutton a bygone product.

So what is Mutton? It is generally agreed that although once upon a time the best Mutton would be primarily from male castrated sheep of about five years. Nowadays Mutton is considered to be sheep meat from ewes or wether’s (castrated males) of over two years in age. The crucial quality factor, in my opinion, is that the animals are ‘finished’ on a forage based diet (grass ,hay, plant) and that the carcass is ‘hung’ on the bone to tenderise for two to three weeks.

Really Mutton is to lamb what beef is to veal, it is the more flavoursome product. The very best time to eat Mutton is from October to March as this is when it has had all summer to benefit from the nutritious grass, enhancing the flavour of the meat as well as being higher in levels of nutrients. Happily this is also the time that the weather encourages us to hearty meals that have been slowly cooked, dishes which mutton suits very well.

Savvy chefs and restaurant owners have cottoned on to the fact that there is a growing desire for ‘old fashioned’ menu options. A modern population now has a tendency to eat quick food at home and dine out on the long slow food that was once a homely staple. Thankfully once again a finely produced mutton can be sourced from producers who are tapping into this growing trend.

Mutton carries rich and strong flavours really well, but also makes a superb roasting joint that needs no enhancing, like lamb a good mutton loin can be served pink and will be beautifully tender and succulent.

So let’s not assume mutton needs to dress up as lamb – as with so many things in life – maturity brings, depth, sophistication, and superior characteristics that are simply in a class of their own.

Grass Fed Lamb

Caroline Grindrod lamb 0

28Aug

Lamb in Britain is called lamb if it’s marketed in the year of its birth (or in the year following its birth if the lamb is born after 30 September). After this it becomes known as hogget or old-season lamb.

Only when the animal has its first permanent incisor tooth (at around 1-1½ years) will the meat from it become known as hogget or mutton. However, the majority of mutton comes from breeding animals that have reached the end of their productive contribution to the flock.

Although early-season lamb is very tender, the meat is mild in flavour and delicate and moist in texture. It required little or no dry ageing. Organic Lamb is a versatile and healthy addition to a balanced and nutritious diet.

Most lamb in the UK will be reared outside on grass for at least part of its life however it is common for farmers to finish the lambs on cereals after the flush of summer grass has passed its most nutritious.

Many of the beneficial nutrients developed in the meat from the grass diet will deteriorate as grain feeding ensues. The longer and more concentrated the feeding of grains, the greater the loss. Most conventional sheep rearing systems will routinely use vaccinations and wormer’s in order to manage the flock’s health.

Have a look at the Nutrient profile of grass fed lamb

Our Organic Grass Fed Lamb is the highest tier of welfare, nutrition, sustainability and taste, by eating organic grass fed lamb reared to ‘pastoral’ or organic standards you will reduce the chance of taking on residues of medicines including anti biotic’s. Organic and ‘pastoral’ management systems have a lower Carbon footprint than many conventional operations. The land will be sequestering carbon from the atmosphere and locking it up safely in the nourished humus that will in turn grow mineral rich grassland without the use of in-organic fertilisers. These deep rooted perennials provide food all year round and grow our healthy, nutritious grass lamb.

BUY Organic 100% Grass fed Lamb

Grain Free Beef – 100% Grass Fed Beef

Caroline Grindrod beef 2

28Aug

Grain Free Beef – 100% Grass Fed Beef

Why only 100% Grass Fed Beef will do!

The omega-3 to omega-6 ratio. Many people are now being sold ‘Grass fed Beef’, it’s the new food jargon. But before you spend your extra pennies on a juicy grass fed steak there is a few questions you need to ask. Here’s the rub.

Firstly there is a lot of misinformation and confusion about fats, much of our health and nutrition advice seems to have been based on questionable studies and have a surprisingly political agenda.

For example, recent comprehensive, large population studies show that saturated fats have little or no adverse effects upon cardiovascular disease.

It seems that the more important health factor when watching our fat is the ratio of omega – 3 to omega – 6 fatty acids. Throughout human evolution we have spent millions of years eating a diet rich in fish and wild game, these foods are an abundant source of omega -3 long chain fatty acids (EPA and DHA). Our consumption of omega 6 seed oils was by comparison very small.

Anthropological research suggests that our hunter- gatherer forefathers ate a diet that had a ratio of 1:1 of omega -6 and omega- 3. It also appears that these same forefathers were free from the diseases that plague our modern society. As the industrial revolution unfolded over the last century and a half, cereals and vegetable oils became a more prominent part of people’s diet, also animals began to be fed grains too which reduced the omega -3 content of meat.

Fast forward to modern day and many diets have a ratio of 25:1 omega-6 to omega-3. What does this mean for health? Well omega -3 and omega-6 compete for the same conversion enzymes, this means (in very simplistic terms) that the more omega-6 you eat the less ‘room’ there is for omega-3. Massively elevated omega-6 consumption seems to correlate with an increase in all inflammatory diseases including.

type 2 diabetes
metabolic syndrome
irritable bowel syndrome & inflammatory bowel disease
psychiatric disorders
obesity
macular degeneration
rheumatoid arthritis
asthma
cancer
autoimmune diseases
What is even more alarming is the clear correlation between a rising intake of n-6 and increased mortality from heart disease.

Ok so what the heck has that got to do with my steak?

Our meat is raised in a very different way nowadays and this may be contributing to your high intake of omega-6. We should be getting our omega-3 from fish and meat however due to more industrialised farming methods most animals are now grain fed for some or all of their life. For an animal to produce meat that is healthful for us to eat and rich in omega 3, the animal’s digestion needs to be working properly. Beef animals when eating their natural forage diet of grass have a healthy pH of 7, this creates the perfect environment for the fermentation bacteria that in turn produce high levels of CLA, omega -3, branch chain amino acids vitamins and digestive enzymes. Just 30 days of feeding a bovine grain can throw the pH downwards towards pH4 and undo the chemistry of 200 days of munching grass.

In an acidic environment the healthy bacteria are replaced by a fermentation bacteria that impedes the healthy by-products and increases the levels of omega -6. The cattle become sick as their liver cannot cope. The result – farmers feed anti-biotics to cattle in order to prevent disease.

Most paleo and primal followers are buying grass fed meat because they believe that it will be rich in omega – 3.

An Australian study looked at the effects on healthful fats in the meat of animals that were fed to three groups 1) 100% pasture diet, 2) fed for 80 days on a grain ration, 3) 120 plus days on a grain ration. The result was that only the grass fed group contained the levels of omega-3 (30mg of long chain n-3 FA/100g muscle) required by the food standards agency for the food to be considered a source of omega -3 fatty acids.

So it is clear, unless it is stated that it is 100% Grass fed, or it carries a label such as the ‘Pastoral’ label that guarantee’s such standards, then be VERY suspicious. http://www.pastureforlife.org/

It is simply not good enough to assume that it has been 100% grass fed beef or grain free beef.

In the UK it is very unusual to find animals that are not grain fed towards their slaughter , the vast majority of Farmers ‘finish’ their animals on cereals in order to get them to the desired weight and conformation required by the buyers, butchers and supermarkets.

Don’t be a sucker and fall for the newest marketing trick, support farmers and retailers that are selling GENUINE 100% grass fed beef and grain free beef.

Our 100% grass fed Beef – Is reared to organic standards and higher, it will receive no medicines, be on land managed for conservation without the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. The gran free beef animals will eat nothing but grass and fodder crop silage from birth to slaughter. Our beef is 100% Grass Fed Beef and is Grain Free Beef certified ‘Pasture for Life’.

Paleo Asian Slow Cooked Beef Shin

Caroline Grindrod Recipes 0

06Jul

Asian Slow Cooked Beef Shin

Thanks to Molly at Perfectly Paleo.

Ingredients:

500 g beef shin

200g chestnut mushrooms

2 litres beef stock

3 carrots

2 large onions

3 celery stalks

Grated generous thumb-sized piece of ginger

6 garlic cloves

3 whole star anise

1 tbsp coconut oil

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 tbsp coconut aminos

2 tbsp palm sugar

2 tbsp chinese 5 spice

1 tsp sesame seeds

1 bay leaf

Handful of fresh coriander

Salt & pepper

Method:

Preheat the oven to 140°C
In a large casserole dish on the hob, melt the oil and add the roughly chopped onion and garlic until sweated. After 5 minutes add the chopped celery and grated ginger.

After a few minutes, add the pieces of beef shin and cook until nicely browned on the outside.
Add the beef stock, thickly sliced pieces of carrot, and sliced mushrooms to the mixture. Then add the remainder of the ingredients and seasoning.
Transfer to the oven and cook for 3 – 4 hours or until the meat is tender and the sauce has become rich and thick.
To garnish, sprinkle some sesame seeds, roughly chopped coriander and slivers of ginger

Serves 4

Our organic chicken – Is this the best chicken you can buy? – We think so.

29Jun

Buy Organic Chicken

I was very hesitant about trying to find a decent chicken producer for the website, it would mean that I had to visit the farm to inspect it which brought about a sense of trepidation. When I was 14 I took my first-weekend job in a nearby battery farm, this shocking experience is what set me on a path of campaigning for better animal welfare.

Great news. This Farm was on the other end of the welfare spectrum!

We wanted to find a free range and organic chicken producer that would fit in with our ethos. We feel this producers chicken offers the most sustainable, high welfare, nutrient dense chicken possible and will be good enough for ‘primal eaters’. In the case of beef and sheep our meat has to be 100% grass fed NO grains – it’s best for the animal, the planet and us.

The problem chicken and pigs is that they are omnivores; they don’t naturally eat just grass, they like a bit of all sorts. Hens thrive on insects, seeds and grains, so if we want to offer – and eat – commercial chicken we have to make some allowances. Purist paleo eaters are perhaps better eating wild game birds (available throughout winter) but for many, chicken is still a staple at the dinner table – we think this organic chicken is hard to beat.

These birds are free to roam throughout the day and are shut up in bedded pens with plenty of room at night to protect them from predators (fox, badger, mink and buzzard). They roam on fresh pasture, the arcs are regularly moved , so the grassland does not get sour, leaving plenty of insects for the hens to feast on. Yum.

These birds have access to a mix of grains that is approved ‘organic’ by the soil association. All the grain used is sourced in the UK and is classed as GM free. There are huge issues over the use of GM grains you can read about it here if you’re interested.

Both the male and female chicks are used for rearing, and the rate of growth for organic chicken is nearly twice as long as more intensive operations. A slower growth pace allows the birds to adjust to their increased body weight and keep mobile.

The birds do not receive any antibiotic or other routine medicines; in fact there has been none used on the farm for approximately 8 years.
The slaughtering is undertaken in the Farm’s own abattoir where several measures are taken ‘above and beyond’ the basic leagal requirements. These costly measures are to ensure the hens remain calm and comfortable up to the point of slaughter and that the slaughter process itself is quick and fully successful. A vet is always present during the slaughter process to oversee the operation.

We are excited to offer the full range of organic chicken cuts including offal, this fits in with our principles of ‘nose to tail’ eating – or should that be ‘beak to tail’!

Organic chicken carcasses, organic chicken feet, gizzards, and necks are all fantastic for making healing organic chicken bone broths. Bone broths are getting a huge amount of attention in the media for their miraculous health benefits.

Organic chicken is a higher price than the unbelievable cheap offerings available on the supermarket shelves – how the heck do they produce an animal that cheaply? This is how:

• The birds are confined to reduce movement and burn fewer calories.
• They birds are nothing but grain to fatten incredibly quickly.
• Losses and disease are common, so routine medical intervention is often used. (Help the campaign to stop antibiotic overuse in farm animals)
• The animals fatten so quickly that they can barely support their weight; they stagger around with warped legs and sores.
• They are slaughtered as quickly as possible to minimise costs.

Something like 30-40% of all food in this country is wasted; could we perhaps make better use of the food we buy? Could we make stocks and use up leftovers for extra meals?

If you ‘vote’ with your pound for animals to be reared in better conditions, happily, you will get far healthier meat too.

So why not take a quick look at our chicken range, if you have ANY questions about production methods, the diet of the animals or specifics of the slaughter process just click chat and ask me.

We would LOVE your help raising awareness of these topics – feel free to social share us on your favourite network.
Thanks Caroline

Get primal – eat wild game meat.

Caroline Grindrod Uncategorized 0

24Jun

We will be kicking off the game season soon – add your details for updates of when out wild game meats become available

Get primal – eat wild meat.

One of the easiest ways to touch base with a perfectly primal and paleo meat lifestyle is to go wild. Wild game lives a natural life, grazing exactly what it needs to thrive and survive from the land, which means we get to eat the most natural, additive free meat possible. There is yet more plus value; carefully managed wild game meat is a sustainable and welfare friendly food source and has positive effects on the ecology of our natural landscape. It’s the nearest thing to primal you can get and what’s more, these days it’s easy – you don’t even have to do the hunting yourself!

Why going wild and primal is good for you

Wild game is a great source of lean protein; its wild diet means that it has a low saturated, and potentially inflammatory omega-6, fat content. Game also has a higher content of the more beneficial Omega-3 fatty acid compared to grain fed meats. It is rich in iron and other healthful nutrients and of course, and very importantly – it tastes delicious.

Wild game is ideal for those following a paleo approach to eating.

Modern-day paleo hunting

These days, it’s generally impractical to let your primal side take over and to head out hunting game in the local woods. So, we leave it to the game keepers. All the wild game sold at Primal Meats is hunted and shot in the North Lancashire and Cumbrian regions and is from well managed estates. So much easier to just have it delivered to the door!

The game section of the website covers game defined by the Game Act 1831: Red and Roe venison plus other animals and fowl that can be legally hunted in the UK. Our game is taken from sustainable stocks of wild animals which is killed in its own environment. This is considered to be a very humane slaughter technique, as it limits the stress of travelling and handling – something which would be even more stressful than for their domestic counterparts – and the animals themselves have little or no idea that death is imminent.

Wild game is often a product of land managed for conservation. This retaining of natural balance is something our paleo ancestors would have inherently understood; a natural landscape provides an abundance of food. Today, apart from the obvious positive effect on our landscape and environment, conservation has significant carbon sequestration benefits, sequestration being the process whereby harmful atmospheric carbon is ‘locked up’ in the soil, plants and trees. More about that later.

Count me in, I want to go primal. What can I eat?

In the UK game is defined in law by the game Act 1831. It is illegal to shoot game on Sundays or at night. Other (non-game birds) that are hunted for food in the UK are specified under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. UK law defines game as including:

Black grouse (No longer hunted due to decline in numbers), Red grouse, Brown hare, Ptarmigan, Grey partridge and red-legged partridge, Common pheasant.

Deer are not included in the definition, but similar controls provided to those in the game Act apply to deer (from the Deer Act 1991). Deer hunted in the UK are:

Red deer, Roe deer, Fallow deer, Sika deer, Muntjac deer, Chinese water deer, and hybrids of these deer

Other animals which are hunted in the UK include:

duck, including Mallard, Tufted duck, Teal, Pintail and Pochard

Goose, including Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Pink-footed Goose and in England and Wales White-fronted Goose, Woodpigeon, Woodcock, Snipe, Rabbit, Golden Plover.

Capercaillie are not currently hunted in the UK because of a recent decline in numbers and conservation projects towards their recovery. The ban is generally considered voluntary on private lands, and few birds live away from RSPB or Forestry Commission land anyway.

Wild game can only be shot in certain seasons. These seasons dictate when fresh wild game meat will be available. Please see the dates below.

Species	England, Scotland, Wales	Northern Ireland

Pheasant	Oct 1st – Feb 1st	Oct 1st – Jan 1st
Partridge	Sept 1st – Feb 1st	Sept 1st – Jan 31st
Grouse	Aug 12th – Dec 10th	Aug 12th – Nov 30th
Ptarmigan	Aug 12th – Dec 10th	—–
Blackgrouse	Aug 20th – Dec 10th	—–
Snipe	Aug 12th – Jan 31st	Sept 1st – Jan 31st
Jack Snipe	Protected**	Sept 1st – Jan 31st
Woodcock	Oct 1st – Jan 31st	Oct 1st – Jan 31st
Woodcock (Scotland)	Sept 1st – Jan 31st	—–
duck & Goose (Inland)	Sept 1st – Jan 31st	Sept 1st – Jan 31st
duck & Goose (Below High Water Mark)	Sept 1st – Feb 20th	Sept 1st – Jan 31st
Coot/Moorhen	Sept 1st – Jan 31st	Ptoected**
Gloden Plover	Sept 1st Jan 31st	Sept 1st – Jan 31st
Curlew	Protected**	Sept 1st – Jan 31st
Hare	Cannot be sold March-July	Aug 12th – Jan 31st

Species	Sex	England,N Ireland, Wales	Scotland

Red	Stags	Aug 1st – April 30th	July 1st – Oct 20th
	Hinds	Nov 1st – March 31st	Oct 21st – Feb 15th
Fallow	Bucks	Aug 1st – April 30th	Aug 1st – April 30th
	Does	Nov 1st – March 31st	Oct 21st – Feb 15th
Sika	Stags	Aug 1st – April 30th	July 1st – Oct 20th
	Hinds	Nov 1st – March 31st	Oct 21st Feb 15th
Roe	Bucks	April 1st – Oct 31st	April 1st – Oct 20th
	Does	Nov 1st – March 31st	Oct 21st – Mar 31st
Red/Sika Hybrids	Stags	Aug 1st – April 30th (NI only)	July 1st – Oct 20th
	Hinds	Nov 1st – March 31st( NI only)	Oct 21st – Feb 15th
Chinese Water Deer	Bucks	Nov 1st – March 31st
	Does	Nov 1st – March 31st
Muntjac	No Closed Season**

In the primal kitchen

Our paleo hunter-gatherers (aka gamekeepers) have provided you with your wild game – now what to do with it? Way back when, the only cooking medium was the open fire. Today, we have all sorts of methods of cooking game but generally the rule ‘slow and steady’ is the one to live by.

Wild game is generally very rich in colour and flavour and may be a little tougher than meat from domestic animals, depending on the age of the animal and how natural its life has been. To counteract the toughness, it’s ‘hung’ after shooting to help tenderise the meat and encourage the development of ‘gamey’ flavours. The longer meat is hung the more pronounced the flavour will become, but in general hanging periods usually range from two to 12 days.

Just as a rather gruesome aside, in earlier times birds would be hung by their heads until the body fell off, at which point they would have been deemed ready for cooking. This method is probably a little too strong for most people today but some form of hanging usually improves tenderness and flavour.

There are lots of ways to cook game and you’ll find plenty of paleo and primal recipes to try. In general, game is naturally very lean and therefore may dry out quickly; if you are cooking a prime cut such as a loin of venison or breast of game bird, you can avoid this dryness by cooking it lightly and enjoying it ‘pink’. Alternatively, these cuts can be wrapped in fatty bacon or add fat to baste the meat during the cooking process.

The parts of the animal that do the most work tend to produce the cuts of meat that need slow cooking. Using rich and fatty sauces and gravies and cooking over a low heat for a long period will really help keep these cuts succulent and delicious.

Health and nutrition the paleo way

Wild game meats have significant health benefits when compared to most conventionally farm reared animal meats. It’s suggested that a number of modern diet based illnesses would have been unknown to our primal ancestors because they were eating their food the way it was meant to be – natural.

Wild game lives on a primarily natural diet and forages in a way that suits the animal’s natural behaviour. The food it finds will be right for the animal’s genetic make-up and therefore will be digested well and will give the animal the nutrients it needs to be healthy. Animals that eat green foods in the wild will have meat that is higher in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids. In addition it is generally found that the meat contains higher levels of many beneficial nutrients including vitamin E, Beta Carotene, Zinc and Iron.

For an insight into game Hunting and what it involves have a look at these videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkXw2wQV4b4&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJvvruDiQMs

Sustainability and ecology

Our friendly paleo hunter gatherers have provided wild game for our primal kitchen and we are eating natural meat which is far more beneficial for our heath. But the news gets better, because the meat produced doesn’t involve intensive farming, is sustainable and our environment benefits enormously.

When game is taken from well managed Estates it is generally the case that they are being hunted from reserves that are either buoyant in numbers or are over populated and require a regular cull to manage the stocks humanely. When a species becomes overpopulated it has a detrimental effect on both the surrounding eco-system and the health of the animals.

Wild game has a range of habitats, however it usually requires natural cover in woodland and on moorland. When managed well, these types of habitats are home to a wide range of flora and fauna that create biodiversity. These habitats help the wider environment too as they have a significant beneficial effect on climate change. Plants and trees take harmful CO2 from the atmosphere and lock it down into the soil where it does not contribute to the greenhouse effect.

Peat represents this country’s single largest carbon sink, with more carbon stored in UK peat than in the forests of Britain and France combined. This type of habitat, particularly large moorland estates, can be very expensive to manage and maintain. An essential part of the income for managing this habitat has to come from selling the rights to shoot or in selling the game meat itself. I feel that this environmental benefit outweighs the moral dilemma about hunting, for fun or for management. Unlike some elements of the meat industry, harvesting wild meat involves no chemicals, hormones, abattoirs, animal housing, or land to grow roots or cereals for feeds.

Carbon sequestration

Carbon sequestration is the process of removing carbon from the atmosphere. Ways of enhancing natural sequestration are needed to reduce the effects of global warming, by decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Vegetation is one of the main sources of a carbon sink (or reservoir) and the organic peaty soils of upland heath areas are a significant component of the national carbon stock. As well as forming an important sink – keeping it ‘locked up’ – the uplands must also be carefully managed to avoid damage and adding to carbon emissions. Evidence is growing to suggest that the historic drainage of the moorlands has resulted in the significant loss of carbon from these systems, contributing to global warming. It has been calculated that UK catchments are losing 11 grams of carbon per square metre a year, a figure predicted to increase over this decade. However, if the loss is stopped or reversed this improvement would satisfy the country’s annual carbon emission undertakings from the Kyoto protocol.

Please help us spread the word about the benefits of eating these wonderful meats and ‘social’ share this article below.

Bone Broth

Caroline Grindrod bone broth bone broth, offal 2

15Jun

I would like to introduce a product that I am so excited about that I have been struggling to contain myself!

Os ius – Latin for Bone Broth

Add a pinch of poetic licence and we have…

OSIUS BONE BROTH

A few months ago, whilst working with one of the ‘Pasture for life’ farmers, I was introduced to a lovely lady called Louisa Stout who was researching the idea of developing a ‘bone broth’ using the bones from the very same 100% grass fed beef animals we sell through Primal Meats.

Well, I had heard about the remarkable health benefits of bone broth – also known as good old fashioned ‘stock’- so was immediately interested. I thought it was probably a bit of an old wives tale, ‘chicken soup can cure a cold’ and all that, but I was curious enough to learn more.

Off I went to research it, cook it, and eat lots of it. The more I read the science, the more excited I got; and the more broth I ate, the healthier I got – better skin, less allergies and a huge reduction in my intolerance to yeast.

Hell, this stuff does work.

If you ‘google up’ bone broth you can see for yourself some of the incredible results people are having from including this in their diet on a daily basis. But this is not a new phenomenon, Florence Nightingale is claimed to have said, “Remember that sick cookery should do half the work for your patients’ weak digestion. No food improves digestion better than bone broth, whether you are poorly or otherwise.”

It is claimed by many people to be a dense collagen and nutrient packed food which is easy to digest and has many health benefits. Below I have outlined some of the benefits claimed in papers that I read.

*Reasons to include bone broth as part of your diet

Promotes good digestion

Helps to heal your gut

Great for your skin

Good for hair

The gelatine strengthens nails and bones

Oils your joints

Reduces inflammation

The glycine helps to clean out your liver

Supports your immune system

(*Disclaimer – The health information in this blog is purely informational and is not intended as medical advice. If you have a medical condition please go and see your doctor.)

I learned several important points from my new found knowledge on how to make bone broth, these critical points make the difference between creating a nice flavour to add to soups or stews, and creating a truly healing medicine that also tastes amazing.

The ingredients have to come from the healthiest animals (organic and or 100% pastured), meat from these animals is higher in nutrients and will not contain residues from medicines, hormones, pesticides etc.
The stock has to be cooked long and slow for a minimum of 24 hours – wow that’s long, It is only by cooking it slowly and for an absolute minimum of 24 hours that you are able to optimise extraction of all the nutrients, collagen, gelatine and vitamins from the bones.
There should be no nasty artificial additions that could ruin a pure and genuine – almost medicinal grade – product.

I am delighted to say that even though it is less profitable for her to do so, Louisa has stuck to these three principles when making her delicious, nutritious broth and has frankly created the mother of all bone broths.

We can now offer two of her fine bone broth varieties – chicken and beef. They only use British organic vegetables and herbs, 100% pasture fed, organic beef bones and organic pastured chicken bones. The broth does not contain any salt or pepper, obviously no additives or preservatives but it does contain a little British seaweed to the beef bone broth for flavour and added nutrients.

Both of the bone broths are Soil Association accredited and the beef broth has been accredited by the Pasture Fed Livestock Association.

What surprised me most was how delicious the broths taste, I warmed my first mug up fully expecting to have to gulp it down like medicine and was totally delighted to find that is was a warming, gorgeous rich taste and silky texture.

I am hooked.

Take a look at the products now proudly for sale on Primal Meats.

Thanks Caroline x

Some handy links

http://nourishedkitchen.com/bone-broths-adrenals-bones-teeth http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/broth-is-beautiful//

(AIP) Paleo Slow Roasted Pork Belly Slices with Sea Salt and Rosemary

Caroline Grindrod Uncategorized AIP, Jo Romero, Paleo, Recipe 0

05May

Slow Roasted Pork Belly Slices with Sea Salt and Rosemary

Sometimes, when the rain’s pattering on the windows outside, or when the frosty air threatens to creep in, only a slow-cooked dish will do. And it takes very little of your own time to make this one – most of the work is done in the oven while you watch a film or run a hot bath. Perfect comfort food. Serve with your favourite vegetables – I love it with cauliflower or garlic and parsnip mash, along with a tangle of soft greens to help mop up all the juices.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:
900g pork belly slices, preferably with the rib bone left in
half teaspoon sea salt flakes
1 tsp freshly chopped (fresh) rosemary leaves

Method:
Lay the pork slices out, in one layer, on a foil-lined tray. Pat with kitchen paper to dry them and sprinkle with the salt and rosemary.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 3/160ºC/325ºF. Slide the pork into the oven and slowly roast for an hour and a half to two hours. The pork should be tender, soft and golden – and thoroughly cooked through. Carefully lift the slices out of the tray using tongs and serve hot.

From Simple Autoimmune Paleo Comfort Food, Jo Romero, on the Kindle Store

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(AIP) Paleo Slow Roasted Pork Belly Slices with Sea Salt and Rosemary

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Welcome to Primal Meats

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‘WE DON’T NEED A LAW AGAINST MCDONALS OR A LAW AGAINST SLAUGHTERHOUSE ABUSE, WE ASK FOR TOO MUCH SALVATION BY LEGISLATION. ALL WE NEED IS TO EMPOWER INDIVIDUALS WITH THE RIGHT PHILOSOPHY AND THE RIGHT INFORMATION TO OPT OUT EN MASSE’ JOEL SALATIN.

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‘WE DON’T NEED A LAW AGAINST MCDONALS OR A LAW AGAINST SLAUGHTERHOUSE ABUSE, WE ASK FOR TOO MUCH SALVATION BY LEGISLATION. ALL WE NEED IS TO EMPOWER INDIVIDUALS WITH THE RIGHT PHILOSOPHY AND THE RIGHT INFORMATION TO OPT OUT EN MASSE’
JOEL SALATIN.