Nibble Scotland is delighted to welcome Jackie Brierton, Chief Executive of GrowBiz Scotland.

GrowBiz Scotland is a charity established in 2007 to support rural businesses across Scotland.

The Coronavirus crisis has had a disproportionate effect on the businesses and self-employed outwith Scotland's urban areas and without support that is specifically designed for their needs we risk losing a huge proportion of Scotland's economic activity and that means jobs, livelihoods, opportunities and life in some of our most beautiful regions.

Jackie outlines some of the new opportunities as we emerge from the COVID Lockdown with grants to help entrepreneurs to start new businesses with a support network under the umbrella REDS.

REDS - Rural Enterprise Development Scotland

REDS is a program of support that is designed specifically to support micro-businesses, social enterprises and the sell employed in rural Scotland. From nurseries to food producers, and accommodation providers to artists, GrowBiz have supported thousands of people to start and build their own businesses in Scotland's rural areas.

The Scottish and UK governments have provided much-needed temporary support, but many small enterprises and self-employed in rural areas are struggling to survive.

More than 60% of businesses in rural Scotland have closed their doors, and without our urgent support, many have no prospect of re-opening.

The REDS fund will provide flexible grants to social enterprises and small businesses in Scotland’s rural towns, villages, island communities and remotest regions - to get them and their communities back up and running.

And priority will be given to young people who want to develop their business ideas to create jobs for themselves and their peers.

REDS comprises an online directory which will be an interactive catalogue of all rural businesses in Scotland. From the directory, members can apply for grant funding up to the value of £5,000 to help them recover post-COVID and all members can access free and ongoing enterprise support.

The directory is currently being built, we are just a few weeks away from launch. But our primary focus is on building the REDS fund, we are crowdfunding to raise £3 million which would enable us to support 1,200 enterprises to re-open post-COVID.

We have the whole REDS concept neatly communicated on our crowdfunding page so please take a look at that here: www.reds.scot

Welcome to Scotland’s Food Podcast, Nibble Scotland. My name is June Carroll and this is my journey to find out about the people behind Scotland’s outstanding food scene and celebrate the many food champions around the country.


Many farms have been in families for generations often adapting to changing market conditions. So when Tuggy and Jonny Delap returned to run the family farm In the 90’s, they had the aim of finding a new purpose for the family estate to create jobs, tourism and industry. On Tuggy’s suggestion, they begin the process of converting a former dairy building into a brewery.


Join Nibble Scotland to chat with Tuggy's son Mungo Delap as he talks about their journey into craft brewing and the great tourism story which draws beer fans from across the world to Argyll each year for Fyne Fest and their tasting room, the Tap.


Like many businesses who continued working through the Covid lockdown, Mungo also gives an insight into some of the initiatives which have helped bring them through but also how their loyal customer base have supported the business.


For more information about Loch Fyne Farm Brewery please check out their website www.fyneales.com and if you get an opportunity to visit please do - especially if you can coincide your visit with FyneFest!

Please follow us on social media @NibbleScotland for a first look at future guests and a behind the scenes look of everything mentioned in each episode

Wherever you are listening to the podcast ensure you have subscribed and if you can please add a review to help others find out more about Scotland’s world class larder.

Welcome to Scotland’s Food Podcast, Nibble Scotland. My name is June Carroll and this is my journey to find out about the people behind Scotland’s outstanding food scene and celebrate the many food champions around the country.

As we continue with lockdown in Scotland I’m honoured that Kirstie Campbell from Seabuckthorn Scotland joined me for a coffee from her base in East Lothian. Chatting candidly about her life’s adventures as a UN front line aid worker to how she found her way back to Scotland to establish a social enterprise dedicated to the research of sea buck thorn. This podcast reminds us why we are so blessed in Scotland to have people like Kirstie who are so passionate about their products.

Kirstie spent 15 years working as a professional humanitarian worker, including ten years on mission in the Middle East. She first came across Seabuckthorn in 2010 as part of a United Nations logistics mission to assist with the floods in Pakistan. When she returned home to Scotland in 2013, she discovered that our native berries- a unique source of nutrition- were being largely overlooked- and in some cases destroyed..while our population is suffering from increasing challenges in heart health, blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and mental health. She decided to apply her passion for food security, local solutions and herbal healing - plus her so far under-utilised Chemistry degree- to work in founding Seabuckthorn Scotland CIC to tackle these issues. The CIC was registered in Winter 2018 and started in trading in July 2019.

For more information about Kirstie and where to find her products please check out her website - www.seabuckthornscotland.com

Please remember to follow us on social media @NibbleScotland for a first look at future guests and a behind the scenes look of everything mentioned in each episode

Wherever you are listening to the podcast ensure you have subscribed and if you can please add a review to help others find out more about Scotland’s world class larder.

As we continue with lockdown in Scotland I’m delighted that Nev Kilkenny a fungi specialist and mycologist takes time out of his foraging day to join me for a chat.


Nev leads many foraging forays around the country throughout the year discovering the amazing diversity of fungi and runs workshops both for beginners and those who wish to develop their interest. Nev’s expertise is often called in to help raise awareness of fungi with organisations such as The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE), TCV, Plantlife Scotland & Scottish Natural Heritage.

From foraging to gin making this is quite a diverse podcast and a conversation I hope you will enjoy.

Nev will be running a range of forays and workshops in the autumn for dates and booking please check out his website – www.fungi.co.uk

Recommended books for fungi beginners are John Wright’s River Cottage mushroom book – it has a key and Nev likes books with keys! So the key Nev uses for workshops is this one by Paul Nichol, in conjunction with Roger Phillips’s Book will take you a long way.

And finally a link to all things fungi in Scotland - Scottish Fungi – there’s links there to all the recording groups in Scotland and lots of other information, including the diagnostic flowchart that I created to advise the National Poisons Information Service about mushroom poisoning.

Just before we get started a couple of housekeeping notes this week, if you are looking for a face mask as we exit lockdown please get in touch with Nibble Scotland via social media to order directly. Currently we have in stock Noordi face masks which are antibacterial, washable and available in 4 colours for adult and children costing £6 each – most importantly they are cost effective and practical in our new environment tackling Covid-19.

Also, please follow us on social media @NibbleScotland for a first look at future guests and a behind the scenes look of everything mentioned in each episode and wherever you are listening to the podcast it would be great if you could subscrible/follow the podcast and drop a review.

So its time to grab your coffee and listen into my chat with Nev who in light of our social distancing world I welcome over Zoom.

Welcome to Scotland’s Food Podcast, Nibble Scotland. My name is June Carroll and this is my journey to find out about the people behind Scotland’s outstanding food scene and celebrate the many food champions around the country.

This week as the country is currently in lockdown with Covid19 I’m delighted to welcome John Murray to todays podcast via zoom. John is currently establishing the Highland Food and Wine Club, a membership model which will promote all the producers in the Highlands at shows, exhibitions and offer a digital shopping channel.

John has a wealth of experience in the food industry, has sat on the Scottish Grocers Federation National board, a director of Highlife Highland and a non-exec director of the Farmer Jones Academy, a skills company for the food and drink in schools.

Wherever you are listening to the podcast it would be great if you could drop a review and ensure that you subscribe to you don’t miss a future episode.

Follow us on social media @NibbleScotland for a first look at future guests and a behind the scenes look of everything mentioned in each episode.

If your a food or drink producer in the Scottish Highlands and interested in learning more and taking part please contact info@highlandfoodanddrinkclub.com

This week I’m really delighted that James Withers the head of Scotland Food and Drink joins us to give his take on the Covid 19 tsunami that has affected our food and service industry.

We chat about some of the challenges he has faced over the last 6 weeks, how their members are adapting, how buyer behaviours are changing and even hear some uplifting stories emerging from the marketplace.

As we begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel, Scotland Food and Drink are watching carefully countries around the world to gain from some of the lessons learnt as they come out of lockdown.

Scotland Food & Drink (SF&D) was established in 2007 to grow the value and reputation of the nation's food and drink industry. It has a uniquely collaborative model, bringing the industry, government and its agencies together to develop and drive forward the sector in Scotland and give it a competitive edge. Scotland's food and drink sector has gone from a static position in 2007 to now being one of Scotland’s best performing sectors with an annual turnover of £14 billion, including £6 billion of export sales.

As a membership organisation with over 450 member companies, SF&D provides support and guidance to food and drink businesses - small and large, new starts and well-established - to achieve their growth ambitions.

In March 2017, SF&D led the development of Ambition 2030, the strategy to drive the responsible growth in the value of the sector to £30bn by 2030.

James Withers is the Chief Executive of Scotland Food & Drink.

Prior to joining the SF&D in 2011, James was CEO of the NFU Scotland where he promoted the interests of the nation's agricultural industry.

Amongst a number of other roles, James sits on the Scottish Government’s Board of Trade and is on the board of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, working to enhance and promote Scotland’s world class tourism industry.

Wherever you are listening to the podcast it would be great if you could drop a review and ensure that you subscribe to you don’t miss a future episode.

Follow us on social media @NibbleScotland for a first look at future guests and a behind the scenes look of everything mentioned in each episode.

For latest information from Scotland Food and Drink please check out their website -
https://foodanddrink.scot/

In addition Scotland Food and Drink have established a Covid-19 Hub -
https://foodanddrink.scot/coronavirus-information-hub/

Welcome to the Nibble Scotland Over Coffee podcast. In the days before social distancing I was lucky enough to be invited to meet Jillian McEwan from Lunan Bay Farm near Arbroath, who you may already be following their fabulous goat breeding stories on social media. I’m also delighted that Billy Boyter, Head Chef from The Cellars in Anstruther joined us to hear more about some of the activities on the farm and start his own creative process from farm to plate for his discerning customers.

So deep within the kidding shed we chat about how Jillian and her husband Neil got involved in goats, their recent busman’s holiday to New Zealand, also hear about Robert the Bruce’s Royal decree to keep goats in the area and how they plan to reintroduce 100% Scottish cashmere to the market.

Lunan Bay Farm are one of around 3 farmers in Scotland harvesting asparagus and this year Lunan Bay asparagus will be found in many farm shops and greengrocers around the country for our enjoyment at home over the summer months.

Be sure to drop us a review and subscribe wherever you listen if you are enjoying the podcast so far. Follow us on social media @NibbleScotland for a first look at future guests and a behind the scenes look of everything mentioned in each episode.

Billy Boyter, Head Chef at The Cellar, Anstruther - https://www.thecellaranstruther.co.uk/

Cider Tempura Lunan Bay Asparagus with wild garlic mayo.

This is a great and simple recipe you can do at home. Making use of 2 great seasonal ingredients. The lovely crisp Asparagus dipped into the punchy wild garlic mayonnaise is perfect.


6 Lunan Bay Asparagus Spears
80g of plain flour
50g of cornflour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
ice cubes
sparkling Cider
rapeseed oil for deep-frying


Trim the Woody end of the Asparagus off and wash ready to use.
Whisk together all the ingredients in a bowl, stirring in enough cider to give a nice, thin batter. Add the ice cubes to the batter to keep it nice and cold this makes the fryer bubble furiously, which creates a super-crispy, bubbly coating. Please be careful if doing this at home. The colder the batter, the better the result.
Lightly flour the spears and dip through the batter. Fry at 180c until crisp.

Wild Garlic Mayo

90g of Wild Garlic
450ml of rapeseed oil
3 egg yolk
1 tsp Mustard
2 tsp white wine vinegar
Salt
Pepper

Make the wild garlic oil. Rinse the wild garlic, then blanch of 35 seconds in a pan of heavily salted, boiling water. Drain the water and plunge into some iced water, then pat dry with some kitchen towel.
Chop the wild garlic roughly and add to a blender, then pour in the rapeseed oil. Start blitzing on a low speed, then increase in speed for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until the oil is a bright green colour
Pass through a fine sieve, then through a fine sieve or a coffee filter.
Whisk the egg yolks, mustard and vinegar in a bowl until smooth. Continue whisking and pour in a thin, steady stream of the wild garlic oil.
Keep whisking and pouring until all of the oil has been absorbed and has emulsified with the egg mixture - you should be left with a nice, thick green mayonnaise. Season with salt and pepper.

Welcome to the Nibble Scotland Over Coffee podcast and how apt that we visited Fiona Grant founder of Glen Lyon Coffee Roasters up in Aberfeldy, Perthshire.

Glen Lyon's vision is to put people and the environment before profit.

All of their speciality coffees are 100% traceable and ethically sourced. Glen Lyon Coffee Roasters build direct, long term relationships with producers and trading partners throughout the supply train and pay the coffee farmers significantly above Fairtrade prices.

Glen Lyon Coffee offers a welcoming and supportive work environment and every year the team plants 200 trees in the Highlands to offset their carbon footprint. Fiona is totally committed to zero waste and making our impact on the planet a positive one.

As one of Scotland’s 5 Q grader’s, like a wine sommelier, Fiona is trained to examine coffees and score them based on their many attributes and therefore overall quality.

Being a Q grader Fiona can essentially communicate quality right the way through the coffee supply chain from the farmer, to the exporter, to the roaster. Please check out our special podcast about Cupping at Glen Lyon to hear more.

In this episode Fiona tells us about her recent adventures to connecting with coffee growers in the depths of Kenya, visits to the coffee auctions to how you should be storing coffee at home.

During our time Fiona was so lovely and outlined how she has grown the business, some of their measures to make it a carbon neutral business, and some exciting initiatives and ambitions for the future.

Apologies, for the sound at the beginning but it does get better as we get into a quieter area behind the scenes at Glen Lyon Coffee.

Should you wish to order coffee from Glen Lyon check out their website www.glenlyoncoffee.co.uk or visit them at Unit 1, Aberfeldy Business Park, Aberfeldy Perthshire, PH15 2AQ.

Please support the podcast by subscribing, so not to miss any future episodes and sharing with your friends.