What You’ve Been Eating in 2022

Looking back at our top-selling food items throughout 2022, we suspect Greendale customers are partial to a proper cooked breakfast, as our Free-Range Eggs, Traditional Old English Pork Sausages and Greendale Bacon were all highly popular this year! Unprecedented high temperatures in summer also led to higher-than-usual sales of our Sausages and Steak Burgers, as the UK enjoyed more chances to enjoy a BBQ, while traditional customer favourites – including Greendale Beef Sirloin and our locally-caught fresh Crab and Hake – continued to make a strong showing. Cheddar won the ‘most-loved cheese’ crown, and we also noted that customers really liked the brilliant brassicas (especially broccoli and cauliflowers) from our super-local supplier just a few miles from Greendale Farm Shop. Last but not least, the ‘Ugli Bun’ went from strength to strength (more on that later!).

FREE-RANGE EGGS

Taking a more in-depth look at the items our customers loved in 2022, we can see that Greendale Free-Range Eggs remained a firm favourite. The UK outbreak of Avian Flu meant that, in late 2022, previously free-range hens have been legally required to be housed indoors until further notice; however, for most of this year our free-range eggs have come from hens that were free to roam outdoors, foraging for themselves in the sunshine and fresh air alongside a natural, grain-based diet. We think this shows in their wonderful-tasting eggs, and it’s clear that our customers do, too.

Old English Pork Sausages

Our Traditional Old English Pork Sausages have been popular with customers since we first began selling them. They’re made with local pork by the butchers here at the Farm Shop, using a simple, classic recipe; bursting with flavour, they’re as tasty in a cooked breakfast as they are on a barbecue. We can also see that our customers find Greendale Bacon hard to resist! Streaky slices, traditionally smoked bacon and even gammon have all been shown a lot of love this year – and with BLTs the ‘official’ no.1 sandwich amongst Greendale staff, we’re definitely on the same page!

GREENDALE SIRLOIN

One of the products we’re most proud of, especially as it’s fully traceable back to our own farm, Greendale Beef featured in a large number of shopping baskets this year. Our beef cattle are raised at our East Devon farm and slaughtered locally, then hung and dry-aged for a minimum of three weeks at the Farm Shop before being expertly prepared by our skilled butchers. This results in the exceptionally delicious and tender beef our customers know and love; in 2022, our Beef Sirloin Steaks and Rolled Sirloin of Beef Roasting Joint stood out as especially popular.

GREENDALE CRAB

At Greendale Farm Shop we’re known for our delicious, locally caught Crab, which comes from our own fishing vessels; the Crabbers Becci of Ladram, Nichola of Ladram and Winter of Ladram (newly built this year) all land their catches at nearby Devon harbours, which means the Farm Shop has a consistent supply of great-quality crab. In 2022, customers were happier than ever to ‘get cracking’, buying our whole hen and cock crabs – we also noticed that Crab Thermidor and Crab Gratin featured highly in our top 10 recipes for 2022, suggesting customers were finding more and more delicious ways to enjoy our crab.

BROCCOLI & CAULIFLOWER

This year, we’ve tried harder than ever to seek out fantastic local produce - if it's high in quality and taste, and low in food miles, we want it on our shelves! Our customers seem to be of the same mind, often choosing to buy our locally-sourced fresh produce, with Broccoli and Cauliflower proving especially popular; grown by our lovely supplier, Mike, just a few miles from Greendale Farm Shop, these beautiful brassicas are full of flavour and generally larger than those found in supermarkets.

GREENDALE BURGERS

Given the scorching temperatures this summer, it was no surprise to see our Steak Burgers sitting high in the popularity rankings again this year. Clearly a favourite of discerning BBQ-ers, our thick, juicy steak burgers are hand-made by our expert butchers, using prime, lean Greendale beef; simple but delicious, they’re a classic, and popular for good reason!

Twanger Cheddar

Greendale customers love Cheddar cheese, but this year, Twanger Cheddar came out tops (much to the delight of our Director, Robin, who rates it very highly!). Made in Glastonbury, Somerset, this rich, creamy and satisfying Cheddar packs a bit of a punch, having been matured for about two years – add a slice of good bread and a healthy dollop of chutney, and it’s hard to beat. In Devon, meanwhile, ‘favourite Cheddar’ bragging rights remained with Hawkridge; they just pipped Quickes as our customers’ 2022 Devon Cheddar of choice.

GREENDALE HAKE

Our delicious and sustainably-caught Cornish Hake came top of the fish pops in 2022. Landed by our own fleet of netters based in Newlyn, Cornwall, Greendale Hake has proven especially popular in steak form, with customers really enjoying our Hake Steaks. Pollock (or Pollack, depending on who you ask) is found in abundance here in the West Country; it also made a strong showing with customers this year, as did Gurnard, a once-underrated fish that’s become a customer favourite, thanks to its firm white flesh and great flavour.

UGLI BUN

We were tickled to find that the Ugli Bun definitely has a place in our customers’ hearts! Made by nearby Shaldon Bakery, these distinctive sweet treats are big, spicy and packed full of fruit – they may not be the prettiest thing in the Farm Shop, but they’re definitely one of the tastiest! Other sweet customer favourites this year included our own Greendale Lardy Cake, an enriched bread that has remained a traditional teatime treat for many years in Britain. Made with plenty of plump dried fruit, it smells amazing when the Greendale bakers put a fresh batch in the oven! Greendale Chocolate Brownies also cemented their ‘gold star’ status this year, having long been one of our most-loved Bakery items. Our bakers use a tried-and-trusted recipe, making the brownies by hand here at Greendale Farm Shop - with no skimping on the chocolate chips!