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Jan Harris
Deputy Group Editor
10:30 AM 4th October 2016
lifestyle

Where Have All The Mince Pies Gone?

 
On yet another gloriously sunny Autumn afternoon, the Yorkshire Times travelled to Ripon to sample some of the festive fare being produced for Booths Christmas 2016.

Booths, in my mind at least, is synonymous with quality. It's where you go if you want something special.

Last year's Booths Christmas range greatly enhanced that view, with some splendid pies, pates and little nibbles on offer.

And so, armed with great expectations, I plunged into the new ranges of quiches, pates, beers, gins (plenty of these) and canapes.

Some of these were (as expected) splendid. Sadly others were not.

Immediate favourites were the three varieties of quiche produced by True Foods - a small producer from Ripon with a reputation for creating great stocks for chefs. They also produce a variety of pates and sauces for the Christmas turkey.

As with last year's Christmas range, the icing on the cake (as it were) were the stollen bites and a variety of small Christmas cakes and chocolate brownies in frighteningly easy to consume mouth-sized nibbles.

Sadly there were no mince pies in sight - either snaffled by the management or reserved for more deserving customers I suspect.

The fresh smoked salmon, carved in front of our eyes, was a delight. Both the oak smoked and 'sauted in mulled wine' salmon would be a treat on any Christmas table.

Gin seems to be a big favourite this year. I counted (and sampled) five different styles from the very herby to the very fruity and all were worth a go - at a Christmas bash perhaps, or, if you are very naughty, on your own curled up in front of a good movie. The Boodles Mulberry Gin was exceptionally yummy and ideal for an early evening tipple.

The great disappointment for me - and indeed others around me - were the canapes. Perhaps I am expecting too much, but from Booths I had hoped for better. Frankly they were poor: too much outer layer of breadcrumb/batter, or whatever it was, and very little of the stuffing.

It took three of us to find out that the prawn canapes were actually prawn - despite careful dissection. The associated cheese nibbles were no better and the onion bargees were, at best, bland.

As a firm lover of Booths, this was very disappointing.

So, overall, there are many treats on offer - but avoid the canapes.