At home (on Scilly) we have some family staples. Foods we love and can eat over and over again. And they never taste the same without the family around. Spaghetti Carbona made with just spaghetti, bacon and scrambled egg. "Chicken creme fraiche" chicken, creme fraiche, lemons, spring onions. Lemon Lapis, that's meringue, lemon, cream and condensed milk. And finally Bryher Stores' Blackcurrent Pie. It doesn't need to be served with anything...just the pie. Crumbly sweet pastry covered in caster sugar and then a sticky jammy blackcurrant filling that sticks to the back of your spoon (and your mouth if we've heated it up for too long.)


Bryher Stores is closing at the end of the month and the blackcurrant pies will be no more. And it feels like a chunk of our childhood is over. It was the first place I tried an ice cream on a stick (a Feast!). It was 40p and I thought it was the most amazing, modern invention ever. And I've eaten copious amounts of sweets from its shelves my favourites being fruit pastilles. Bryher Stores was the only place that seemed to sell blackcurrant fruit pastilles. There's nothing more likely to put me in a bad mood than buying standard fruit pastilles to find 6 greens, 4 yellows and one orange. But there they sold 11 blackcurrant pastilles the way it should be.

So imagine my excitement this week in Tesco when there, nestled between the Jelly Tots and the Opal Fruits (don't make me call them Starburst) I found a perfectly silver wrapped packet of blackcurrant pastilles.

But "fat girl in a wedding dress" popped into my head and I decided to make my own. "Much healthier" I decided jollily as i skipped down the aisles. "I have all those blackcurrants in the freezer I stole from my friends garden when I knew he was out. They will be even better and healthier."

So were they better? Find out at the end of the blog.....

Blackcurrant Pastilles (makes 30 or so).......

250g/8oz blackcurrants

75g/3oz caster sugar

4 gelatine leaves

extra caster sugar

Boil the sugar and the fruit in a pan for a few minutes until soft and syrupy and the whole house smells like Ribena. (Don't worry if they have little stalks on.)

Leave to cool then push through a sieve. Keep the juice and throw the pulp away. Soften the gelatine leaves in cold water until floppy. Stir the floppy leaves into the juice and stir until dissolved. Pour into a china baking tray. (So it's about 1-2cm thick).

Chill overnight. Turn out on to a board.

Cut into little squares and dust with caster sugar.

Answer: OK so these were tasty and would be nice with coffee after a meal. BUT the sugar on the outside turns syrupy quite quickly so you have to do it just before you serve. And although the blackcurrant taste was delicious and fresh...I'd still pop down Tescos and buy a tube.

Salted Caramel Cups (and Sardines on the side)

From today only sardines produced in Cornwall are to be allowed to be called Cornish sardines after receiving European Union protected status. It's the 40th British food to get the status....Cornish Clotted Cream is also protected.

I like the sense of pride that goes with the PGI status. The fact that other places are desperate to recreate something that originates from a particular area. There's nothing better than eating Welsh lamb and mint sauce in Cardiff or Scottish smoked salmon and brown bread while on a city break in Edinburgh.

It's made me think about which recipes I am most proud of and guard most closely to my heart. The ones I would give PGI (Protected Gastronomic Issyisms) Status.

Today marked the beginning of Christmas as Margaret (the wife of our former weatherman) delivered her yearly supply of mince pies. Crumbly, short and butter pastry encasing mincemeat laced with more booze than St Austell brewery.

As I ate my first (of many) I realised my Christmas list is looking far too tidy and unloved. These are my favourite festive creations. I first tried them when we used to organise Blue Peter Bring and Buy Sales on Scilly (remember them??) My best friend's mum made them and I stole the recipe. They are truly delicious, sweet and salty. If you read the recipe and think to yourself "I'll swap the salted butter for unsalted butter." Don't. It's wrong.

Salted Caramel Cups....(Makes 15 to 20 depending on how generous you are)

1x 250g/8oz bar dark chocolate
2 tbsp golden syrup
50g/2oz salted butter
2 tbsp dried milk powder
1 bag chocolate buttons

Small foil cake cases

Boil a pan of water and put a bowl over the top. Melt the chocolate slowly. Paint the foil cases with a layer of the melt chocolate. This takes ages. Only do this as a labour of love. If you are in a rush and you've got twenty thousand jobs to do, children screaming, husband grumpy then stop. Have a cup of tea. Don't bother. They taste great but you can buy mini chocolate cups in Marks and Spencers.

Pop them in the fridge. When they've set do what you just did all over again. When the second layer has set, put the butter and syrup in a small pan. Stir and let it come to the boil. Then sieve in the milk powder. (I normally can't be bothered. Then I have lumpy caramel and have to start again). So sieve it and give it a good stir. It will go a lovely autumn gold colour. Take it off the heat and leave for a couple of minutes.

Pour a couple of teaspoons in each cup. Now at this point you should top them with a chocolate button. But when I was at Sainsburys I noticed my favourite wine was back on special offer. (Wollemi, 3 bottles for £10, it's Chardonnay which I normally hate but this is delicious.) Anyway I got distracted and forgot. So if you've bought buttons place them in the middle of the caramel. Or maybe a toasted hazelnut? I used some leftover chocolate. I mixed a tsp of coffee with a tsp of hot water. I mixed it into the chocolate. It instantly thickened and I rolled little amounts into balls the size of a pea and flattened them. They were delicious!

These only last about two days before the chocolate goes funny but I find they only last about an hour because they are addictive!

PS. I just remembered. Last year my work collegue put a whole one of these in his mouth. He didn't realise you can't eat the foil. You have to peel the foil off......