Are You Going To A Cornish Fair?

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Now playing: Sinéad O'Connor - He Moved Through the Fair
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As promised, here are the Cornish Fairings. The next recipe in the British cookbook- The Great British Book Of Baking.

Fairings are a word used in English to describe food from a fair. In further research I found that Cornish Fairings are a more gingery biscuit than this recipe comes out. There is a spicy flavour, but not just strongly flavoured ginger. They are very tasty and chewy.



My Fairings have a bit of a twist however. Local honey and local bee pollen. We are all suffering allergies at the moment. This year seems really bad, in particular for me. I have tried local honey in the past to help the allergies. I have also cooked with bee pollen before. This time it is local bee pollen! Hope it helps the allergies.



Bee pollen is a very nutritious food product. It contains a wide spectrum of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, lipids, and protein. Pregnant and nursing women should avoid bee pollen. While bee pollen can help with allergies, it can also cause an allergy attack in certain people, approach with caution until you know how you will react.

In culinary school we used bee pollen in a dessert. A pineapple with bacon dessert with a bee pollen tuile. It was delicious!

Cornish Fairings

Preheated oven- 375 deg/ gas mark 5.

100 g. flour
1 tsp.baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground mixed spice
40g. castor sugar
50 g. unsalted butter, chilled
1 tbsp. mixed peel
2 tbsp. local honey, gently warmed
1 tbsp. golden syrup, gently warmed

Blend the flour, baking powder, baking soda and mixed spice and sugar together. cut the butter into pieces and then add to the flour mixture. Make a sort of crumble with the ingredients in your hands, or use a pastry cutter. Add the mixed peel, the honey and syrup. blend well until it comes together. Form into 18 marble sized balls and bake on a Silpat, or a greased/lined baking sheet. Bake for 7-8 minutes. Cool slightly on baking sheet and then move to a plate.




Here is how they turned out sprinkled with the bee pollen:



****“In the nice bee, what sense so subtly true From pois'nous herbs extracts the healing dew?”
-Alexander Pope****