Story and photos by Dr. Michael Lim The Travelling Gourmet TM

Copyright all rights reserved

The debonair and indomitable Travelling Gourmet TM tells the tale of dark desires for  Jersey Black Butter from the…

MAGICAL island of Jersey. I fell in love with Jersey Black Butter when I visited Jersey in the Channel Islands. You cannot get it anywhere else! It is not really butter but a superb Ninja black jammy concoction made with Apples, Licorice, Lemon, France and Romeril Sweet Apples and Tart Bramley Apples, Cinnamon and other Spices. Really yummie on ice cream, with Apple pie, Pecan pie, on Foie Gras, on toast, scones, muffins…Perfect too with hard Cheeses like Mimolette and Emmenthal. The complex unique taste and velvety texture is unforgettable.

The National Trust for Jersey has a traditional Black Butter Making public event in the Island’s social calendar in autumn at its headquarters, The Elms, La Chève Rue, an old Jersey farmstead in the rural heartland of St Mary.

Between 1600 and 1700, twenty percent of Jersey’s arable land was made up of apple orchards. Cider was made by farmers to give to their staff, making up part of their wages. A great tradition that exists as a result of Jersey’s proliferation of apples is the production of ‘black butter’ or ‘Le Niere Buerre’. Made from cider apples, the new cider is boiled over a fire for many hours – up to two days! When the cider is ‘reduced’ by half, apples, sugar, lemon, spices and a hint of liquorice added. The mixture is continuously stirred with a wooden ‘rabot’ or paddle till ready! OMG yummie! This year it is on 22, 23 and 24 October, 2020.

Bon appletit! 🙂

Incidentally, The Man from UNCLE, talented actor Henry Cavill, is from Jersey