Cornish fishermen.

[whiskywill]

Watched the BBC2 programme about fishing in Cornwall last night.

phil.p, which one was you?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

One of them had the same names as my uncle - which is not unusual, being the commonest Cornish surname.They were positively refined compared to the ones I've known that fished out of Newlyn.
A good friend (a guest at our wedding) and his skipper drowned returning to their boat in St. Ives bay in 1991. It's far from an easy or romantic life.

 

[MikeG.]

Us Devonians gracefully allow the Cornish to call the place Cornwall, whereas we in fact know that it is actually West Devon.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Devon? That's the Midlands.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

Devon born, Devon bred,
Strong in the arm, thick in the 'ead.

Devon: my friend Derek used to say "Don't go there! 'Tis haunted!"

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Did you know that Cornish shovels are larger than Devon shovels as Cornish men were thought to be stronger? That's not a joke.

 

[MikeG.]

.........Devon: my friend Derek used to say "Don't go there! 'Tis haunted!"

Spread by Devonians to keep the grockles out.

 

[Nigel Burden]

Remember that the jam goes on the scone before the cream, not the other way round.

Nigel

 

[Phil Pascoe]

When I was a boy no one would have served a cream tea with scones anyway, we always had splits. Not many bakers now sell them.

 

[Nigel Burden]

I remember mother saying how they used to scald the milk and then skim it when cool . They used to have a cream tea quite often by all accounts.

Nigel.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

A live a couple of miles from Rodda's. They must scald an awful lot of milk - they make something like twenty five tonnes of cream a day. Years ago we had Rodda's cream served to us by Air New Zealand ........ flying out of Auckland. :shock:

 

[Trainee neophyte]

A live a couple of miles from Rodda's. They must scald an awful lot of milk - they make something like twenty five tonnes of cream a day. Years ago we had Rodda's cream served to us by Air New Zealand ........ flying out of Auckland. :shock:

I will admit to having made my own clotted cream - there are only a few things you just can't get abroad, and that's one of them. Perhaps I should move to New Zealand...

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I do a very good line in saffron cake ......

We used to get requests from b.i.l in Suffolk for saffron cakes, clotted cream and hogs puddings when anyone visited.

 

[Nigel Burden]

I love saffron cakes/buns.

Thirty odd years ago my wife and I were taking her parents on holiday to Gweek. We stopped off at Tesco in Truro to get some supplies among which were some Cornish pasties, The others couldn't understand why I complained that they had peas in them.

Nigel.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Probably Ginster's - which aren't fit to be fed to dogs. I had one better, though. In Matakohe, NZ at the Kauri Museum - I had one with both peas and carrots.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Apparently pre WW2 Cornwall was the only place in the UK that saffron could be bought without signing for it as a poison - long before the advent of Asian cookery reaching these shores obviously.
One large bakery (I have an inside informer) keeps saffron compressed into blocks the size of house bricks, and requires three very senior members of staff to go together to get it out of the safe on saffron cake baking days.

 

[Nigel Burden]

Isn't saffron the most expensive item in the world per gm ?

Nigel.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yup. I wouldn't mind a house brick sized lump. £4 a gram, last I bought. Try a few strands in a white wine or cider vinegar for a few weeks - wonderful on salads, especially good tomatoes.

 

[lurker]

Something I have often wondered about.........and seeing as its nearly spring.
Can you consume the saffron from bog standard garden crocuses?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Not as far as I know. https://www.sativus.com/en/
Is a quite interesting site - I'm going to try some.