Lesser known produce of Norfolk
Norfolk is the home of many artisanal products. This piece focuses on those with a deep, and sometimes nearly forgotten, connection to the region.
From saffron to honey, to medlars and watermilled flour. These producers are creating world-class products using traditional methods, local ingredients, and an enduring commitment to quality. Each offer unique character and flavour from the region through slower, more natural processes - those more attuned to our natural environment.
Here, we explore four Norfolk producers whose dedication to craft and place makes them stand out on the national stage.
Norfolk Saffron: Red Gold
In the village of Burnham Norton, from a smallholding with nearly 100 years of family history behind it, luxurious things have grown over the last 20 years. You guessed it, or perhaps not? It’s Norfolk Saffron.
Behind this vibrant story, Dr. Sally Francis an Oxford-educated, Norfolk-born, botanist. With the flower making its way into a variety of applications and infusions from gin to bread and beyond.
After experiencing a surplus in 2009, a trip to the market was taken and the response was enthusiastic - with the business going from strength to strength since and now leading the pack when it comes to UK Saffron production.
The incredible grading and strength of the product makes it more flavoursome and floral than many of its imported counterparts. Its route to market is also more direct, meaning this English-grown product can brighten up dishes in a matter of months after being picked vs the years of some imported saffron.
An unusual fact about saffron is the time at which it is picked, by hand, is actually in October and November! A bursting flush of colour in autumn.
Bees, Leigh's bees
Norfolk’s varied flora makes for a unique and characterful honey. Captured artfully by Leigh Goodsell’s team in each jar they make.
Operating from sites across the county, from coastal marshes to woodland edges and heathland, Leigh's Bees produces hyperlocal honey. Each with its own character and flavour based on the terroir and the small radius the bees cover before coming back to the hives. Time of year also plays a part with lighter floral spring notes in some of the produce right through to the darker, richer, late summer offerings more typical of heather honey.
The honey also outperforms its national counterparts by being raw, not heat treated and unmixed with other varieties. This offers it its distinctive flavour but also retains the benefits of the pollen and enzymes that link to its health kicks.
With bees on the decline, reaching the lowest ever level in 2024, enterprises like this one have never needed our support more; whether that’s making a small change at home like making your own garden more habitable or engaging with conservation efforts like those offered by Leigh's Bees.
Eastgate Larder: Reviving the Forgotten Medlar
Medlars are a magical fruit – related to apple and quince. The crowned fruit, once the staple of tables in Tudor England, has been flourishing in the village of Eastgate, thanks to Jane Steward and team who run the UK's only commercial medlar orchard.
Medlars (Mespilus germanica) require "bletting"—a period of controlled rotting after harvest—before becoming edible. This process transforms the tart, hard fruit into something with a complex flavour profile often described as a blend of apple, cinnamon, and dates.
Despite their fall from opulent dining tables, Jane and team have been working to return them to our culinary lexicon – with many chefs focusing on farm to fork and heritage produce they have found a consumer. And, despite the somewhat shocking appearence of a bletted medlar, Eastgate Larder produce a range of wonderful medlar-based products including medlar cheese (a fruit paste, not dissimilar to quince jelly), jellies and fruit leather.
The orchard itself has also created a bustling hub of biodiversity offering a home to insects and birds alike.
Letheringsett Watermill: Norfolk’s only Watermilled Flour
Standing on the bank of the River Glaven since the 18th century, Letheringsett Watermill is unique. Why? It’s the only mill, in the county, and one of few in the country, milling flour propelled by water.
As Norfolk residents and visitors will note, our landscape is dotted with hundreds of either converted, or the skeletal remnants, of mills. And, with shipping routes, and wherry ways formerly so central to commerce, milling raw produce was big business.
What Letheringsett Watermill creates are stoneground flours sourced from heritage wheat varieties, sourced whenever possible from Norfolk farms.
The wheel itself has been turning for generations and powering the grinding of raw ingredients are French Burr stones. This approach preserves the grain's nutrients and produces flour with exceptional flavour, levelling up all manner of bakes and dishes.
This flour isn’t made for efficiency or shelf life, it’s made to capture flavour and offer nutrition that far outpaces modern roller milling. And with their focus on local grain, whenever possible, means consumers get a grain to table approach that reduces food miles and offers unrivalled providence.
The mill doesn't just produce flour, it can also be experienced firsthand as a museum and educational experience, offering a snapshot into this largely lost method of traditional production. Making it not only about milling but craft, heritage and its influence on culture and our way of life.
The Future of Norfolk's Artisan Producers
This has been a small glance into a handful of Norfolk’s artisanal producers, there are countless others, but what makes these examples stand out is their usage of traditional process, attention to sometimes forgotten crops and flirtation with the culinary history of the region all while maintaining a commitment to craft, place and ultimately the taste of their quality products.
They’re also all bringing these traditional methods and products to modern consumers, engaging people in the art of the possible when it comes to growing and processing unique and characterful produce from the region.
We need more of these foods with provenance, story, and connection to landscape to make us feel grounded as individuals and as alternatives to some elements of our industrial food system. Products that are not only delicious but meaningful, sustainable and deeply rooted in place.