Cornish cuisine
These include breakfast of "gerty milk" (bread and milk) with tea or cocoa; pasties made of pastry, turnip (swede), potatoes, beef and onion; boiled beef; squab pie of apples, onions and salt pork; "scrowled pilchards" (grilled over the fire on an iron plate); and "heavy cake".
Historically, pasties were also often made with sweet fillings such as jam, apple and blackberry, plums or cherries.
Squab pie is a traditional dish from South West England, with early records showing it was commonly eaten in Cornwall, Devon and Gloucestershire.
[14] The wet climate and relatively poor soil of Cornwall make it unsuitable for growing many arable crops.
[19] Cornish Brie is a brie-style, soft, white-rinded cheese produced by several makers in Cornwall.
[21] Tesyn is a type of smoked goat's milk cheese made by the firm Cornish Cuisine.
Before being left to mature, this cheese is carefully wrapped in nettle leaves to form an edible, though mouldy, rind.
Various fruit trees can be grown in Cornwall – the Tamar Valley was once renowned for its early strawberries and cherries.
Whortleberries, damsons and blackberries can be gathered in some rural areas and homegrown produce can be used for jam-making or puddings.
These stoves were supplied by a number of foundries in the district and were made of cast iron with brass knobs.
The foundries included Sara, Jenkins & Barnicoat of Camborne, Tippet, Terril & Rodgers of Redruth, Luke's of St Ives, Hill's and Radmore & Dart at Truro, Roberts's at Praze, and Toy's and Williams's at Helston.
As cast iron range cookers were brought into common use, it became standard practice to build a dividing wall to split the fireplace into two separate fireplaces, thus allowing access to the clome oven, as well as providing a space of the correct dimensions to fit a Cornish stove or similar.
Cider was traditionally made for farmworkers and Cornwall has a wide selection of local apple varieties.
Healey's Cornish Cyder Farm near Truro brews and sells its own cider, brandy and country fruit wine produced on site.
Swanky beer and saffron cake were very popular in the past and have been revitalised by Kernewek Lowender and the Cornish Associations.
[30] In the 1880s, Henry Madren Leggo, whose parents came from St Just, Cornwall, began making vinegar, pickles, sauces, cordials and other grocery goods based on his mother's traditional recipes.
[31] A boutique brewery operation in South Australia, Copper Coast Wines, produces traditional Cornish Swanky beer, a bottle-conditioned beer, for the biennial Copper Coast region Kernewek Lowender Cornish Festival,[32] held in May in alternate (odd numbered) years.
They brought local traditions, such as Cornish pasties and home-brewed beer they termed "Swanky beer",[33] which was brewed from ingredients including malted barley, hops, yeast, brown sugar, ginger, raisins and soft rainwater.
It was put into beer bottles with the tops tied down with twine and stored in the coolest place in the house until ready.
The city of Grass Valley, California, holds St Piran's Day celebrations every year, which along with carol singing, includes a flag raising ceremony, games involving the Cornish pasty, and Cornish wrestling competitions.
[35] In the State of Hidalgo in central Mexico, a local speciality originates from the Cornish pasty, called pastes, which was introduced by miners and workers from Cornwall who were contracted in the silver mining towns of Mineral del Monte and Pachuca.
