South West England
Did you know?
In the South West, almost 5,000 farmers supply us with meat, poultry and eggs, including 204 pig farmers.
Last year we enabled Somerset Food Links to set up a prominent display in our stores to demonstrate to local people the group's work in developing a thriving and sustainable local food system throughout the area.
Rodda's Creamery
Rodda's Creamery was founded in 1890 and is situated on the site of the original family farmstead at Scorrier, Redruth, in West Cornwall. The business is in the fifth generation of the family, which has grown from a small farm-based industry into a dairy supplying the West Country and national retailers. Despite the changes that have taken place since Rodda's Creamery was founded, the principles of the production of clotted cream and a family-run business have hardly changed at all.
The milk is all from Cornish farms and all the farms in the Rodda's producer group are located in West Cornwall. Milk arrives direct from the farms in tankers and is separated into skimmed milk and cream. The skimmed milk is transported by tankers to a range of other dairies and processors across the South West of England for use in other food products.
The cream is filled into pots or for larger batches stainless steel pans and then cooked or scalded to form the crust and start the clotting process. The cream is not set at this point, but the cooling in the fridge overnight turns the liquid cream into the thick, delicious, spoonable clotted cream.
Cornish Clotted Cream is known worldwide as a West Country delicacy. The cream is a thick spooning cream, with a golden crust and a silky smooth cream beneath. The only ingredient is 100% Cornish cows’ milk. The Cornish milk gives the cream its distinctiveness; the lovely nutty taste and golden crust, which are indicative of this product. Cornish Clotted Cream has a Protected Designation of Origin, which means that the product cannot be made anywhere else in the country and must be made with Cornish milk to a traditional recipe.
Cornish Clotted Cream is available in selected stores in the South West. Rodda's also supply Tesco Finest Cornish Clotted Cream which is available in selected stores nationwide.
Southern England Farms
Cool summers and mild winters mean Cornwall is the only UK county which can deliver cauliflower and spring greens all year, playing an important role in our efforts to reduce the need for imported food.
Southern England Farms, based in Leedstown, Cornwall, who provides this service also supplies us with green cabbage all year and can grow courgettes for two months longer than farmers in other areas.
Much of their packaging bears the Cornish logo to help customers across the South West to choose local food.
The company created an extra 40 jobs after last year winning a contract to supply us with vegetables directly. It is a significant local employer, with 160 staff at its headquarters, the site of a state-of-the-art new £2 million packing building built to increase capacity and enable further growth.
Graham Padfield
"Winning the Tesco Cheese Challenge was the best bit of luck we've had. In fact, we've had to double our workforce to meet demand," says Graham Padfield, maker of the acclaimed Wyfe of Bath cheese, which last year won our competition aimed at finding a superb cheese worthy of space on our shelves.
Graham makes the distinctive round cheese at Park Farm, Kelston, just outside Bath, where his father and grandfather farmed before him.
Wyfe of Bath is made with the organic milk of the farm's 160 cows. And as a hand-made single herd cheese, its taste changes slightly according to the season - and the mood of the cows.
Graham adds: "Our business has been transformed. Because we have raised technical standards, under the guidance of the Tesco team, we are now more viable and competitive within the market place."
Proper Cornish Ltd.
Proper Cornish started out as a partnership back in the early 1990’s.The partners, Phil Ugalde and brothers Chris and Dave Pauling had become disillusioned with so called "manufactured" Cornish pasties, as they were being mass produced and were not being made following the traditional Cornish recipe. The partnership set up in Bodmin, and business started well, with Phil going out in the van selling and delivering pasties, and with Chris and Dave back at the bakery actually making the pasties. The business has gone from strength to strength and today employs around 168 staff.
The company started working with Tesco in 2003, more recently working with the regional sourcing team to launch the both a chilled & ready to eat hot pasty range into selected stores in the South West.
Furniss Biscuits
In the city of Truro, in the late 1880’s, a master baker Mr John Cooper Furniss was baking ginger breads and the celebrated fairings biscuit. In 1886, demand outgrew production and he formed a company and moved to new premises at Duchy Wharf. In 1988, the company once again moved to a modern factory where traditional goods are manufactured to the original recipes.
In August 2006 The Proper Cornish Food Company bought the Furniss Brand with a view to taking the company to the next stage of its development, focussing on providing their customers with the original quality and service that John Cooper Furniss originally intended.
Furniss supplies Tesco with a number of lines including the Fairings biscuit in (original, orange & lemon, apple & cinnamon and spiced) and Clotted Cream Shortbread. These lines are only available in selected stores within Cornwall.
Falfish
Falfish is a seafood processor located in Cornwall in the heart of Europe’s richest and most diverse fishing grounds. The company was established in 1979 & today has approximately 80 employees. In 2004 Falfish opened a new facility at Redruth and also has a busy port base at Falmouth.
Falfish purchases more than 40 species of fish and shellfish from all the main South West auctions and direct from a fleet of vessels in Cornwall, Devon and across the English Channel, Wales and Scotland.
Sustainable fisheries and responsible fishing from well managed fisheries are of great importance. Falfish joined “Invest in Fish Southwest” in 2004, an ocean recovery project backed by WWF. Falfish has embraced MSC accredited fisheries such as hand line caught Cornish Mackerel and is working with Seafood Cornwall to help achieve further fisheries to be certified such as Cornish Ring net sardines, line caught Seabass and line caught Pollack.
Falfish supplies Tesco with a wide range of fish & shelfish including Cornish King Scallops, Cornish Monkfishtails, Cornish Sardines, Cornish Mackerel, Cornish & Devon Dover Sole, Cornish & Devon Lemon Sole, Cornish & Devon Wild Seabass, Cornish & Devon Skate Wings. These lines are only available in selected stores within the South West.