Happy St Andrew’s Day! Our Let’s Bake Inverness gathering this week had a patriotic theme to celebrate. Considering I had spent two weeks in Orkney I had decided quite early on to use Orkney beremeal from Barony Mill in Birsay to make some Orkney Cheddar and Beremeal Scones!
Don’t know much about the patron saint of Scotland? Here’s a handy (and not too long to read) history.
Beremeal is a flour made from bere, a variety of barley. Bere is grown only in Orkney and Shetland and the Western Isles. It has an earthy, nutty flavour. Beremeal makes tasty and quick bannocks. It’s wheat free, but unfortunately not suitable for coeliacs as it does contain gluten. Did you know that Norweigans still call barley by it’s traditional name of Bygg?
I used this base recipe from Lavender and Lovage and omitted the parsley, and added some grated Orkney cheddar instead. Glazing these with buttermilk and a hearty sprinkle of crushed black peppercorns give them a lovely finish.
They didn’t rise too much, but the upside of this means there’s plenty of room to full these beremeal scones with Orkney butter, more Orkney cheese or some Westray chutney!
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