Shetland delights

Sue Lawrence looks at the wonderful ingredients available on Shetland.

Britain's most northerly island is Shetland, home of some to the best raw ingredients in the world. Self-sufficient in its ability to feed its population (because of its remoteness) until the late 19th century, it did not rely on significant food imports until after World War I. The superb traditional foodstuffs such as native breeds of sheep and cattle, barley and an incomparable variety of seafood, now have the added value of producers also concentrating on sustainability.

Shetland salmon is some of the best to be found anywhere. Lower stocking densities than other farms, combined with the fastrunning currents of the north Atlantic and the natural ebb and flow of ocean-driven water mean top quality. The fast currents cause the fish to swim vigorously – and in some of the most unpolluted water in the world.

Since there are no rivers in Shetland, there is very little fresh water runoff in the voes (small fjords), and so the chances of farmed salmon escaping into the rivers, as has happened elsewhere, is negligible. And as for the taste, Shetland salmon is not called the ‘Grand Cru' of salmon for nothing.

Another natural product that is gaining a reputation from Lerwick to London, is Shetland lamb. The pure-bred native Shetland sheep (some 500 of them), reared on local farmer Ronnie Eunson's organic farm, graze on the fields that run from the hilltops right down to the sea. This ancient breed (neolithic sheep bones reveal its ancestry here) graze on heather grassland th...

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• By : Sue Lawrence
• In : Food
• Issue : 36
• Page : 49
• Words : 1,006