Helen Peacocke looks at a business that is championing local food producers

Food fraud, which can be traced back to the medieval period, is unfortunately still rife. Criminals make millions on a global scale and get away with misrepresenting the ingredients that go into many of our foods, most particularly honey, which is one of many reasons why buying local is best.

By buying locally from producers that we have come to know and trust we will get the wholesome food we pay for. Farmers’ markets or farm shops are an answer, though it can be hard to remem-ber if the market opens on the third Monday or second Tuesday of the month.

After many years of planning, friends Matt Todd and Tom Fremantle have solved this problem for people living in Oxford by establishing Farm Fresh Oxford (not to be confused with Field Farm Fresh Limited, previously trading from Appleton). They have established a weekly delivery service of fresh local foods and drinks found mostly in farmers’ markets and farm shops.

Initially the delivery service, which will take place on Fridays and Saturdays by bicycle, tuk tuk or the Farm Fresh van, will just cover Oxford, Wolvercote, Wytham and all the areas within OX2 6, OX2 7 and OX2 8.

Although Matt’s youth was spent in South Africa, his family originate from Oxford and he has lived here for the past 30 years, working as an environmental lecturer and researcher at the School of Hospitality, Oxford Brookes University where he became an expert in food waste. His partner Tom Fremantle was born in rural Buckinghamshire.

Thanks to his mother’s remarkable cooking skills he spent his youth eating delights such as jugged hare, game pie and rhubarb crumble which he washed down with elderflower wine.

He is delighted to be involved with a project that aims to champion some of the best local food and drink producers of Oxfordshire.

Matt defines local as anything within a 30-mile radius of Oxford, though he explains that he works on the asparagus and banana rule. The British climate doesn’t permit bananas to grow here so it is OK to import them, but it does suit asparagus, so asparagus will only be listed during its season in spring.

Matt conceived the Farm Fresh idea more than 10 years ago when he joined Tom on a walking holiday, but it has taken several years of planning and building up contacts.

The meat they have added to their range of goods comes from the Meat Joint on Iron Down Farm Butchery, 20 miles north of Oxford. Their lamb, which is reared on clover-based leys, comes from an old native breed of Dorset sheep, which are suited to early breeding, and North Country Mules which is a hardy breed that lambs later in the year. Their Gloucester Old Spot pigs, which are known for their slow growth, are reared outside, which gives the pork a superb flavour not found in intensively reared stock. Their beef comes from a Red Poll herd that grazes in nearby Aynho. It’s a well-marbled beef of exceptional flavour.

Bread is baked by both the Cornfield Bakery, Thame, and the Natural Bread company, known for the excellence of their sour dough products. Homemade mustards and pickles are created by award-winning Bruce Young, from Shaken Oak Farm, Hailey, who has now added a tasty mustard rub to his range. Bruce is known for the way he is involved in every step of the manufacturing process.

James Armitage from New Zealand has come up with the coffee, roasted in the Jericho Barn in small batches, to emphasise the characteristics of the areas in which it is grown; Shotover Brewery are supplying the beer.

Coln Valley, one of the country’s most renowned artisan smoked salmon producers, from the heart of the Cotswolds, provides the smoked salmon, and rainbow trout comes fresh from Bibury Trout Farm.

Their butter and other Jersey cream-based products are sourced from Upper Norton creamery at Church Handborough. The Farm Fresh produce list will also include local seasonal fruits and vegetables harvested the day of sale.

The system is simple: you place your order by 9am Wednesday and it is delivered on Friday or Saturday, though you can collect your order from the Jericho Barn if you prefer as it is open for trade on Saturdays. You will find the Jericho Barn behind No 7 Walton Street.

For more information visit www.farmfreshoxford.co.uk