High Barn Traditional Foods

THE Harrison girls, Anne and Ruth, have been regular stallholders at the farmers' markets in our part of Yorkshire ever since the idea was born.

Today, Anne Corner, who is John Harrison's daughter, has taken over the meat business from her father and has added a wide range of preserves which are complementary to the packs and joints of Longhorn beef her father started to sell in the 1990s.

John still keeps his breeding herd of native British Longhorn cattle at High Barn Farm, near Duggleby, where they are reared and fattened in the Wolds dale in much the same way beef cattle were fattened a century ago by his grandfather, Edwin.

John started to keep these cattle as a hobby, to utilise the Dale grassland, and began showing his cattle around the country in the mid-1990s. Realising there was a demand for traditionally-reared and well-hung beef, he began killing cattle for the Longhorn breed society to advertise the breed and sold a few freezer packs to his friends.

The advent of the farmers' markets offered scope for increased sales and his daughter, Anne, began taking a meat stall to the markets, which were springing up around the county, taking over the management of the business in June 2000. Anne also has a full-time job running the accounts department at Harrison Hire at Settrington. That, plus her young family, makes her a very busy young lady.

They also have a meat shop next door to Harrison Hire at Settrington from which they can supply all their products and, before foot and mouth, had started to cure and sell Longhorn hides to be used as rugs or wall hangings.

The Longhorn hides, which are cured by a local taxidermist, are a very attractive brindle colour with a white line down the back and are all uniquely marked, costing about £450 each. This is yet another traditional product which had disappeared from the market place.

As well as selling to normal outlets, High Barn Foods can send special orders by overnight carrier to suit their customers' individual requirements.

Today, they slaughter at least one fat bullock every month at a local abattoir and sell fresh beef from that beast when it has been hung for three weeks to provide the traditional flavour and tenderness. Freezer beef is always available.

The wide range of preserves are all made from the recipes Great Grandma Harrison was using over 100 years ago, and still taste just as good. This is good, pure, old-fashioned British food.

One of the biggest problems the farmers' markets faced in the early days was persuading housewives that there was a difference between good local meats and the bland, pale meat from the supermarket shelves. To give their customers a taste of proper beef, High Barn Foods bought a portable griddle and began selling Longhorn Beef Burgers on the stall alongside the beef from the freezer.

The smell and taste of good, wholesome beef, for which breeding and feeding could be guaranteed, was one of the key factors accounting for the growth in demand for food direct from the farm.

Quality standards have to meet the criteria of the local Environmental Health officers, who check stallholders' products regularly. Prices are similar to those charged in the local shops. This removes any criticism of undercutting local traders, which was one of the original complaints levied against farmers' markets when they first began.

High Barn Foods already has a name for high quality beef and the enterprise is now expanding and developing a range of complementary traditional foodstuffs to cater for the demand which the farmers' markets have created.

Updated: 10:43 Thursday, December 27, 2001