Explore the past through your palette in Jersey where you’ll discover a food culture that’s rich and delicious, where every bite is brimming with tales of the island’s past. You’ll meet locals who are proud of all the flavours to be savoured on the island and the stories that lie behind the tasty treats on offer. Explore an amazing array of dairy products, wonderous deep-fried treats, a traditional sweet and sticky apple preserve and many more mouth-watering morsels to tuck into.
15 July - 30 December.
Bouan Appetit Exhibition.
Get a taste of the island’s identity at Jersey Heritage’s Bouan Appétit! exhibition, a celebration of Jersey’s rich heritage of farming, fishing and food. Housed at the Jersey Museum, this exhibition promises to take you back in time to explore the island’s past while also looking to the future of farming on the island.
Take a bite out of Jersey’s past.
Jersey Wonders.
These ‘wonder’ful little fried delights are a local recipe that’s been handed down through the generations. The exact recipe varies from family to family and even from the east to the west of the island. The closest thing to compare Wonders to is a doughnut, but they should never be coated in sugar or filled with jam – almost a criminal offence in the island! An old wives tale has it that Wonders should only cooked as the tide goes out. If they’re cooked on the incoming tide, the fat in which the Wonders are cooked will overflow the pot. So, if you ever try your hand at making Wonders, make sure to check the tide times first!
A little bite of Jersey sunshine.
Where to find Jersey Wonders.
Discover some of the places you can pick up a Wonder during your stay. Two local ladies are keeping the tradition alive, making and selling Wonders in Jersey. On a leafy lane in Grouville, you’ll find Jersey Wonders by Babs being sold by the bag from an ‘honesty box’. Then there’s Collette, otherwise known as The Jersey Wonderer who supplies a number of local cafés and shops. You can also often find fresh Wonders for sale at local fêtes and festivals.
Dreamy dairy.
Jersey cows - a brief history.
The purebred Jersey cow has been a feature of the island’s landscape for more than 200 years, and while you may see the familiar golden coat of a Jersey in countries across the world, every Jersey cow’s ancestry can be traced back to the original Jersey Herd Book, founded in 1863 by the Royal Jersey Agricultural & Horticultural Society. There are now more than 30 herds of Jersey cows across the island, with an estimated 3,000 cows.
If you’re keen to share a head scratch with one of our lovely ladies, you’re most likely to spot them out and about between March and October when the fields are full of succulent grass for them to munch on.
Discover dreamy dairy products.
As well as being doe-eyed beauties, Jersey cows are famous for their extra creamy milk. You’ll find Jersey milk, butter and other dairy products being poured, spread, scooped and cooked with all around the island everyday. You’ll have to be trying to avoid it to miss tasting it during your holiday.
An island orchard.
Believe it or not but if you were to step back in time, you would discover an island covered in apple orchards. In the 17th and 18th centuries, cider apples were Jersey’s most important crop. As you explore, you’ll find granite apple crushers, or presoirs a ronde, all over the island as a reminder of our sweet and fruity past. Two enduring products still enjoyed in the island today are Black Butter and Jersey cider. Every year locals come together to celebrate these heritage delicacies preserving traditional island ways of life. Discover more below.
La Faîs’sie d’Cidre.
Well before the arrival of the Jersey Royal, cider was the island’s biggest export and ‘national crop’. So, raise a glass at the annual Faîs’sie d’Cidre at Hamptonne Country Life Museum as an army of volunteers bring to life Jersey’s rich heritage of cider production. Watch as the shire horse does it’s work, crushing the apples in the traditional apple crusher.
Get into the cider spirit of things with music, Jersey Wonders, delicious saucisse and Morris Dancing from the Jersey Lilies.
Dig up the history of the Jersey Royal.
It’s all thanks to a tenacious local farmer named Hugh de la Haye who, in approximately 1880, stumbled upon an curiously large tuber and decided to see what would sprout from it in his St. Ouen’s Bay fields. Quite by chance, what grew was a crop of intriguingly small, kidney shaped spuds with a heavenly flavour. Tune in below to unearth the whole story…
