Venison, partridge & damsons in Apley Farm Shop

Venison carcasse

Shropshire venison sausage raw – £9.95 per kg

Apley damsons, £1.50 per kg

Brace of oven-ready partridge, £5.85 per brace or boneless £9.95

Venison chops

Venison preparation

Apley Farm Shop has 3 hard-to-find products available now (which are almost-Unique Selling Points – USPs). We have Apley damsons (Aug-Sept), Apley partridges (Sept-Feb) & local venison (Aug-Feb). As venison is rare it’s much-sought-after, so get there quickly ! John has just sold £55 of venison leg this afternoon.

Five top reasons for eating venison include it’s low in fat, low in cholesterol, high in iron, contains omega 3 & most importantly, doesn’t (if reared in the wild) contain any animal antibiotics.

At home, over time, we’ve tried venison everything, but this venison wellington recipe has just caught my eye, so I’ll be trying that this weekend hopefully.

The venison is available in various cuts (prices as labelled):

• boneless shoulder joints for roasting (just like a joint of beef, only smaller – think how small a deer is, compared to as cow!)
• boneless leg joints for roasting
• boneless venison chops (these are like steaks)
• venison chops (ie with bones)
• diced venison for casserole
• minced venison (great for burgers)

Even though damsons grow in almost any soil type, Shropshire is especially renown for its damsons – perhaps because there’s even a special variety called the Shropshire Prune Damson. Read more on the Shropshire Food & Drink website. You can make damson-almost-anything with them – damson gin (Apley Farm Shop sells Chilton Gins), damson jam, damson chutney, damson fool, damson crumble. To make a start, click here for the BBC’s Good Food damson cobbler recipe.

The Apley partridges are oven-ready & can also be ordered boneless on request. Roast the partridges in the oven for 20 mins to make this Mediterranean warm partridge salad recipe or another favourite in our home is pan-fried partridge breasts.