Your guide to an East Lancashire festive feast

Here we take a look at some unusual ideas and seasonal items to give your Christmas dinner table a little extra sparkle.

The Secret chocolate wine, £9.95
The Vineyard, Square Street, Ramsbottom: The wine merchants has its very own secret. Newly-launched under The Secret label, the vintage wine merchant sold 38 cases in four hours when it introduced the taste to Manchester this winter. It’s made from Australian red wine, brandy spirit and chocolate flavouring and proprietor Stuart Rothwell labels it ‘wonderful’.

Chocolate mobile phones, £5.95
The Chocolate House, Glenfield Park, Philips Road, Blackburn: An ideal edible novelty gift - life-size chocolate mobile phones. They are just one of a number of seasonal ideas from Susie Bristow at the Chocolate House. Other seasonal goodies at the shop or via www.chocolateuk.com include tasty Santas, angels and snowmen.

Ted’s Christmas Special
Cowman’s Butchers, Castle Street, Clitheroe: Cliff Cowman has devised three unusual flavour combinations which will only be available during the festive season. These are a pork, cranberry and rosemary sausage, a pork, plum and mulled wine sausage and Ted’s Christmas Special, which blends pork, apple, crushed juniper berries and port. “I named it after my dad after he told me I wasn’t working hard enough and made me devise a new sausage for Christmas,” said Cliff. Prices for the three sausages range from £2.80 to £3 per lb.

Lap Prancer beer
Moorhouse’s Brewery, Burnley: East Lancashire’s award winning brewer has produced a special beer for Christmas to fit in with the festive fun. Lap Prancer is 4.2% alcohol and is brewed to give amber to mid brown coloured ale with a rich, full malty flavour. Moorhouse’s managing director David Grant said: “This is a humorous Christmas brew to match the seasonal mood – rich and fruity ale that gives a satisfying pint but is still light enough in strength to sustain you merrily throughout those evenings of festive fun.” Lap Prancer is available on draught, at free trade outlets throughout the North West.

Santa’s Hat cheese, £5
Leagram’s Organic Dairy, Chipping: For a tasty Christmas novelty, how about Santa’s Hat – a mature Lancashire cheese, which has been specially shaped? Having been matured for two-years, it offers a rich, intense Lancashire flavour. The family-run dairy also offers Ramshackle a soft sheep’s cheese produced from locally-sourced sheep’s milk and which is available from Booth’s supermarkets. Customers are welcome at the dairy itself where around 25 different cheeses, many of them organic, are available.

Christmas pudding ice cream, £4.95 a litre
Huntley’s, Samlesbury: The festive special ice cream is one of 80 flavours offered by the outlet. Made from full cream dairy milk from the cows on the Huntley farm. For the festive cheese board try Bannon, an individual round, made in France and wrapped in chestnut leaves. It costs £3 for 80g and is one of a range of artisan cheeses just introduced to the Huntley food hall, from both local producers and the continent.

Special Christmas Curry Mix, £1.60
Jeff Thompson of Curried Away, Todmorden Outdoor Market on Christmas Eve: When the big day has gone Jeff Thompson has just the thing for turning turkey leftovers into something spicy and delicious. He has created a hot pepper spice mix to complement cold turkey. The mix, curry paste and recipe still leave you with 40p change from £2 too! “All that is needed is some cold turkey, onions, possibly garlic and leftover vegetables such as green beans to create a truly tasty hot Festive season dish. Curry dishes have become so firmly established in the family menu, that there's no reason they can't be adapted and enjoyed at Christmas time,” said Jeff.

Sage derby parsnip roulade
The Deli, Bank Street, Rawtenstall: For vegetarians, Nate Nicholson recommends two delicious offerings for Christmas dinner - his sage derby parsnip roulade or cashew nut roast, both of which are freshly made on the premises and sold for around £4 per adult serving. “I always warn people when they’re buying a portion that every non vegetarian will want to have a taste and there won’t be anything left for the person it was meant for,” said Nate. Nate also offers a specially-made mushroom and sherry sauce to accompany the cashew nut roast.

Artisan Gold, £15.99
Bowland Brewery, Bashall Eaves: It has taken brewer Richard Baker four years to perfect and this Christmas, beer lovers will get the chance to sample his Artisan Gold. The beer is the result of his quest to produce the perfect beer and he has introduced techniques developed by the leading Champagne houses. “There are only six brewers around the world using these methods and we are the first in the UK,” said Richard. The beer has been on offer at Michelin-starred Northcote at Langho and now will be available from the brewery’s outlet at Bashall Barns. Richard. said: “It’s the perfect accompan-iment to food and would go well with the Christmas dinner.” Artisan Gold is 5.7% in strength and comes in a special presentation box.

Fresh, free-range bronze turkey
Riley’s Butchers, Burnley Road, Crawshawbooth: For the most traditional of Christmas treats, butcher Geoff Riley is proud to offer his own Lancashire born and bred turkeys. The free-range Bronze turkeys are reared less than a mile from the shop and allowed to grow slowly roaming the nearby hillsides. “The combination of fresh air, exercise and eating a more natural diet all helps to produce that true turkey taste, fuller-flavour and a firmer textured meat,” said Geoff.

A family butcher with a history stretching back more than 150 years, Riley's has a well-stocked delicatessen to complement the butchers department.

Christmas Special coffee
Exchange Coffee Company, Fleming Square, Blackburn and Wellgate, Clitheroe: The speciality coffee for this Christmas blends one strong roast, Brazilian Bruzzi, with three medium, a Costa Rican — these two are both Rainforest Alliance coffees — along with Mexican Maragogype and Rwanda AA, to produce a medium body infusion, which is ideal as an after dinner coffee, with port or stilton, or equally to wake you on Christmas morning.

Salmon and stilton tartlets, 50p each
Delicious Deli, Gisburn: For that Christmas buffet, this newly-opened delicatessan and cafe in the centre of the village, has plenty of home-made solutions. Among the many items proving popular are small smoked salmon and stilton tartlets at just 50p each and homemade mince pies using a secret pastry recipe, again for just 50p each. Owners Maxine Bridge and Sharon Smalley have been delighted by the response to their new venture which opened in the former post office in October. They are also offering to compile personalised Christmas hampers full of locally-sourced produce to suit any budget.

Exclusive house Champagne, £15.99
D Byrne wine and spirit merchant, King Street, Clitheroe: A best seller is Byrne’s exclusive house Champagne, direct from the grower. Stephane Breton Brut is made from a 50/50 blend of chardonnay and pinot noir grapes which are well aged and produce a rich and soft Champagne. Dating back to the 1870s, this old Victorian shop, with cellars below street level, has a collection of 4,000 wines and 2,000 spirits and is run by the great grandsons of the founder.

Entwistle’s Lancashire Sauce
Based in Ramsbottom: Liquid seasoning is how David Entwistle describes his family’s secret recipe sauce which has won fans all over the world. And he believes a dash of Lancashire Sauce would being an extra dimension to the traditional Christmas dinner. “It goes beautifully with roast potatoes or you could add it to your gravy for some extra flavouring,” said David, “and it works particularly when used in your stuffing mix.” Using a traditional recipe, David has been producing Lancashire Sauce for five years and every year has seen demand for the sauce grow. It is available from independent retailers and delicatessens around the county.

Christmas cupcakes, £15 for a box of 12
Fantasy Cupcakes, The Chapel, Bury Road, Rawtenstall: Cupcakes made by national prize-winning baker Melinda Foster who set up her business just over two years ago. Ingredients are carefully chosen: all cupcakes are hand-made and decorated without use of any eggs from caged hens. Madagascan vanilla is incuded in a syrup, rather than an alcohol base - so cupcakes are totally alcohol-free. Where chocolate is used, it is Green and Blacks organic fair-trade cocoa and chocolate with 85% cocoa solids for a more intense chocolate flavour.

Chilli Black Pudding
The Real Lancashire Black Pudding Company, Haslingden: If you don’t fancy Christmas pud how about some real black pud? This is the busiest time of the year for the Haslingden-based Real Lancashire Black Pudding Company which they reckon is down to lots of family fry-up breakfasts during the next fortnight. There’s a choice of four types – traditional black pud, white pud (made with pork, bacon, rusk and herbs) and Vegetarian pud available from quality butchers and supermarkets plus new hot stuff in the shape of a available only at local butchers and farmers’ markets. Prices vary.

Calvados Camembert, £6.50 for a 250g small cheese
Cheesie Tchaikovsky, Lee Carter House, Castle Street, Clitheroe: A true taste of Normandy which will bring winter warmth to any festive table sees a rich camembert soaked in apple brandy and then rolled in crushed biscuits to hold in the flavour. Just the thing for a mellow end to an evening. Or for the man in your life, how about Shorrock’s Black Beauty Lancashire? At £10 for a round cheese with a black wax coating, you can break it open and enjoy a deliciously creamy Lancashire with a wonderful rich tang. Cheesie Tchaikovsky opened seven years ago and last year moved to larger premises in Clitheroe. Owner Jan Curtis sources cheeses from artisan producers in both the UK and Europe and in the run up to Christmas will have over 50 different cheeses in stock in her temperature controlled premises.

Ribblesdale Honey
The Ribble Valley: Owner Dave Rayner has kept bees for 11 years with 25 hives at various sites throughout the Ribble Valley. His golden coloured Ribblesdale runny variety is available at Bashall Barn at £6.95 for a 12 oz jar.

Leg of free range Gloucestershire Old Spot pork £3.25 per lb
Shuttleworth Hall Farm Shop, Hapton: All the pork, beef and lamb sold is hand reared on the land where David Cartmel’s family have farmed for 65 years. The shop which also sells fresh vegetables has been open for eight.

Partridge and pear pie
Pots ‘n’ Pies, Ramsbottom: Game can add that little extra to your Christmas table and Pots ‘n’ Pies, specialising in hand made pies, has several seasonal offerings. You could try their pheasant, leek and mushroom or partridge and pear pie or perhaps wild boar and chestnut is more to your liking. Vegetarians aren’t forgotten either with a special homity pie based on a centuries’ old recipe. Prices range from £1.50 to £3.

Clementine Marmalade with Cointreau 227g £2.75 and Spicy Gooseberry Chutney 205g £2.95
Reedy’s Naturally, Blackburn: The perfect accompaniment to any Christmas table, the celementine marmalade is full flavoured, versatile and addictive which has consistently been one of its best sellers. The chutney is bursting with the sharpness of gooseberries and fresh red chillies provide the kick. Started three years ago, in the kitchen of their home in Oswaldtwistle, the products made by John Kirby and Lisa Reedy sell in 60 delis, good food shops,cafes and restaurants all over the north west.