Welcome to part two of our annual Christmas Scran specials. We're fully engrossed in all things Christmas and we're pleased to say this episode is jam packed full of joy, tradition and cheer.

First up on this podcast Rosalind meets Peter Gilchrist, Scottish Food Historian, writer and friend of the podcast who takes her through the evolution of the Scottish Christmas and how we have arrived at many of our modern day customs and traditions. Peter and Rosalind met at the beautifully decorated The Ivy restaurant in Glasgow to enjoy a festive brunch. Peter is always a fascinating guest and we guarantee you that you will walk away from today's episode knowing something new about Christmas.

Then we head back to Bow Market in Fife to talk to Chris Miles of Inchcolm Distillery who makes a very interesting spirit from leftover apples, and Stephen Wade of Woodmill Game who tells Rosalind about how he created and moulded his business. 

Finally you'll hear from Barry Bryson who lets us in on the life of a chef at Christmas time as well as his exciting plans for the year ahead..but most importantly - he has tips for the Christmas dinner! Something we all relish in the run up to the big day...

Thanks to listening to Scran throughout 2024, we will return in 2025 with lots more tales from inside the food and drink industry we know and love in Scotland.

Merry Christmas and happy new year!

Rosalind & Kelly 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is Christmas about but eating, drinking and being merry? Rosalind is here in part 1 of our two episode Christmas special to help you do all those things! But of course, Christmas is also about caring and giving so she's also been visiting a charity that is doing just that with the help of the public.

First up on this festive episode of Scran Rosalind heads to Bowhouse Market in Fife - if you are looking for a festive shopping destination without any of the guilt of buying from supersize producers then this is the place for you! 

Luckily there is one more market happening before Christmas so this is your opportunity to hear from a small selection of the food and drink traders who will be there to help you tick off that Christmas list. First up Rosalind chats to Susie Anderson of East Coast Cured, followed by Stuart of Barnett's Bakery in Anstruher who was joined on his stall by his daughter Jessie, Lucy Patto Davidson from Fodder and Farm and Rosie Jack who manages the market.

Every year the team at Scran like to take the time to feature a charity in Scotland who is working with those who won't be able to enjoy the Christmas they might have wished for. This year we went along to the Eva Burrows Life House project in Cambuslang which is run by the Salvation Army. There Rosalind met with Karen Good who runs the service, service users Stephen and Peter and finally staff members Yvonne Mackenzie, Paula Thomson and David Dean.

Finally, you'll hear Rosalind chatting to Fiona Grant, the Founder of Glen Lyon coffee who have released a special Christmas coffee that you are going to want to get your hands on before the festivities begin.

To support the work of the Salvation Army in Scotland and the wonderful team at Eva Burrows Lifehouse visit salvationarmy.org.uk/scotland-office

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this special partner episode of Scran where we are visiting Annandale Distillery in Dumfries and Galloway. Established in 1836 and reborn in 2014, Annandale is one of Scotland’s oldest operating distilleries.

Owners Prof. David Thomson & Teresa Church, purchased the site in 2007, and reopened in 2014 following a £12.5 million restoration that now welcomes over 50,000 guests a year. The Distillery has won numerous accolades to date.

As we approach their ten year anniversary Rosalind wanted to learn more about the distillery and the impact it is having both locally and on the whisky scene since it opened.

You'll hear from Tour Guide Emma O'Neil who showed Rosalind around the distillery. She also chats to James Rogerson, Annandale's Spirit and Tasting expert, Mark Trainor who is Head of Production, Buildings and Estates at Annandale and Grant Warwick who is a Cask Custodian. 

Rosalind learns all about the restoration of the distillery, how they are doing things differently and the huge effort being put into creating a real community that is invested in its people and its legacy.

You can find out more on their website annandaledistiilery.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this special bonus episode of Scran we are looking back to the Scottish Food and Drink Excellence awards which took place in Glasgow a few weeks back. The Excellence Awards shine a light on the incredible businesses that call Scotland home.  

Underpinned by people, passion, and perseverance, it is an opportunity to toast the industry’s fantastic achievements over the past year, whilst looking to the future and supporting the next wave of innovation and creativity

Rosalind is joined by three of the award winners on this episode to learn more about their businesses and how awards can impact them.

First up Rosalind speaks to Hayley Wilkes of WeeCOOK followed by Andrew Wilson of Young Spirits and Andrew Rowley of Ballintaggart.

You can find more information about the awards and the winners here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rosalind's guest on this episode needs little introduction these days as he has become one of Scotland's best known food ambassadors. Coinneach MacLeod aka The Hebridean Baker joins Scran once again to fill Rosalind in on his adventures - sharing his love of hebridean baking, cookery and culture all around the world. He's just launched a new book, The Scottish Cook Book and Rosalind delves into what he's included in this one and hears all about his recent trip to America which included some amazing 'pinch me' moments for Coinneach.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this very special bonus episode of Scran produced in partnership with Diageo we are heading north as Cardhu distillery celebrates 200 years of producing whisky. Licensed in 1824, it was the first distillery to be officially pioneered by a woman. And what better way to mark this special occasion than by celebrating all women pioneers, and three in particular?

This episode was recorded at Cardhu Distillery in Speyside and features snippets from a celebratory event where the team welcomed-in the local community to hear from these modern trailblazers. They are; fashion designer Siobhan McKenzie, Owner of Ujamaa Spice, Jawahir Al-Mauly and founder of Dear Green Coffee, Lisa Lawson. Rosalind chats to each of them about the challenges they've faced and the successes they've achieved in their inspiring businesses.

To hear more about the history of Cardhu and the celebrations to mark 200 years of licensed whisky production (including a new bottling) Rosalind also chats to Assistant Experience & Events Manager for Cardhu, Jo Henderson.

You'll find out more about 200 years of Cardhu and the anniversary celebrations here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode, we take a deep dive into Halloween traditions, folklore and food with food historian and writer Peter Gilchrist and Rebecca McEwan from Arnprior Farm.

As we really get into autumn season this month, many of us will be looking forward to Halloween and possibly going to a pumpkin patch to pick one to carve for Halloween. Rebecca’s farm, Arnprior in Stirlingshire, started growing pumpkins in 2015 and is now one of the many pick your own pumpkin patches in Scotland - offering a fun family day out in the lead up to Halloween. She tells us about diversifying into pumpkins and what visitors can expect as well as her own memories of childhood celebrations for Halloween.

For those old enough to remember guising, dooking for apples and carving a turnip not a pumpkin, Peter tells us about the long history of Halloween in Scotland and the importance of seasonal food at this time. He also has a few interesting thoughts on carving turnips!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode we're learning a lot more about cask trading as well as about a whole new way of profiling whisky flavours - by mood!

On this episode Rosalind takes a trip to her homeland of Fife to visit Single Cask. Established in 2010 Single Cask bottles award-winning whiskies at natural cask-strength and trades whisky all over the world. In an attempt to set themselves apart from other independent whisky bottlers they have invented a whole new marketing method which allows customers to select a dram based on how they are feeling. Rosalind gets a tour of their facility in Glenrothes by General Manager, Jan Damen followed by a whisky tasting and an opportunity to understand how you classify whisky by mood.

Rosalind learns more about how cask trading differs from cask investment and how some of the headlines around cask investment aren't all they're cracked up to be!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode it's all about women in whisky. Rosalind is joined by Becky Paskin, drinks journalist, broadcaster and founder of Our Whisky Foundation which supports and promotes women in the whisky industry. Rosalind is also joined by Sarah Burgess, whisky maker for the Lakes Distillery.

The trio discuss the reasoning behind setting up the Our Whisky Foundation and what it's doing for women in the industry. This includes a very successful mentorship programme which is growing by the year. Sarah and Becky share their really positive experience being part of the initiative as well as the exciting opportunity to create a whole new whisky.

Earlier this year they curated the world's first whisky auction made by and dedicated to women. The Demeter collection was sold to raise funds for the foundation. Sarah developed a special whisky for the collection and Becky has been pivotal in ensuring the success of the auction which has proved to be a great triumph.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To mark the 900th anniversary of the Royal Burgh of Stirling, Forth Valley Food and Drink has launched a series of four captivating short documentaries that delve into the lesser-known stories of Stirling’s rich food and drink heritage.

Rosalind wanted to learn more about this series so spoke to Lesley Wilkinson who researched and commissioned the films and Murray Cook, Stirling Council's archaeologist to learn more.

Lesley talks about why the films came about and some of the amazing finds they made in the process of researching the films including about a world-record breaking grape vine.

Stirling Castle and Bannockburn House feature in the series as do fascinating stories about how Bonnie Prince Charlie was treated for an injury there using a posset. Funded by Scotland Food and Drink’s Regional Food Fund, the films uncover a range of unexpected tales including how the first dram was drunk there by James IV in 1494 and how the first firework was also set off there. Murray also shares stories of beer witches and those being accused of witchcraft and the sad fate they met.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's that time of year again when team Scran cannot resist the temptation of the world's biggest arts festival. Rosalind went along earlier this week to enjoy a foodie's day out at the festival and bring you some top shows to consider if you're heading to Edinburgh this August. First up she hit C Venue for coffee, a croissant and Shakespeare for Breakfast. This show has been performed at the Edinburgh Fringe festival for 33 years. Rosalind chats to Mary Gensich, Company Manager for C Theatre and Clare Louise Roberts, one of the performers, to hear about this year's show.

Then for something completely different Rosalind went to A History of Fortune Cookies performed by Sean Wai Keung. With an audience of ten this was a really intimate show where Sean shared his story about the influence of his Chinese grandparents all while baking the audience their own fortune cookies.

For many the festival is all about the Fringe and the laughs, Daniel Downie definitely brought those in his whisky-soaked show Daniel Downie: Dram(a)s which was Rosalind's third show of the day. 

Whilst many may start an evening at the festival with a glass of wine or 5 Rosalind chose to finish up with In Pour Taste - a wine tasting from Australian comedians Ethan Cavanagh and Sweeney Preston who have teamed up with local wine experts to produce a raucous one hour and 15 mins of entertainment (and some wine education). 

Make sure to check out The Scotsman's coverage of the festivals to be right up to date with reviews and recommendations.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices