0:00:03 > 0:00:07'British food is about more than what we put on our plates.
0:00:07 > 0:00:14'Our landscape, our climate and our history define what we grow and where we grow it.'
0:00:14 > 0:00:18Ah! This is the mustard that built empires!
0:00:18 > 0:00:23'Each place, each region, each food has its own story to tell.'
0:00:23 > 0:00:24Hoy!
0:00:26 > 0:00:31It's the most dangerous kind of farming. I would rather fish for shark!
0:00:31 > 0:00:36'I'm exploring Britain to discover how our soils and seas have shaped our tastes and traditions
0:00:36 > 0:00:40'because our food is who we are.'
0:00:40 > 0:00:46- Those were the shoes that were put on the cattle, so they would fit... - They really shoe cattle.- They have.
0:00:46 > 0:00:51'Alongside me on this journey, a horticulturalist, Alys Fowler,
0:00:51 > 0:00:53'botanist James Wong...'
0:00:53 > 0:00:56It's like a flavour trip, like I can see it's a mushroom,
0:00:56 > 0:01:00but my tongue's telling me it's something else.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02'..archaeologist Alex Langlands.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05'and historian Lucy Worsley.'
0:01:05 > 0:01:10That is soft cheese. It makes itself! You just leave old milk lying around.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16'This is the story of our food.
0:01:28 > 0:01:33'This time, we're in the west of Scotland, a wild landscape
0:01:33 > 0:01:37'where food tells a story of history, as well as of soil and climate.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41'This is a place where food was once all about survival.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45'A place revolutionised by the coming of the railways.'
0:01:45 > 0:01:50That's basically the most exciting thing I've ever done.
0:01:50 > 0:01:56'I'm going to be travelling by all manner of trains, right through the heart of the Western Highlands,
0:01:56 > 0:02:01'to see how a story of subsistence became a story of supply.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04'But my journey begins in the far north.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11'I'm starting here, where the land fights you at every turn.
0:02:11 > 0:02:16'This is no place for big commercial agriculture. The soil is too thin.
0:02:16 > 0:02:21'The slopes too steep. The earliest foods here were wild.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29'The red deer is Britain's largest and oldest native mammal.
0:02:29 > 0:02:35'We've been killing and eating them since the end of the last Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago.
0:02:38 > 0:02:43'As people settled and began to farm, deer were pushed back into the wilderness of the Highlands.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46'It's their last true stronghold.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53'This is Attadale, 30,000 acres of Highland estate in Wester Ross.'
0:02:56 > 0:03:00Tom Watson, pleased to meet you. Welcome to Attadale.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02'Tom Watson is Attadale's gamekeeper.
0:03:02 > 0:03:07'He's a professional deerstalker, responsible for managing the deer on the estate.'
0:03:07 > 0:03:12- How many deer have you got altogether?- On the two...
0:03:12 > 0:03:18The hinds, we've got probably about 650 to 700, you can never say exactly.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21But that's pretty close to what we have.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24We probably have in the region of about 300 stags.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27- That's a nice ratio for the boys. - Yes, quite good. Yes.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30'Deer hunting is a tradition that reaches back
0:03:30 > 0:03:33'to before estates like this existed.
0:03:33 > 0:03:38'Part of the deep-rooted belief that every Highlander had a right to a deer from the hill
0:03:38 > 0:03:41'and a salmon from the river.'
0:03:41 > 0:03:44How far have we got to go up the hill?
0:03:44 > 0:03:47It's eight miles from the bottom lodge up to the one at the top.
0:03:47 > 0:03:52'Since the demise of their last major predator, the wolf,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55'deer numbers have been steadily on the rise.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58'Nowadays, they're controlled, in order to limit their effect
0:03:58 > 0:04:02'on the landscape and to prevent the deer from running out of food.
0:04:02 > 0:04:07'Left to themselves, they'll overgraze and weaker animals will starve.'
0:04:07 > 0:04:14- It's necessary, is it?- It has to be done because red deer have no natural enemies, apart from man.
0:04:14 > 0:04:19A few get taken as calves by golden eagles and foxes, but as a rule,
0:04:19 > 0:04:25once they get into mature animals, there's nothing can do them any harm.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28We have to control the numbers for their own benefit.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31Traditionally, years ago, it used to be done as a sport,
0:04:31 > 0:04:34but now it's more of an industry.
0:04:34 > 0:04:39What's the difference between doing it as a sport and doing it as an industry?
0:04:39 > 0:04:42Years ago, it was done by wealthy landowners
0:04:42 > 0:04:45and the venison had no real value.
0:04:45 > 0:04:51Nowadays, venison is very much sought after. It's a healthy meat.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56'For centuries, hunting was about the basic need to eat.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00'But shifts in land ownership transformed this ancient custom.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05'After Queen Victoria adopted Balmoral as her Scottish retreat in 1848,
0:05:05 > 0:05:10'all things Highland suddenly became fashionable.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14'Stag hunting got the royal seal of approval
0:05:14 > 0:05:17'and venison became a trophy rather than a subsistence staple.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22'Until recently, 95% of Scottish venison had to be exported,
0:05:22 > 0:05:26'but its popularity in Britain has grown rapidly
0:05:26 > 0:05:29'and demand now outstrips supply.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35'Before the stalk begins, Tom checks the rifle
0:05:35 > 0:05:39'and the ability of the shooter with some target practice.'
0:05:39 > 0:05:42The rifle we're using today is a 308 Winchester.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48GUNSHOT
0:05:49 > 0:05:54'The idea is to hit a 10cm target at a distance of 100 metres.'
0:05:54 > 0:05:58Would you like to take a shot, just to know what you're experiencing?
0:05:58 > 0:06:01- OK. I've never fired a gun, not even an airgun.- OK.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04This is empty, there's nothing in there.
0:06:04 > 0:06:10- Put this hand back here and prop that up into your shoulder.- Can't we go back to the pub and tell stories?
0:06:10 > 0:06:15Pull your bolt back, push it forward and down. Don't touch your trigger till you're ready for it to shoot.
0:06:15 > 0:06:21- Get your eye into there.- Your man's a long way away, is he?- Don't worry.
0:06:21 > 0:06:26- OK.- I've only lost six ghillies so far this year. Another one won't make any difference.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30- I'm going to have trouble with just hitting that mountain.- You won't.
0:06:30 > 0:06:35- Keep a good hold of it, keep a tight grip of it and get it onto your shoulder.- Yeah.- OK?
0:06:39 > 0:06:40GUNSHOT
0:06:43 > 0:06:46- Is he alive, the geezer?- Just about.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50- 'That's just outside, about half an inch, 11 o'clock.' - That's all right.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52Half an inch out of the dead centre at 11 o'clock.
0:06:52 > 0:06:57- What are we saying, if that had been the deer?- Dead, absolutely.
0:06:57 > 0:07:02That's your first shot you've ever fired. I wouldn't be embarrassed about that. You should be happy.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10'To find the herd, we have to head even higher into the hills.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14'There are no fences. The deer are free to wander anywhere.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17'They're wild animals and they're naturally wary.'
0:07:24 > 0:07:28There's a group up in at the start of these cliffs up here.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31The lowest of the cliffs, just on the left-hand edge.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35- There's a bunch of deer there. - Where's this?
0:07:35 > 0:07:37See the lowest of the cliffs here?
0:07:37 > 0:07:41If you come to the left-hand edge, underneath,
0:07:41 > 0:07:45- there's a bunch of deer standing in there.- Gosh, there he is!
0:07:45 > 0:07:49How did you manage to do that? Those are big antlers.
0:07:49 > 0:07:54He's not an enormous stag, but he's a shootable stag.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58- He is looking right at us. - Yes. He's looking at us.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03In view of the fact that they're there, what we'll do here, rather than have them spot us,
0:08:03 > 0:08:08we'll move on down to the end of the lake and we'll angle up and we'll come along,
0:08:08 > 0:08:10- see if we can get up above him, OK? - Brilliant.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20'The weapon might be modern, but the basic skills of the stalk are ancient.
0:08:20 > 0:08:26'Like the first hunter gatherers and the clansmen who followed them, Tom uses the lie of the land as cover
0:08:26 > 0:08:29'and keeps us downwind of the deer.
0:08:32 > 0:08:37'The idea is to kill the animal without disturbing the rest of the herd.'
0:08:41 > 0:08:45Sometimes, I've seen us crawling on our stomachs down a stream
0:08:45 > 0:08:50probably for up to half a mile, just trying to keep out of sight
0:08:50 > 0:08:54and then eventually the last little bit, you're on your stomach,
0:08:54 > 0:08:58you could be crawling through pools of water, over rocks.
0:08:58 > 0:09:03You can't let them see or hear you, and certainly not let them smell you, or they're gone.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09Do this, yeah.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16'The last few metres, we have to be extremely cautious.'
0:09:19 > 0:09:21(Can you see him?)
0:09:21 > 0:09:26'James, who is shooting today, will aim for the animal's heart and lungs.
0:09:26 > 0:09:31'The telescopic sight ensures absolute accuracy and a quick, clean kill.'
0:09:33 > 0:09:37Just where is it, James? OK, shoot him now, James.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39GUNSHOT Well done.
0:09:39 > 0:09:40He's down.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42He's dead.
0:09:46 > 0:09:51It's the first thing I've seen shot. It was kind of beautiful and terrible at the same time,
0:09:51 > 0:09:55which death ought to be, and made comprehensible to me because I had context.
0:09:55 > 0:10:01But to crawl up next to him and be there as he shoots it and suddenly Tom is the boss.
0:10:01 > 0:10:07He says, "Kill it now." Falls over. That is what eating meat is about.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11What happened here on the mountain is the way it ought to be.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14'All the meat from these deer will get eaten.
0:10:14 > 0:10:19'And so in this way, a sport for the rich and an essential task of land management
0:10:19 > 0:10:22'provides food that is accessible to everyone.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29'At times, the Highlands seemed an almost empty wilderness.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33'It is an unforgiving land where it's hard to grow anything.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36'What you planted here meant the difference between life and death.
0:10:40 > 0:10:45'To the south, in Argyll, mountains loom over the landscape,
0:10:45 > 0:10:48'where horticulturalist Alys Fowler is digging up the truth
0:10:48 > 0:10:52'behind a food that's deeply rooted in Highland history, the potato.'
0:10:55 > 0:10:59This is Auchindrain. It's one of the last remaining townships in Scotland.
0:10:59 > 0:11:04Once upon a time, there were thousands of these all across the landscape.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08They're small communal spaces where people paid rent to live
0:11:08 > 0:11:11and work as a community on the land.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18'The key to survival here was getting the most out of the soil
0:11:18 > 0:11:22'and nothing provided greater reward than the humble potato.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26'Packed with energy, they were excellent fuel for the working man or woman.'
0:11:29 > 0:11:34Well, I'm here to do some potato digging. Traditionally, this was called tattie howking.
0:11:36 > 0:11:41It's really quite hard work. So I'm going to find myself a few helpers.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46CHILDREN SCREAM EXCITEDLY
0:11:48 > 0:11:51How many of you guys have grown potatoes before?
0:11:51 > 0:11:56- Do you grow potatoes at school?- Yeah. - So you know how to dig up a potato?
0:11:56 > 0:11:58ALL: Yes.
0:11:58 > 0:12:04'The potato is now so much a British staple that it's easy to forget its South American roots.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06'It arrived here in the 16th century
0:12:06 > 0:12:12'and there can be few who know more about it than potato expert Alan Romans.'
0:12:12 > 0:12:16Potatoes are the only crop that you can live on almost 100%.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19It lacks a couple of vitamins and that's all.
0:12:19 > 0:12:24I live on a lot of potatoes. You tend if you live on a lot of potatoes to be a particular shape.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28- Any idea what that would be? - Potato?
0:12:28 > 0:12:31- Bulgy.- Yes! Yes, indeed!
0:12:31 > 0:12:34Stocky. A little bit high on the carbohydrate,
0:12:34 > 0:12:37but there's just enough protein there to get by.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43'In townships like Auchindrain, fertile land was in short supply.
0:12:43 > 0:12:48'Oats had long been the carbohydrate of choice and the Scots were initially suspicious
0:12:48 > 0:12:54'of the new arrivals from the Americas, but potatoes had grown in the Andes and they could be grown
0:12:54 > 0:12:58'in the unforgiving mountains of the Highlands if given a chance.'
0:12:58 > 0:13:01So what did the Scottish think of potatoes
0:13:01 > 0:13:05- when they first started appearing? - Not a lot.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08Potatoes became important on the European scale in Ireland
0:13:08 > 0:13:14first of all and by 1690, 90% of the population of Ireland were dependent on potatoes.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17There wasn't a single potato grown in Scotland at that time.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20It wasn't until a few generations later in the 18th century
0:13:20 > 0:13:24that potatoes became anything like important in Scotland.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28But slowly they became accepted.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31Very quickly, once society changed.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35Potatoes are really the crop of change, of revolution.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39When people were put off the land into smaller bits of land,
0:13:39 > 0:13:42they could only survive on potatoes.
0:13:42 > 0:13:47'The Western Highlands were once filled with thriving communities,
0:13:47 > 0:13:51'communities that all but vanished in the Highland Clearances.
0:13:54 > 0:14:00'Less than 30 miles from Auchindrain is Arichonan, a township cleared by force.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03'The clan system had begun to break down and landowners realised
0:14:03 > 0:14:06'that sheep were far more profitable than tenants.
0:14:06 > 0:14:11'From the late 1700s, people began to be cleared from the land.
0:14:11 > 0:14:18'People were driven to the edges, to smallholdings known as crofts. But they still had potatoes.'
0:14:18 > 0:14:23- So all this land went over to sheep and all the people just had to move.- Yes.
0:14:23 > 0:14:28The weird thing is, thanks to the fact they grew potatoes, the population went up.
0:14:28 > 0:14:33People did move away to America and Canada,
0:14:33 > 0:14:35but the vast majority stayed.
0:14:35 > 0:14:41- They were indentured labourers... - And that was just because they could survive off potatoes?- Yes.
0:14:41 > 0:14:46- And they lived potatoes.- How much was potatoes part of their diet?
0:14:46 > 0:14:50One estimate is that three-quarters of the population
0:14:50 > 0:14:55lived for three-quarters to 90% of the time on potatoes.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59'Potatoes helped the Highlanders keep their heads above water,
0:14:59 > 0:15:02'as the world around them was changing.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05'But nature had a cruel trick in store.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08'Ireland was hit by a devastating potato blight in the 1840s.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10'And Scotland wasn't far behind.'
0:15:10 > 0:15:17That's when the population in the Highlands really started to disintegrate.
0:15:17 > 0:15:22The mass migration started from about 1849 on.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25It coincides exactly with blight.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28That's the same as the Irish potato famine?
0:15:28 > 0:15:33Absolutely the same time, same disease. There were sporadic outbreaks of it before,
0:15:33 > 0:15:36but 1845 is the first year it was really serious.
0:15:36 > 0:15:381846, nothing grew.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45'The Clearances and the blight changed life in the Highlands.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48'But Scotland didn't give up on the potato.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52'The crop's failure added impetus to a new movement in breeding,
0:15:52 > 0:15:57'a movement in which Scotland was to become a world leader.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01'The cooler climate here is excellent for breeding a disease-free crop.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05'Breeders across the country started to compete to come up with varieties
0:16:05 > 0:16:09'that could make their name and they still do.'
0:16:09 > 0:16:12- OK, you've got potatoes? - More buckets for potatoes.
0:16:12 > 0:16:19You guys did better than I thought. I thought you hadn't got many, but you've got lots.
0:16:19 > 0:16:24'These days, nearly 77,000 acres of potatoes are being grown in Scotland.'
0:16:24 > 0:16:27You got muddy!
0:16:27 > 0:16:31'A crop worth £186 million a year.
0:16:34 > 0:16:38'The potato had a slow start in Scotland, but it's earned its place here,
0:16:38 > 0:16:42'especially in the crofts and townships of the west.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45'A food of survival and a food of progress.'
0:16:47 > 0:16:49'Head further west to the coast,
0:16:49 > 0:16:53'and the mountains finally fall away into the Atlantic.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00'Highlanders driven from the land came here
0:17:00 > 0:17:04'in search of sheltered harbours and the rich harvests of the sea.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07'Archaeologist Alex Langlands is discovering how fish
0:17:07 > 0:17:10'landed in Mallaig was more than just a food.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12'It was a way of life.'
0:17:13 > 0:17:17The weather's not been brilliant for fishing recently here.
0:17:17 > 0:17:22We've got a number of boats in the harbour and they fish today for things like scallops,
0:17:22 > 0:17:26sprats and prawns as well, but at one time, this harbour would have been
0:17:26 > 0:17:30teeming with boats for one thing in particular, and that was herring.
0:17:30 > 0:17:36'Clearances and the potato blight forced Highlanders to the coast.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39'By 1890, three-quarters of crofters in the west of Scotland
0:17:39 > 0:17:43'relied on fishing for their main income.
0:17:43 > 0:17:49'Herring were known as silver darlings. The men fished for them and the women prepared them for sale.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51They were called herring girls.
0:17:54 > 0:18:00'George Lawrie's family have been in the herring business for four generations, and in Mallaig,
0:18:00 > 0:18:04'there are reminders of the industry everywhere.'
0:18:04 > 0:18:06So this is one of the original factories?
0:18:06 > 0:18:08Yeah, one of the old ones still left.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11'Today, it's a joiner's workshop.'
0:18:12 > 0:18:18This is where the bench was. You're cutting, bang a glass, in would come the herring on the bench.
0:18:18 > 0:18:19And they all kept going.
0:18:19 > 0:18:25- You'd have a whole row of women here, and your mother was one of them. - She worked here for a while, yeah.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27'George's mother gutted herring here
0:18:27 > 0:18:31'and his father worked in the chimney upstairs.'
0:18:31 > 0:18:37- You had all of your kippers up here. - Yes.- You can still see the smoke blackening there on all the timbers.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39Yeah. It's original.
0:18:39 > 0:18:44On a busy day in this area, you couldn't see for smoke.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48If there was no wind, the smoke hung down over the village.
0:18:48 > 0:18:54A lot of the women would have their washing on the line. They'd run to take the washing in.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57If the wind shifted, the smoke would drift over there.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01All of this smoke would be pouring out of the top of these smokeries.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04Your father and mother worked here.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08My mother had a spell down below, cutting, and Dad was smoking here.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11What's it like to stand here in the footsteps of your father
0:19:11 > 0:19:14and see his place of work?
0:19:14 > 0:19:19Aye, it's great. I'm so pleased it's still there, you know.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24'Herring are a migratory species,
0:19:24 > 0:19:29'the shoals skirting round the coast of Scotland all the way down to Norfolk.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33'The herring girls followed the fish.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35'Barely out of their teens, they gutted,
0:19:35 > 0:19:39'salted and packed herring from dawn to dusk.'
0:19:39 > 0:19:44'Herring time is here and along the east coast, the air is charged with the excitement
0:19:44 > 0:19:48'that comes before the big push. Knives are sharp and the girls are ready.
0:19:48 > 0:19:53'No modern machinery could work faster or slicker than the flashing fingers of the Scots lassies
0:19:53 > 0:19:56'who come south every year to this urgent bustling job.'
0:19:58 > 0:20:01'The peak of the industry came in the early 20th century.
0:20:01 > 0:20:06'By the 1970s, herring stocks had all but collapsed.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10'There are no longer any herring landed in Mallaig.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14'The last traditional smoke house here is a family one.
0:20:14 > 0:20:20'Jaffy's is named after George's dad and now run by his son, Jeffrey.'
0:20:20 > 0:20:25This is where the herring girl really makes her money.
0:20:25 > 0:20:30Jeffrey's going to show me how to gut a herring.
0:20:30 > 0:20:37'Herring were salted and packed for export or smoked into kippers. Either way, they had to be gutted.'
0:20:37 > 0:20:41What you're hoping to do is put the blade in there, twist and pull out.
0:20:45 > 0:20:51- And take that long gut out. That's what you're looking... Simple. - Simple.
0:20:51 > 0:20:52Yeah, go for it.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56It's not happening, Jeff.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02When you're pulling through, use the knife...
0:21:02 > 0:21:04Twist the knife to cut as well.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08I just pulled its face off.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11That's good. You're getting it out.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16If you hold the head, nick it off and then you need to take the bottom part out.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18- That?- Yeah.
0:21:18 > 0:21:23- I'm worried it's going to snap. - That's good. That's what you're looking for, yeah.- Right.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26How quickly would I be expected to do that?
0:21:26 > 0:21:30- 60 a minute.- 60 a minute?- Yeah.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32- That's amazing.- Yeah.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34- That's one a second.- Yeah.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38One, two, three, four, five...
0:21:38 > 0:21:43- That is amazing.- I can't do it as fast as that.- But that's what the girls would have done.- Yes.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48'The girls worked in teams of three. Two gutters and a packer.
0:21:49 > 0:21:54'Between them, they'd earn just one shilling per barrel.
0:21:55 > 0:22:01'These days, the herring are prepared by machine. But they're still smoked in the traditional way.'
0:22:01 > 0:22:04It would be a shame to lose him now.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08These were my grandfather's hooks.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11So you can understand how old they are.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14'The fish are hung in the brick kiln.'
0:22:16 > 0:22:21It goes 11 high, so you can imagine, we can put over a ton of kippers in there.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24There's a lot of fish here. Keep them coming.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28This is a pretty risky job. Is this what you did as a lad?
0:22:28 > 0:22:32- Yes. There's one there, a swinger there.- There's a swinger?
0:22:32 > 0:22:36- Is that what you call it when it's falling off?- That's a swinger, aye.
0:22:38 > 0:22:43'Oak chips from old whisky barrels are lit to provide the smoke.'
0:22:43 > 0:22:46So you've got a fantastic...
0:22:46 > 0:22:50an absolutely fantastic aroma there of...
0:22:50 > 0:22:54- That gives a good flavour. - Definitely whisky in that. Lovely!
0:22:54 > 0:22:58- And does that find its way into the fish?- It does, yeah.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01- OK?- Are we done? I've got to get out of here now!
0:23:02 > 0:23:05Whoa!
0:23:05 > 0:23:07Oh! Blimey!
0:23:07 > 0:23:12- Oh! That was... Your eye's going a bit!- Gives me a good flavour!
0:23:12 > 0:23:16- Good taste.- Good bit of whisky oak barrelled smoke there.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20- The wind's kicking back. - There's no electricity used there.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24It's all done by draught and oak shavings.
0:23:24 > 0:23:31- The smoker in the war time, it's an important job, it was a reserved occupation.- Really?
0:23:31 > 0:23:36That's an indication of how important this industry was then to Scotland, to Great Britain,
0:23:36 > 0:23:39that the smoker himself was a reserved occupation.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42Didn't have to go and fight. He had more important work to do here.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45'The kippers are smoked overnight.
0:23:45 > 0:23:51'The Lawries like theirs jugged, steeping them in freshly boiled water for six minutes.'
0:23:51 > 0:23:56- Fantastic aroma.- There you go. There's yours.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59You pull the bone down, lift it off the bone.
0:24:04 > 0:24:05Mmm.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07That's delicious.
0:24:09 > 0:24:15That really fills... Fills your mouth. It's a meaty fish.
0:24:15 > 0:24:20- That's the way to eat them, with your fingers.- That's what you were given those for.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24- Taste of Mallaig.- Yeah.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32'Scottish food used to be all about living off the land,
0:24:32 > 0:24:36'catching, farming or growing what you could eat.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39'Transport is the key to the story of the west of Scotland.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42'This is a remote and wild landscape,
0:24:42 > 0:24:46'revolutionised by the coming of the railways in the Victorian era.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49'Rail meant food could travel.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53'Starting in Mallaig, I'm heading south to Glasgow and beyond.'
0:24:57 > 0:25:01This lovely old thing is the Jacobite, a steam service
0:25:01 > 0:25:04that runs regularly on the Mallaig extension of the West Highland Line.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09Once upon a time, it took livestock, herring, kippers down south.
0:25:09 > 0:25:15These days, as these people testify, it's more famous for its role in the Harry Potter films.
0:25:18 > 0:25:23- Abracadabra!- You've turned me into a...not very good TV presenter.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26How did you manage that? That's an incredible spell!
0:25:26 > 0:25:31'Mallaig was built on herring and fresh fish needed to get to market quickly.'
0:25:31 > 0:25:37The line here opened in 1901 and connected Mallaig to the rest of the world.'
0:25:46 > 0:25:49That's basically the most exciting thing I've ever done!
0:25:49 > 0:25:52- How many of these do you need? - As much as I can get.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55Three to four tonnes you burn in this whole journey.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58- So I can do some more. - Keep on going.- This is serious!
0:26:04 > 0:26:08'Within a single generation, the railways expanded across Scotland.
0:26:08 > 0:26:13'They allowed the wealthy to journey to their Highland estates in style,
0:26:13 > 0:26:18'but these were also working trains that delivered some of Scotland's best produce to market.'
0:26:23 > 0:26:27- I'm not drunk. It's just the way that I walk. - Hello.- Neil.- Pleased to meet you.
0:26:27 > 0:26:32'Neil MacLeod has lived and worked along this line for 25 years.'
0:26:35 > 0:26:38Until the trains came along, they were pretty cut off.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41The train opened up Mallaig. there was nothing in Mallaig.
0:26:41 > 0:26:47There was a road that went as far as Arisaig up to 1815,
0:26:47 > 0:26:50but there a path but no set road to Mallaig itself.
0:26:50 > 0:26:55When it was first built when the railway line went straight along to the pier itself...
0:26:55 > 0:27:01- Literally...- Onto the pier itself. The trains would come alongside, the ladies would gut the herring
0:27:01 > 0:27:06and they would pack it into the large barrels and they'd be picked up and put on the trains.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09The trains, sometimes in the height of the season,
0:27:09 > 0:27:14- there would be three or four night trains leaving every night. - Livestock as well.- Yes.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18There was a mart in Fort William and there they would have sheep,
0:27:18 > 0:27:21about 5,000 sheep a year would be coming in.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24And also the lairds as well, living down in London,
0:27:24 > 0:27:29they wanted to go up onto their estates and doing a bit of fishing and shooting as well.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33The arrival of the trains broadened the possibilities for Scotland.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37It opened up. Anywhere that the trains went, everybody could see the potential
0:27:37 > 0:27:42and immediately industry started building up on either side of it. It was a huge development.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52'I'm continuing through the Highlands towards the cities
0:27:52 > 0:27:55'and markets of the south.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00'Here, the mountains pull back
0:28:00 > 0:28:03'to reveal the lush grassland of Ayrshire.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07'This is dairy country.
0:28:10 > 0:28:15'Historian Lucy Worsley is discovering how a 17th-century recipe
0:28:15 > 0:28:18'changed cheesemaking here for ever.'
0:28:19 > 0:28:23It's really hard to find out about the lives of farmers in history.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27They don't leave many records. But this farm is just outside Dunlop in Ayrshire.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32These are Ayrshire cows and here we have got a written account from the 1790s.
0:28:32 > 0:28:39This gentleman says in the Statistical Account of Scotland that Dunlop is all about cheese.
0:28:39 > 0:28:44He says that cheese is the great and almost the only business of this village, Dunlop.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48'Ann Dorward is a local cheese maker
0:28:48 > 0:28:51'and she still produces cheese from her Ayrshire herd.'
0:28:51 > 0:28:53So, what's the plan, boss?
0:28:53 > 0:28:59We're going to get them milked this afternoon, so you can get them into the byre, tie them up,
0:28:59 > 0:29:02chain them up and then we'll start milking.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09'Ayrshire cattle turn Ayrshire grass into high quality milk.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13'They're a native, local breed closely linked to the land.
0:29:15 > 0:29:20'For subsistence farmers in the west of Scotland, meat was a luxury.
0:29:20 > 0:29:25'Instead, they kept their cows for milk, butter and cheese.
0:29:25 > 0:29:30'This was usually a job for the women. They skimmed milk to make butter and the rest was left
0:29:30 > 0:29:37'to warm, go sour and thicken. It was put into a cloth bag to separate the curds from the whey.'
0:29:37 > 0:29:42- This one's been draining overnight. - That's right.- There's some good squidgy stuff in here!
0:29:42 > 0:29:48- That's curd.- That's a curd. Aye. - Mmm. It feels nice. Oh, there's some more dripping out.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51- But that's essentially it. That is soft cheese.- That's soft cheese.
0:29:51 > 0:29:57It makes itself. You just leave old milk lying around. Sometimes this happens in my fridge.
0:29:57 > 0:30:03- That looks delicious.- Crowdie. - Crowdie. Is it called that throughout Scotland?
0:30:03 > 0:30:07Yeah. It was traditionally a cheese of the Highlands.
0:30:07 > 0:30:14- It would be made daily and eaten quite quickly.- And do you eat it every day?- Not every day, no.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19'Crowdie was fresh and didn't keep.
0:30:19 > 0:30:25'Harder, longer lasting cheeses were tricky to make and recipes highly sought after.
0:30:25 > 0:30:29'In the 1680s, a native of Dunlop called Barbara Gilmour
0:30:29 > 0:30:33'returned to her homeland after spending more than a decade in Ireland.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36'She'd fled to escape religious turbulence in Scotland
0:30:36 > 0:30:41'and she came back with a recipe for full fat hard cheese.'
0:30:41 > 0:30:46There aren't any portraits of Barbara that survived or contemporary written records,
0:30:46 > 0:30:52but there is something. Here we've got the stone that marks her burial spot. 1732.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56Here's her name, Barbara Gilmour, and we've still got her cheese.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03'Barbara's was a groundbreaking cheese.
0:31:03 > 0:31:08'Her method spread right across Scotland by the end of the 18th century.
0:31:08 > 0:31:11'Dunlop became the Scottish equivalent of Cheddar.
0:31:11 > 0:31:16'It's a name that isn't so familiar today, and that's because it fell from favour,
0:31:16 > 0:31:19'as milk production became centralised.
0:31:21 > 0:31:26'When Ann started cheesemaking in the 1980s, she resurrected Barbara's recipe.
0:31:28 > 0:31:33'She uses starter culture and rennet to get the process going.'
0:31:33 > 0:31:38The big difference is that here we're using the whole milk, not just the skimmed milk.
0:31:38 > 0:31:40That's right, aye. It's whole milk.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43That was unique in Barbara Gilmour's days.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47She was the first person make this cheese with whole milk.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51- And it made such a difference to the cheese.- It's a whole new ball game.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55You can make a long-lasting cheese, you can store it,
0:31:55 > 0:31:59- you can transport it long distances. - That's right, aye.
0:31:59 > 0:32:04It would make life easier being able to sell it further afield and keep it longer.
0:32:04 > 0:32:07So, it's a massive transformation from cheesemaking?
0:32:07 > 0:32:11It goes from being a daily job in the farmhouse for the family,
0:32:11 > 0:32:13it becomes a business.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16A product that can be marketed.
0:32:16 > 0:32:18It's big business in Dunlop, isn't it?
0:32:18 > 0:32:21This milk, you want to dive into it cos it looks so creamy and delicious,
0:32:21 > 0:32:25but I think you'd be cross if I were to do that.
0:32:26 > 0:32:31Once the milk is set, it cut up and then heated gently
0:32:31 > 0:32:35to speed up the separation of the curds and the whey.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42Oh, it's quite warm this, 27 degrees, it's warm.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45It'd be delicious in there.
0:32:44 > 0:32:45Aye, it would be nice and cosy.
0:32:45 > 0:32:49'The curds are then drained and packed into moulds.'
0:32:49 > 0:32:51Oh, it's really heavy.
0:32:53 > 0:32:57I thought that milkmaids just faffed around in their dairies,
0:32:57 > 0:32:58sort of mixing things,
0:32:58 > 0:33:01I didn't think they had to do heavy lifting.
0:33:01 > 0:33:06'The soil, the climate and the lush Ayrshire grass
0:33:06 > 0:33:09'all help to give the cheese its characteristic flavour.'
0:33:14 > 0:33:17'As does several months in the maturing room.
0:33:19 > 0:33:23'This is a cheese that can keep and be sold somewhere else.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27'it's a long way from the short shelf-life of crowdie.'
0:33:27 > 0:33:29We have to check the cheeses, don't we?
0:33:29 > 0:33:33Aye, we need to turn them, brush them to keep the mould under control,
0:33:33 > 0:33:36and turn them all the time when they're ripening.
0:33:36 > 0:33:38So, how often do you have to turn them over?
0:33:38 > 0:33:40Well, to start with every two or three days,
0:33:40 > 0:33:43- when they first come in here. - Every two or three days?
0:33:43 > 0:33:46Aye, and then after they've developed a rind you can do it a wee bit less.
0:33:46 > 0:33:50- They need a lot of looking after. - Aye, it's a lot of work looking after these.
0:33:53 > 0:33:55- Oh.- And then you get a wee plug out.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01That's really nice, let's have some more.
0:34:01 > 0:34:03It's quite a nice, mild, nutty flavour,
0:34:03 > 0:34:06the Dunlop cheese tends to get a much sharper aftertaste
0:34:06 > 0:34:08once it's very mature.
0:34:08 > 0:34:10Is that what people want, strong-tasting cheese?
0:34:10 > 0:34:13Yeah, looking for something a wee bit more special.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16Extreme cheese experiences.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20So, your milk has been turned into gold.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24Well, a little bit of gold, maybe.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36I'm heading south by steam, next stop, Fort William.
0:34:38 > 0:34:42The fish wagons that brought herring from Mallaig are long since gone.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45Freight still travels on this line,
0:34:45 > 0:34:47and these days it has its own trains.
0:34:47 > 0:34:51I'm hitching a ride on one of the regular freight services.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53Good morning, how you doing, John?
0:34:53 > 0:34:56Step aboard, sir.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01John Thompson is going to be my guide.
0:35:01 > 0:35:02Make yourself at home.
0:35:02 > 0:35:08I could get used to having my own, my own train pick me up.
0:35:10 > 0:35:11Thanks for stopping.
0:35:11 > 0:35:12No worries.
0:35:14 > 0:35:15See you, John.
0:35:19 > 0:35:23Freight nowadays tends to be more industrial than edible.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26These trains regularly haul bauxite for the aluminium industry.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35From Fort William, the line runs across Rannoch Moor,
0:35:35 > 0:35:38one of Britain's last great wildernesses.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43The line here took five years to build.
0:35:43 > 0:35:48It literally floats across the bog on layers of turf and brushwood.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57Much of the line is single track.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05So, why have we stopped here? What are we waiting for?
0:36:05 > 0:36:09It's a single track, and the train, the passenger train from Glasgow
0:36:09 > 0:36:11is coming up the line from Tyndrum Upper.
0:36:11 > 0:36:12And that bit where it spurs off,
0:36:12 > 0:36:14we're just hoping they set the points right.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17I can guarantee they're set correctly.
0:36:17 > 0:36:18I can see them from here, so...
0:36:18 > 0:36:21Well, OK, but if they weren't, and it comes straight for us,
0:36:21 > 0:36:24- what is the procedure? - Follow me.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27- OK, out of the train. - Out of the train.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30In the early days of the railways,
0:36:30 > 0:36:33the signalman would hand out an actual brass token,
0:36:33 > 0:36:35giving you permission to use the line,
0:36:35 > 0:36:37you would have to grab the token
0:36:37 > 0:36:40as he passed through each section of the track.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45Now, it's all done electronically.
0:36:53 > 0:36:562010, have the Bridge of Orchy, Upper Tyndrum on display, over.
0:37:00 > 0:37:02When the line gets too slippery,
0:37:02 > 0:37:06sand is blasted under the leading wheels to add traction.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09That's not the only safety feature.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12This is your genuine dead man's pedal?
0:37:12 > 0:37:14That is the dead man's pedal.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16This is for when you're being attacked by Indians
0:37:16 > 0:37:18- and you get hit by an arrow? - That's it.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22So, as long as you got your foot on it, you keep going forwards.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25I keep control of the brake, yes. If I take my foot off,
0:37:25 > 0:37:28and I keep it off for about six or seven seconds, the emergency brakes come in.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31But what if you die and slump forward?
0:37:31 > 0:37:34Aha, I knew you were going to ask that.
0:37:34 > 0:37:36You have to reset it every minute.
0:37:36 > 0:37:37So, how do you do that?
0:37:37 > 0:37:40Take your foot up and down.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43I'm travelling on towards Glasgow.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47The West of Scotland is a patchwork of landscapes,
0:37:47 > 0:37:51all bathed in the warmth of the North Atlantic drift,
0:37:51 > 0:37:53and the plentiful rain that it brings.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02To the west, in Argyll, in the cool, moist months of autumn,
0:38:02 > 0:38:05Highland forests and plantations come to life.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15Botanist James Wong is searching for a gourmet food for free,
0:38:15 > 0:38:18a food that has often been overlooked.
0:38:19 > 0:38:22The Italians are crazy about porcini,
0:38:22 > 0:38:26and the French made chanterelle into a national institution,
0:38:26 > 0:38:28but to us British, well, shall we say,
0:38:28 > 0:38:31we're a little bit more reticent about eating wild mushrooms.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33But it is such a shame,
0:38:33 > 0:38:34in a beautiful forest like this,
0:38:34 > 0:38:38it's probably one of the best places in Europe to find edible wild mushrooms.
0:38:40 > 0:38:42We are unfamiliar with mushrooms,
0:38:42 > 0:38:44because we've never really needed them.
0:38:44 > 0:38:48On the continent, hunger forced people to eat what they could.
0:38:48 > 0:38:49As an island nation,
0:38:49 > 0:38:54there's always been something else for us to catch or grow.
0:38:54 > 0:38:56Fungi are neither plant nor animal.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00They're a form of life based on decay -
0:39:00 > 0:39:02they're nature's recyclers.
0:39:04 > 0:39:06Here on the shores of Loch Awe
0:39:06 > 0:39:12is a mosaic of natural forest, parklands, and plantation.
0:39:12 > 0:39:13Perfect, if you're a mushroom,
0:39:13 > 0:39:17or a mushroom hunter, like Dick Peebles.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20How did you get in to fungi? Did you start with plants or with fungi?
0:39:20 > 0:39:23Started with everything, with butterflies and birds,
0:39:23 > 0:39:26but try making money out of that.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28You've got a fantastically moist climate here,
0:39:28 > 0:39:30you can see from all these mosses,
0:39:30 > 0:39:32this is, technically, temperate rainforest,
0:39:32 > 0:39:34like you get in New Zealand and north Japan.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37Exactly, it's called the North Atlantic temperate rainforest.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40We're joining head chef, Gary Goldie,
0:39:40 > 0:39:43who spends each morning foraging for wild mushrooms
0:39:43 > 0:39:45to put on his restaurant menu.
0:39:45 > 0:39:49Most of them are with in five minutes' walk of his kitchen.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53- Do you know that one?- I think I've had this in a risotto - do the French cook it?
0:39:53 > 0:39:55Yes, it's often called the chanterelle. In France they call it the girolle.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59If you ask for chanterelles over there, here's what you get.
0:39:59 > 0:40:01I thought you had to be in the south of France,
0:40:01 > 0:40:03in like a Provencal woodland.
0:40:03 > 0:40:05Scotland is the best place to get...
0:40:05 > 0:40:06Why doesn't anyone pick them here?
0:40:06 > 0:40:10- Well, we do.- We do. Everybody does.
0:40:10 > 0:40:12Most of the ones you get in London would have come from Scotland.
0:40:12 > 0:40:13I had no idea.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15Scottish girolles are on the menu all over the world.
0:40:15 > 0:40:17You're going to tell me you can get caviar out here.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21They need constant water, which they don't get on the continent, that's the secret.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24They love acid soils, which we've got plenty of here in Scotland,
0:40:24 > 0:40:26and a constant supply of water.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30From a little primordium the size of a match head, to a pickable size,
0:40:30 > 0:40:33that's about three weeks, it's a really slow, slow grower.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36And it will become like a piece of cork if it dries out.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38Therefore, a continental summer's no use for it,
0:40:38 > 0:40:40but a Scottish summer is perfect.
0:40:40 > 0:40:44Before the advent of mushroom farming in the late 18th century,
0:40:44 > 0:40:47all our mushrooms came from the wild.
0:40:47 > 0:40:51There are thousands of varieties, but only a fraction are edible.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54If you know what you're looking for, some are quite extraordinary.
0:40:54 > 0:40:58Tell me this is edible, because it doesn't look all that appetising.
0:40:58 > 0:41:00Only when it's cooked.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04This one's known as Scarletina bolete.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06There's a fascinating aspect to this particular fungus,
0:41:06 > 0:41:09which is an impressive colour change in the flesh.
0:41:09 > 0:41:17The flesh will change colour quite dramatically from yellow to blue.
0:41:17 > 0:41:19That's amazing! Is that the, the kind of chemicals
0:41:19 > 0:41:21in the mushrooms reacting to air? Oxidation?
0:41:21 > 0:41:24Oxidation seems to me a likely bet.
0:41:24 > 0:41:25And when you cook with this?
0:41:25 > 0:41:28That will go back to yellow, won't it?
0:41:28 > 0:41:29Yes, it turns back to yellow.
0:41:29 > 0:41:33You can rewind the reaction? That is brilliant.
0:41:33 > 0:41:40Fungi can be highly toxic, from the indigestible to the deadly.
0:41:40 > 0:41:42Identification is key.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45Dick regards the Millers Milk Cap as an unsung delicacy.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47It's a shame you haven't got more of these,
0:41:47 > 0:41:50because it's got characteristics that develop when it's an adult,
0:41:50 > 0:41:52that help you identify it.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55But have a smell of that, see what you think it smells like.
0:41:58 > 0:42:00I can see why it's called Millers.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04You've worked that out for yourself!
0:42:04 > 0:42:07I was going to say, it smells just like cake batter.
0:42:07 > 0:42:12'But there are poisonous mushrooms that look just like the Millers,
0:42:12 > 0:42:15'so you need an expert to identify it.'
0:42:15 > 0:42:16When it's more like this,
0:42:16 > 0:42:19it's especially important to know what it is.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22If you feel the top of it, this one is slightly dry,
0:42:22 > 0:42:23but it should feel like chamois leather,
0:42:23 > 0:42:27- like kid glove leather.- That makes sense.- You've already identified the smell.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30So it's not only the morphology, how it looks,
0:42:30 > 0:42:33it's the texture as well that you are using, because we don't
0:42:33 > 0:42:35do that in botany, it's how it looks and occasionally how it smells.
0:42:35 > 0:42:40The texture, the smell, taste, and the habit as well.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42Is the taste not a great one if it's toxic?
0:42:42 > 0:42:44You find out once you poisoned yourself.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48I've identified that mushroom the last couple of years by smell.
0:42:48 > 0:42:52Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of an underground rootlike system,
0:42:52 > 0:42:54known as mycelium.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57You only know about this hidden world when mushrooms pop up
0:42:57 > 0:42:58to release their spores.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01Go round there, they start round here, they go down here,
0:43:01 > 0:43:05- and then right round the back, they go all the way round there as well.- This is a ring.
0:43:05 > 0:43:09So this is a sign that there is a route under the ground that these are following,
0:43:09 > 0:43:13and just sending up, almost like a submarine sends up a periscope.
0:43:13 > 0:43:15Sending up a fruiting body.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17So, what's this we've got here?
0:43:17 > 0:43:21This is hedgehog fungus, and you'll see in a second why
0:43:21 > 0:43:24it's called hedgehog fungus, but it's absolutely lovely.
0:43:24 > 0:43:30This is a Grade A mushroom - this is like a top drawer ingredient right outside my back door.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33It's like flaky cream.
0:43:33 > 0:43:34Flaky texture, but cream.
0:43:34 > 0:43:37It's also got a beautiful mushroom flavour.
0:43:37 > 0:43:39- Yeah, that's lovely. - A fresh flavour.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42In just a couple of hours,
0:43:42 > 0:43:46we have found more than 20 varieties of edible mushroom.
0:43:46 > 0:43:50It takes skill and experience to identify them all,
0:43:50 > 0:43:53and you have to be sure they're safe to eat.
0:43:54 > 0:43:56First, I'm sampling the Miller on its own.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59I know it looks sort of pathetic on its own.
0:43:59 > 0:44:01I feel very guilty that there's so many people,
0:44:01 > 0:44:04but I'm the only one who is allowed to eat it, but that's my perk.
0:44:04 > 0:44:05Right.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09Don't tell me what it tastes like - I'm going to have a guess myself.
0:44:09 > 0:44:10Go on then.
0:44:14 > 0:44:16I just...
0:44:16 > 0:44:20eggs, kind of like eggs, kind of like steak?
0:44:20 > 0:44:24Then Gary prepares the Scarletina bolete.
0:44:24 > 0:44:28It turns blue when cut, but changes again in the frying pan.
0:44:28 > 0:44:29The blue has gone now.
0:44:29 > 0:44:33Yes, it's really yellow as well, almost a saffrony yellow.
0:44:37 > 0:44:39Lemon flavoured mushroom.
0:44:42 > 0:44:44Gary designs dishes to match every mushroom.
0:44:45 > 0:44:48These are angel wings served with skate.
0:44:48 > 0:44:49Right, there you go.
0:44:49 > 0:44:51Why, thank you.
0:44:51 > 0:44:53You're not going to get rid of me.
0:44:53 > 0:44:54They're delicious, Gary.
0:44:56 > 0:44:58That does taste like crispy pork.
0:44:58 > 0:45:00Mm-hm, that's crispy pork.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05It's like a flavour trip, like, I can see it's a mushroom,
0:45:05 > 0:45:07but my tongue is telling me it's something else.
0:45:07 > 0:45:08That's fantastic.
0:45:08 > 0:45:13I'm amazed that each one has a totally distinct flavour.
0:45:13 > 0:45:17This is crisp, and fresh, and meaty. It's just delicious.
0:45:19 > 0:45:23This is so weird. It's barbecue sauce.
0:45:26 > 0:45:27Curry?
0:45:27 > 0:45:28That's messed up.
0:45:28 > 0:45:30That's curry leaves.
0:45:34 > 0:45:39Before today, I thought I loved wild mushrooms,
0:45:39 > 0:45:42because I had no idea what they really were compared to now.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45I didn't know that so many things came in a mushroom-shaped package,
0:45:45 > 0:45:50but taste of coconut, of curry, of aniseed, of everything but mushroom.
0:45:50 > 0:45:55I mean, this is serious gourmet food that's growing out there in the car park, and no-one has a clue.
0:45:55 > 0:46:00I'm travelling through the West of Scotland by rail,
0:46:00 > 0:46:03but my freight train can only take me so far.
0:46:11 > 0:46:13This is Mossend in Glasgow,
0:46:13 > 0:46:16one of the main rail freight centres for Scotland.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18- Thanks.- All the best.
0:46:18 > 0:46:21'I'm changing trains to make the short journey
0:46:21 > 0:46:26'to the coast in search of a seaside treat with a continental flavour.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30'Scotland has always been open to outside influences.
0:46:30 > 0:46:37It was the northernmost outpost of Norman Empire, and from the 13th to the 16th centuries,
0:46:37 > 0:46:40the Auld Alliance forged a strong bond with France.
0:46:40 > 0:46:42But if there's one culture that left its mark on Scottish food,
0:46:42 > 0:46:44it's the Italians.
0:46:45 > 0:46:50In the 1890s, thousands of families fled the poverty of central and southern Italy for Scotland.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54They didn't travel in lovely, comfy trains like this - a lot of them walked.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58Most of them would have been looking for a passage to America,
0:46:58 > 0:47:00and some of them found a reason to stay.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05Glasgow was one of the first ports of call, and Italians found
0:47:05 > 0:47:10a living to be made selling ice cream and fish and chips,
0:47:10 > 0:47:12a tradition now etched so deeply into the food culture
0:47:12 > 0:47:16that it's hard to imagine Scotland without it.
0:47:16 > 0:47:20The train's brought me to the coast, and this is the ferry to Millport,
0:47:20 > 0:47:24favoured destination of Glasgow daytrippers.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29The Ritz Cafe is a Millport institution,
0:47:29 > 0:47:33a little piece of Italy that's been here for over 100 years.
0:47:35 > 0:47:38The current owner, known as Fast Scoop Luigi,
0:47:38 > 0:47:42is continuing the family tradition of making ice cream on the premises.
0:47:43 > 0:47:46So, this is a bucket of cream, fresh from the cow, is it?
0:47:46 > 0:47:50- It looks like it. - Absolutely, absolutely. - What have you got in there?
0:47:50 > 0:47:54It's ice cream mix, made to our recipe, for generations and generations.
0:47:54 > 0:47:55Is it a secret recipe?
0:47:55 > 0:47:57It is, you buy the cafe, you get the secret.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05- How long is it going to take? - 15 to 20 minutes.- How will you know when it's done?
0:48:05 > 0:48:08- Cos it'll look like ice cream. - It'll look like ice cream!
0:48:08 > 0:48:11Are there any special savoury things you do?
0:48:11 > 0:48:15- The hot peas. - Hot peas, right, I've heard of those, and what are those,
0:48:15 > 0:48:18apart from just being hot peas?
0:48:18 > 0:48:22It's a typical seaside tradition, on the West Coast, it's hot peas,
0:48:22 > 0:48:27which have been steeped overnight, and we add our magic ingredient into it.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30More secrets? Is it the same stuff as the ice cream?
0:48:30 > 0:48:32- More or less, yes. - Have you got any of those knocking around here?
0:48:32 > 0:48:38- Yes, I can make you a batch at. - Can we have some of those while we're waiting the ice cream?- Yes.
0:48:38 > 0:48:39Marrowfat peas.
0:48:41 > 0:48:44- You could live off those.- You certainly could.- That and ice cream.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47You haven't thought of making that into an ice cream?
0:48:47 > 0:48:50- Somehow, I don't think that would go. - Probably not.
0:48:50 > 0:48:54'By 1905, there were well over 300 Italian cafes
0:48:54 > 0:48:57'and takeaways in Glasgow alone.
0:48:57 > 0:48:59'They were family businesses and still are.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04'Maria Righetti's grandfather set up The Ritz.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08- Making ice cream probably wasn't as simple then as it is now.- No.
0:49:08 > 0:49:10When I was young, I had a paddle
0:49:10 > 0:49:13and you had to stir it all the time like that.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16- You had to keep stirring it. - Here you go, guys.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19'Her son-in-law, Luigi, now runs it.'
0:49:21 > 0:49:24When did your family first come here then?
0:49:24 > 0:49:28I believe my grandfather found this sceptred isle
0:49:28 > 0:49:31about 100 years ago, perhaps more.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34That's my grandfather.
0:49:34 > 0:49:39And my father Toni Coia. He was the youngest of 11 or 12 children.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42- They came over, walking... - All the way from Italy?
0:49:42 > 0:49:46It took two years, stopping at various places, including London.
0:49:46 > 0:49:49- But could he read and write?- No. - He couldn't?- No.
0:49:49 > 0:49:51And he didn't speak English.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56The shop was handed down through the generations. So it started...
0:49:56 > 0:49:59There's always been a Coia in the shop.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02And the first one was your grandfather and he was called...
0:50:02 > 0:50:04Luigi Coia. Then my uncle, Michael.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07His wife was a Coia and he was Michael Valente.
0:50:07 > 0:50:08- And then after that?- My father.
0:50:08 > 0:50:13- And then after that? - My husband and I.- And then now?
0:50:13 > 0:50:16- Now, it's Luigi and Angela. - And Angela is your daughter?- Yes.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19- Come on, that's ready now, Luigi. - Right, here we go.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23You perfectionists, I don't know!
0:50:25 > 0:50:27When you think how long it would have taken
0:50:27 > 0:50:30old Signor Coia in the early 20th Century or late 19th Century...
0:50:30 > 0:50:35- A long time. Right, are you ready for your cone?- Absolutely.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39- Would you like raspberry sauce on? - Whatever you say.
0:50:39 > 0:50:41Do you think I should have raspberry sauce on it?
0:50:41 > 0:50:44Yes, I think should have raspberry on it.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49- There you go. Not one flake, but two flakes.- One flake, two flakes.
0:50:49 > 0:50:53- There you go.- It looks like a rabbit that's been hit by a car!
0:50:53 > 0:50:56That's home-made raspberry sauce.
0:50:57 > 0:50:59That's nice. That's good stuff.
0:51:04 > 0:51:06It's delicious.
0:51:06 > 0:51:08Ice cream at the Scottish seaside
0:51:08 > 0:51:10is a mark of the resilient spirit that dominates the West.
0:51:10 > 0:51:14People have made a life here and they've also made a future.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24To the north, the coastline fractures and brakes.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27Deep sea lochs slice inland.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30Islands reach out into the Atlantic.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35This is my last stop and it's the one place
0:51:35 > 0:51:38that the great Victorian railways never reached.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42Remote is one word for it.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47This is South Uist. It's in the Outer Hebrides.
0:51:47 > 0:51:51It's as far from anything as anywhere in Britain.
0:51:51 > 0:51:53It's so windy, even trees don't grow here.
0:51:53 > 0:51:55So it's pretty hard to imagine
0:51:55 > 0:51:58how you could eke out a living off the land.
0:52:01 > 0:52:04After the Clearances, crofting was the traditional way of life
0:52:04 > 0:52:06in the Western Highlands and islands.
0:52:06 > 0:52:10Keeping a few sheep and cattle and fishing on the side.
0:52:12 > 0:52:14I've learned the landscape of the West of Scotland
0:52:14 > 0:52:17isn't a place for large-scale crops or livestock
0:52:17 > 0:52:20but it is rich in natural resources -
0:52:20 > 0:52:23sheltered sea lochs with clean water and strong currents.
0:52:23 > 0:52:2840 years ago, a new industry was pioneered in these lochs,
0:52:28 > 0:52:30an industry that now produces
0:52:30 > 0:52:33Scotland's biggest food export - salmon.
0:52:35 > 0:52:39It's a parachute I need really, rather than a lifejacket!
0:52:39 > 0:52:42It's quite a long way down. Be careful. Be safe.
0:52:42 > 0:52:44Nick Joy is a salmon farmer.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48This is just one of the sites his company manages
0:52:48 > 0:52:50in the north-west of Scotland.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55- It must get rougher than this, though.- It does.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58But you don't get much more than a metre wave here.
0:52:58 > 0:53:00That's about as big as it gets.
0:53:02 > 0:53:04Wild salmon cluster in the rivers of the East,
0:53:04 > 0:53:08but farmed salmon is a story of the West.
0:53:08 > 0:53:13The deep sea lochs can support what has become a £1 billion industry.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18So how did you arrive at this spot? What's good about this spot?
0:53:18 > 0:53:21Its depth, its current. You're basically trying to get good water.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24It's simple. Good water and shelter.
0:53:24 > 0:53:27Shelter from the surrounding island?
0:53:27 > 0:53:30Yes, but shelter from big wind.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34Scotland's waters aren't exactly the calmest in the world.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37If you imagine, we're in a big loch here
0:53:37 > 0:53:41and all the water is going to leave and it's going to come back in again,
0:53:41 > 0:53:44so what we gain from that is that the water's moving.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47So we get lots of oxygenated water moving through our pens
0:53:47 > 0:53:50and we get a strong current and that's good for fish.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53Currents that change and move means that the fish have to adjust
0:53:53 > 0:53:56and that's good for muscles. It's just the same as us.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59And that's why your modern farmed salmon
0:53:59 > 0:54:02- is a more muscular thing than it used to be.- It should be.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05There was a time when you could tell a piece of farmed salmon
0:54:05 > 0:54:07just from the thick veins of fat going through it.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10These fellows aren't going to have that?
0:54:10 > 0:54:13They'll have good fat lines. Again, it's like a lot of things.
0:54:13 > 0:54:14It's where the fat is.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17You want the right fat in the right places.
0:54:17 > 0:54:21The easiest test is the taste. It's just a different flavour.
0:54:21 > 0:54:27This young industry has flourished in the wildest and most remote corners of this part of Scotland.
0:54:27 > 0:54:29Come and see them closer up because this net is now lifted
0:54:29 > 0:54:33and the fish are going to be swum from that pen there to this one.
0:54:33 > 0:54:37This one has no fish in it and it's clean. That's a dirty net.
0:54:37 > 0:54:41So what we're doing is trying to make sure that the nets are always clean
0:54:41 > 0:54:45because the way they get their oxygen is from the water around the pens.
0:54:45 > 0:54:49- How deep is it?- When it's down fully, it's 10 metres deep.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53Some farms use chemicals to clean their nets but here,
0:54:53 > 0:54:57they raise them and allow them to clean and dry in the famous Uist winds.
0:54:57 > 0:55:01The salmon just swim through into the new pen.
0:55:01 > 0:55:03- Just like sheep. Once one goes... - Huge.
0:55:03 > 0:55:07That's probably around four kilos.
0:55:07 > 0:55:12The big fish in here will be around nine or 10 kilos.
0:55:13 > 0:55:18When salmon farming started, it wasn't quite so sophisticated.
0:55:18 > 0:55:22The Victorians had built inland hatcheries, but salmon need time at sea to mature.
0:55:25 > 0:55:30And it wasn't until 1968 that a research team near Fort William
0:55:30 > 0:55:32successfully raised fish in a sea loch.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38The early years were like a gold rush.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41Everybody wanted to be a salmon farmer.
0:55:42 > 0:55:44Alan Anderson now manages this site
0:55:44 > 0:55:48and he remembers when things were a lot more basic.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51The enclosures, the pens the fish are kept in,
0:55:51 > 0:55:53you were looking at equipment that was made of wood.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56It was 12 feet by 12 feet.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59And here we are sitting on a steel structure
0:55:59 > 0:56:03and each individual pen is 24 metres by 24 metres.
0:56:03 > 0:56:06- So they literally had wooden boxes at sea.- More or less.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09And they would take young salmon, chuck them in, wait for them to grow?
0:56:09 > 0:56:12That's almost how it was.
0:56:12 > 0:56:16There was quite a sizeable start to the industry here in the Hebrides
0:56:16 > 0:56:20because the water is good and clean and it's a good environment to work in.
0:56:20 > 0:56:22There's almost a ready workforce.
0:56:22 > 0:56:24What happened was, you had crofters
0:56:24 > 0:56:27who were struggling to make a living and they saw an opportunity.
0:56:27 > 0:56:29"Oh, this fish farming looks interesting."
0:56:29 > 0:56:34They would have a couple of pens at the end of the croft in the sea just out from the site.
0:56:34 > 0:56:36Put a net in there, put some fish in there,
0:56:36 > 0:56:39feed it and they made a reasonable living.
0:56:39 > 0:56:42But then, as the industry grew, they were too small
0:56:42 > 0:56:45and they couldn't supply the markets and keep up with the demand.
0:56:45 > 0:56:47So bigger companies came in.
0:56:49 > 0:56:51So how many fish have you got?
0:56:51 > 0:56:54Between 500,000 and 600,000 in a year.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59The first harvest of farmed salmon near Fort William
0:56:59 > 0:57:02netted 14 tonnes of fish.
0:57:02 > 0:57:06Now, producers grow more than 140,000 tonnes a year.
0:57:07 > 0:57:09A fish caught in a river is subsistence food.
0:57:09 > 0:57:13A fish farmed and smoked can be sold worldwide.
0:57:14 > 0:57:17At this farm, the smokehouse is on-site
0:57:17 > 0:57:20and it's Iain MacRury's job to produce salmon
0:57:20 > 0:57:23that will be sold as far afield as America and Japan.
0:57:23 > 0:57:28- So, some kit.- We'll give you some hats.- That's a hat?
0:57:30 > 0:57:32- And boots as well?- yes. I'll get you some boots.
0:57:32 > 0:57:35Some of the fish is cold smoked
0:57:35 > 0:57:37but the rest is hot smoked to a secret recipe.
0:57:39 > 0:57:42- This is a very rare opportunity you are getting.- Really?
0:57:42 > 0:57:45Not many people taste this coming out of the oven.
0:57:48 > 0:57:50And again, each fish varies.
0:57:51 > 0:57:53Texture and taste.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00- It's very addictive. - That's pretty amazing.
0:58:01 > 0:58:03- A unique taste.- That's so buttery.
0:58:05 > 0:58:09- It's got a kind of woody... - A very oaky taste.
0:58:09 > 0:58:11The outside is all woody and oaky.
0:58:11 > 0:58:15It's like a steak on the outside and then just so fresh inside.
0:58:15 > 0:58:18One of the best tastes in the world.
0:58:21 > 0:58:23This salmon farm as part of the modern story
0:58:23 > 0:58:25of the West of Scotland.
0:58:25 > 0:58:28Food here was once all about survival.
0:58:28 > 0:58:33Now, it's about fantastic produce delivered to a world market.
0:58:33 > 0:58:37Food that has been shaped by history as much as by the wild landscape.
0:59:07 > 0:59:09Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd