Peasenhall sits not far from the Suffolk coast. I’d had some weird idea it was a centre for sausages and, being a bit partial, we headed there and instead found bacon and ham.
And chocolate. This was a surprise. All in a shop called Emmett’s, which has sat on the high street for nearly 200 years and is the UK’s oldest artisanal ham and bacon producer. You have to love a shop like this. On one table, away from the hanging hams and thick bacon slices, next to the flavoured vinegars, chocolate is piled high. (Also crisps, amazing crisps.)
There were bars: small bars you could slip in a pocket or big bars that could kill, weighing 3kg; dried fruits, ginger nuts and peel covered in chocolate; little packets of things chocolatey. I go into a bit of a frenzy when faced with lots of delicious-looking products and want to buy everything – before calming the Italian in me and focusing mind and pocket.
There were things called catanies (£54.95/kg, below left) – almonds coated in chocolate fondant which were delicious (I sampled a few). God I wish I’d bought those. But, with economy in mind, I settled on orange peel strips coated in dark chocolate (they would make great stocking fillers but I’m getting ahead of myself).
And something called turroncillo: a pile of highly moreish marcona almonds encased in a lava flow of dark chocolate and dusted with cocoa (from £3.95). It lasted two days.
