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Visitors to Malton Hotels Experience Meat Delicasy at Shearling Festival
19th Nov 2008
Some of Ryedale’s top restaurants are set to serve up a special meat delicacy to mark the annual return of moorland sheep from the heather of the North York Moors.
From this weekend, visitors to Malton Hotels, will be able to experience a fortnight-long festival to celebrate the shearling – a male sheep of between 17 and 22 months of age which is neither lamb nor mutton.
Gathered straight from the heather between September and Christmas, the fine marbling of fat in moorland shearlings makes superb tasting roasts.
Farmers Philip Trevelyan, of Hill Top Farm, Spaunton, told the Malton & Pickering Mercury: “Sheep grazing the North York Moors make for a very traditional scene, but it is becoming harder and harder to gain sufficient reward for the work involved and as a result flocks are disappearing.
“By supporting this festival and putting shearling on their menus, Malton hotels and local restaurants will be helping to introduce people to this delicious meat which is held in high regard by moor edge people. This in turn could help to halt the rapid decline in sheep numbers on our moors and the erosion of our farming traditions and communities.”
Wainds Butchers, in Kirbymoorside, will also have shearling for Malton Hotel visitors to buy.
Malton, North Yorkshire
