The Protected Status Of The Cornish Pasty - Proper Cornish (2024)

FAQs

The Protected Status Of The Cornish Pasty - Proper Cornish? ›

Since 2011, the Cornish Pasty has enjoyed protected status under Protected Food Names legislation; so only a pasty made to a specific recipe in Cornwall can be called a “Cornish Pasty”. Fake products can no longer devalue the great reputation of genuine Cornish pasties.

The Cornish pasty has been given protected status by the European Commission so no matter where it is made in order to be called a Cornish pasty it has to contain beef, onion, swede and salt and pepper and be crimped along the side not along the top.

Firstly, the pasty must have been made within the geographical county of Cornwall. Then a genuine Cornish pasty must only contain: Roughly diced or minced beef. Sliced or diced potato. Swede (turnip)

Use a firm waxy potato such as Maris Peer or Wilja. A floury potato will disintegrate on cooking. Crimping is one of the secrets to a true Cornish pasty. A good hand crimp is usually a sign of a good handmade pasty.

To be officially considered a Cornish pasty, there must be 12.5 percent meat and 25 percent vegetables, with the rest being shortcrust or puff pastry. Another unbreakable rule is that all pasties dubbed 'Cornish' have to be baked in Cornwall.

Since 2011, the Cornish Pasty has enjoyed protected status under Protected Food Names legislation; so only a pasty made to a specific recipe in Cornwall can be called a “Cornish Pasty”.

PGI stands for Protected Geographical Indication and protects products which have close traditional ties to a specific geographic location. PGI protection guarantees a product's characteristics or reputation, authenticity and origin. It protects the product name from misuse or imitation.

They're still very popular there, and you'll find them in every local bakery and community cookbook! American pasties are the American equivalent to Cornish pasties. The border between Northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is delineated by a line of pasty shops.

No debate here: carrots are "sacrilege" as the Cornish Pasty Association points out: the swede adds all the sweetness this dish needs. Older recipes tend to be vague on exact details but potatoes should be waxy, as the CPA makes clear, rather than the floury ones Mark Hix uses, so they keep their shape when cooked.

But what you might not know is just how many calories are in a Cornish pasty. And how other various food groups, healthy or otherwise, match up to that. Apparently a traditional large pasty from the Cornish Pasty Company contains 774 calories and 45g of fat.

Why can't you microwave a pasty? ›

Because it is made from pastry dough. Pastry dough (and any other kind of dough) gets ruined by a microwave.

Ready to eat cold - but best heated in an oven for true pasty pleasure! From Chilled: 180°C / Fan 160°C / Gas mark 4 for 20-25 minutes. From Frozen: 190°C / Fan 170°C / Gas mark 5 for 40-50 minutes. Allow it to rest for 3-4 minutes - and enjoy.

The crimped crust on the side was used as a kind of handle. The levels of arsenic in the tin mines meant that the miners hands would be grubby and likely covered in this highly toxic substance. So the miners would hold onto the crust to eat their pastie, and then discard it.

The Oggy!, Oggy!, Oggy! is a traditional shout (which stems from 'hoggan') from the miners' wives or pasty sellers; it is a call to say the pasties are ready. In Cornish slang, Oggy is simply a pasty.

In the Cornish language, a Cornish pasty is known as an “Oggy”. When the Cornish pasties were finished cooking and ready to be eaten, the wives would go to the mineshaft and shout down: “Oggy, oggy, oggy!”, and the men would shout back “Oi, oi, oi!” to let them know the pasties were on their way.

The VAT rise on the pasty would affect both these customers and the pasty industry itself: Greggs, the largest British bakery chain, warned that the tax would harm its business and lead to store closures, and petitions to oppose the tax were signed by over half a million people.