Local vinegar-maker Sam Britten of Orkney Craft Vinegar will be appearing on James Martin Saturday Morning on ITV Saturday 26 February.

In the programme top Chef James Martin will be chatting to Sam about how he makes Orkney Craft Vinegar and about how Orkney’s natural environment and local ingredients inspire him.

Sam makes seven different vinegars all of which use ingredients sourced or foraged in Orkney.

Two of his vinegars are sourced from the sea: Smoked Dulse and Sugar Kelp, both of which are based on seaweeds.

Three are foraged from the land: Rosehip, Honey & Meadowsweet and Rhubarb.

Two are based on barleys: Bere, Orkney’s famous ancient form of barley and Highland Park malt which uses barley malted in Highland Park’s kilns.

Using local, seasonal ingredients is important to Sam. The other key factor for him is that is must be sustainable, Orkney Craft vinegar uses no plastic: the vinegar is presented in glass bottles with cork stoppers and packaged using paper and cardboard. 

As Sam says: “First and foremost, it has to taste good, and it has to be sustainable.”

James will of course be using one of Sam’s vinegars to prepare a dish.  The vinegar he has chosen is Smoked Dulse, one of Sam’s most recent vinegars and the one which is a firm favourite with chefs.  The dish James will be preparing is based on fresh smoked haddock.

Orkney Craft Vinegar was begun by Sam Britten in his father-in-law’s garage just over four years ago.  A mention by James Martin on an earlier programme that Sam’s vinegar was “the best you can buy” propelled the vinegar to a much wider audience. 

Today Orkney Craft Vinegar is based in Stromness and supplies bottles of craft vinegar to specialist shops and retailers in Orkney, Scotland, the rest of the UK as well as overseas. Orkney Craft Vinegar is also available directly from Sam from his online shop at orkneycraftvinegar.com