WELL folks, the moment so many of our regular customers and all of our not so regular customers have been waiting for has finally arrived.

Those nights of waking up with a dribble of spittle on your chin after another horrible dream where you got so close but couldn’t quite grasp that irresistible sweet treat are at an end!

Pippin Doughnuts are finally back up and running after the tumble drier fire that destroyed the bakery and will be featuring at the market this Saturday.

Who knows, they may even bring a bit of sunshine with them!

When Pippin first applied to sell at the markets, some six or seven years ago, our first reaction was to say no way are we having a doughnut stall at the market.

We had to be persuaded by the proprietors that their doughnuts were going to fit within the criteria of farmers’ market rules.

They explained that they would be making the doughnuts in the traditional manner, the dough is left to rise overnight and deep fried making the centre of the doughnut light and fluffy, and that it would be their fillings which would stand them apart from the average doughnut.

All their fillings are handmade by them – no cheap jams here!

In fact their fruit fillings are more like a compote than a jam, with a very high fruit ratio, their lemon curd and vanilla custard are traditionally made fresh for every batch and on top of that they are an example to other secondary food producers about how local foods can be used to make supreme products.

All their fruit is local with the majority coming from Court Farm (who bring cherries to Stroud in July) and Primrose Vale in Cheltenham, their flour is milled at Wessex Mill, their milk is from Jess’ Ladies, they use Days Cottage Cider and eggs from Flaxtons Farm in Wiltshire. So here are the doughnuts you can all look out for this Saturday – a Valentine doughnut which is strawberry and chocolate, mixed berry jam, lemon curd, vanilla custard, chocolate, cinnamon and brown sugar, butterscotch and hazelnuts, tayberry and blackberry, apple and custard.