EVER since they slow hand-clapped Premier Blair, the ladies of the Women's Institute have been enjoying a rather more feisty image.

But you will be relieved to know that at grassroots level they are still enjoying their well deserved reputation as darn good cooks.

One Saturday morning I ventured into an appropriate place for some wonderful home-made cakes and bread - a parlour. In fact the downstairs Church Parlour at the United Reform Church on the corner of Beaconsfield Road and Victoria Street, where the St Albans WI hold their monthly country market.

In 2001 the half dozen stalwarts who keep baking and bottling so that the market has a delicious display of real food to sell to an appreciative clientele, celebrated their 30th anniversary in the city.

From 8.30am on the first Saturday of every month the most appetising array is set out, carefully wrapped, labelled and priced for member Jean Wapling to "tot up" the old fashioned way, on a piece of paper.

There are old-fashioned cakes like cinnamon and apple, orange cake, fruit tea cake, lemon cake, eccles cakes, those dainty little buns you used to see topped with icing and hundreds and thousands, flapjacks and gingerbread men.

I snapped up an Eve's Pudding - sponge over apple at only £1 - from among the treacle tarts, blackberry and apple pies and rhubarb crumbles, a close textured dark little wholemeal loaf, and an intriguing lemon and banana chutney from the preserves stand.

These chutneys, mainly made by Jean, are highly innovative. "I find some of the recipes on the web," she says (www.wimarkets.co.uk). There's her Trinity of plums with tomatoes, onions and celery, a fruity nectarine and allspice, lemon and mustardseed and a really hot mango and chilli.

Next to them are the equally intriguing jams and marmalades, including satsuma and lemon marmalade, grapefruit marmalade and strawberry jam made with, as it should be, just with strawberries and sugar.

Sausage rolls with melting shortcrust pastry are among the savouries, along with bacon or cheese and tomato flans, and Jean's speciality meatless meals - lentil shepherd's pie, flageloet beans with water chestnuts, aubergines with lentils, farmer's pie and country bean bake,

Chairman Anne Tisdell - "I don't cook, I just cook the books" - was one of the founder members who set up the St Albans WI market in 1971. "We had a lot of people in the Beechwood Avenue area in the May, and held the first market in September."

Until six years ago it was a weekly market. They reduced it to monthly because of the costs involved - but also because the advent of freezers meant buyers could stock up.

"The whole idea of WI markets started after the war so people could sell off their surplus produce from allotments and really help each other through food shortages, and it has grown until there are now 500 markets nationally," said Mrs Tisdell.

The markets also offer a national hamper service much used by families who want to send wholesome cooking to elderly relatives, or students at university. You can pay for a hamper in St Albans, specifying the sort of items to go in, and it will then be made up and delivered by the WI cooks in the destination town, so everything is fresh.

The only shortage facing St Albans WI market is cooks. With so many mums out at work, home baking is not high on the list of weekend chores. But anyone who likes to cook and would like to bring a few items to sell is welcome, WI member or not - it only costs 5p to join the market team!

If you are interested, phone Jean Wapling on 01727 841339 for more information.

December 19, 2001 12:30