I’m John Williamson a Shetlander living in Abbots Langley, near the Harry Potter Studio, along with my wife Edna and two of our sons.
I’ve spent a lot of my adult life on a search for oatcakes like my granny, Ruby Williamson made – in Skellister, Nesting, Shetland.
I have bought many oatcakes from various bakers. The main thing that made my granny’s oatcakes different from bakery oatcakes was the very rough texture her’s had. I’ve tried oatcakes from smaller independent bakers and larger bakers – and none of them got near to that rough texture.
Over recent years I experimented with variations of recipes, but didn’t get the method and quantities to work.
With the arrival of the pandemic I was re-invigorated to see if I could develop a recipe I was happy with.
The Shetland Oatcake recipe I developed was only ever made to satisfy my craving for that style of oatcakes – I realised that they wouldn’t necessarily be to everyone’s taste. But when I offered them to family and friends I discovered that lots of people really liked them. I was a bit surprised, but not too much, believing that the oatcakes my granny were very tasty. Those oatcakes were also baked in many kitchens in Shetland croft houses.
Over the past four years I’ve refined my recipe. I’ve made and given away a lot of oatcakes, to family, friends and neighbours – now it’s time to offer them more widely.
