User:Petebmitchell/Puddledub

Puddledub is a meat and curing business run from Clentrie farm, Auchtertool in Fife, Scotland which has been in the Mitchell family for four generations. Camilla and Tom produce fresh pork cuts, hams, bacons, burgers and sausages using their own butchery. Their nephew, Steven, runs Puddledub Buffalo, managing over 400 Water Buffalo, which garner steaks, mince, joints and sausages. The name Puddledub deserves from 'Puddle' which is listed in the dictionary as a small pool of water, especially rainwater, and a 'Dub' which comes from the Scots noun A puddle or small pool.

The name Puddledub has been prominent in the shaping of Fife’s food identity in the past decade, yet there may be no such place.

Follow the long and winding road about half a mile outside Auchtertool, halfway between Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, and you’ll come across what might be known as Fife’s ‘Bermuda Triangle’, because no matter how hard you look, you will never find the village of Puddledub.

Despite the road signs, just over a mile apart and pointing in opposite directions, there is no sign of the elusive spot.

Yet it’s this seemingly mythical place which inspired Tom and Camilla Mitchell of Clentrie Farm, just one and a half miles down the road, to brand their home-grown produce ‘Puddledub Pork’, and their coveted bacon, gammon and sausages have gone on to become a mainstay at farmers’ markets, also winning acclaim from the likes of chef Nick Nairn and the former Prime Minister’s wife, Sarah Brown.

The Mitchell family has been farming the cusp of this mysterious location since about 1904, but their ancestors’ agricultural history in Fife dates back to the 18th century – something which came as a pleasant surprise as the Mitchells researched their family tree.