The first frosts are in and we are strongly suggesting the consumption of roast root vegetables. We’ve got some fine specimens this week with beautiful purple fleshed carrots from Lyncroft farm and Royal Oak in Ormskirk. We think these are sweeter than your everyday orange carrot and look beautiful roasted and topped with a bit of fresh thyme.
We’re also singing the praises of the celeriac; earthy, nutty with a hint of aniseed in its celery like taste. It’s tricky to peel, but once you have its white flesh makes a fabulous puree and an incredible soup.
Parsnips are also starting to sing and we have them in washed and dirty form from Newfields Organics in Yorkshire. They are a hardy crop and farmers leave them in the ground until needed, safe in the knowledge that a hard frost will only serve to sweeten them up and improve their flavour.
These days when are we not writing about an Autumn that’s providing tricky weather conditions for our growers? The torrential rains of the last few months have left fields sodden, and in some cases inaccessible to the tractors. The guys at Newfields and New Farm organics have been hand lifting their celeriac, a thankless and time consuming task. The constant wet has impacted cabbage crops and our mainstay carrot growers fields have been underwater for weeks, resulting in him having to write off the entire crop.
Elsewhere in the usually reliable sunshine coast of Cornwall Francis Sampson’s cauliflowers are looking 40-50% down on yield, a result of cold and wet weather that has stalled growth. We are heavily reliant upon Francis for his Winter brassicas, Francis’ farm in Penzance is a very specific micro climate usually providing the right conditions for a successful crop in months where other growers are struggling to remember what sunshine feels like.
We are, as always, working hard to make sure we’ve a good range on the shelf whilst trying not to put too much pressure on those that are working even harder to produce our food.
