I detest supermarket pasta sauces – to me they taste artificial. I don’t like passata either, which is too sweet. If needs must, I’d rather make a quick sauce from a can of chopped tomatoes, heated together with some fried garlic and perhaps some thyme or oregano.
Usually, however, we use our own tomato reduction because […]
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A lush pasture, sheep grazing or resting in the shade of a tree or hedge, rambunctious lambs playing – it’s the pastural idyll so many of us believe the English countryside to be. Broughton Grounds Farm near Banbury certainly fits the image: The traditional farmhouse and farm buildings are part of Lord Saye and Sele’s […]
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Long rays of spring sunlight filter into one of the barns turned lambing shed at Broughton Grounds Farm, a tenanted mixed-farm on the Broughton Castle estate near Banbury. Several dozen ewes are bedded on a thick layer of straw or stand at the hayrack chomping and munching. The occasional soft rustling of straw adds to […]
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Professional Honey Sommelier and co-founder of sustainable beekeeping practice Bermondsey Street Bees, Sarah Wyndham Lewis questions why food professionals and shoppers committed to food authenticity are still buying processed, blended honey. The ironically-named ‘funny honey’ routinely sold by all supermarkets and catering suppliers stems from a corrupted global trade that destroys beekeepers’ livings and increasingly […]
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For me, the ideal vegetables are ones that take very little work, a moderate amount of water and, most importantly, have a long harvest. I didn’t think brassicas would qualify, at first.
Before establishing our big vegetable garden I was put off by the talk of wood pigeons, cabbage butterflies and the fact that one has […]
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Ferments are on trend and I am working my way through the different kinds. I’ve already written about sourdough but, unlike everyone else in lockdown, I started with yoghurt in an attempt to reduce our plastic usage. Plus, I’ve always loved the little glass pots of yoghurt seen at posh hotels.
Decades ago my husband and […]
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From unheard of in the 1970s, to the third most grown crop in the UK, oilseed rape and its iconic yellow flowers have come to dominate rural vistas. Yet, behind the bright facade, it is a sickly plant, requiring a life-support of assorted pesticides. It is plagued by diseases and pests, the most famous being […]
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Rhubarb season has started, and not a moment too soon.
My husband is the Rhubarb Grower. We were lucky enough to inherit a good-sized crown and he has successfully divided it so that it is now a square metre bed of many crowns. The smallest are allowed to strengthen for a year or two before we […]
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How Flexitarian do we have to be? That’s the question that has been bothering me for the past year. I think I have found the answer.
It must be obvious to everyone by now that the world needs to eat less meat and dairy in order live within environmental limits. But how much less? I know […]
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1. What is it you do in food? Produce high quality, high nutritional value meat including charcuterie (to organically and pasture-for-life certified standards), directly from the farm through the on-farm butchery to our community of customers – and sharing, guiding this experience with family and a small team of staff
2. What does good food mean to […]
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