See us on ITV1’s Hungry Sailors this coming Tuesday 31 January at 4pm. The Hungry Sailors – aka, Masterchef finalist Dick Strawbridge and his son James make a voyage inland from their boat to visit us here on the farm, take a look around and pick up some produce to cook up in the galley!
On this week’s Saturday Kitchen on BBC1, James Martin prepared the comedian Vic Reeves his ‘Food Heaven’, made with our very own Organic Black Pudding.
You can view his recipe for ‘Buttermilk crumpets with black pudding, poached egg, and bacon and chive hollandaise’ on the BBC website and of course you can order our delicious Organic Black Pudding online.
If you missed it, you can watch James & Vic on the BBC iPlayer (available until 28/01/12)
It’s hop harvest time at Laverstoke. The team have been gathering in the bitter little flowers that are destined to flavour our lager and ale.
The hops are ready for harvesting
The ancient philosopher Plato once said “He was a wise man who invented beer.” More recently the statesman Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy” which, let’s face it, is as witty a quote on the subject as any from that most contemporary of beer-bound philosophers, Mr. Homer J. Simpson.
The bitter brewed beverage has a long, long history and like bread and cheese is one of our most ancient foodstuffs. In fact those three; beer, bread and cheese not only together comprise one of the finest meals of which one can partake but are perfect examples of our complex and ancient culinary relationship with fungi.
The last weekend of July approaches and it is one of the busiest times of the year for us on the farm – our annual Field to Fork Festival! Our events management team are running around organising everyone. The chefs and food teams are planning the humungous buffalo spit roasts as well as the more manageable pig and lamb spits. Everyone flat out with their own part of the proceedings as well as their day-to-day job, of course.
But what, I hear you cry, does it mean, this Field to Fork business? Is it just food served on a farm, or what?
Well, it’s the “or what” in our case. And in this first of a short series of blogs I’m going to attempt to take you on that journey as we see it.