By contributor Rachel Dring.
The London Produce Show was the first of its kind for the UK where fruit & veg producers, wholesalers and distributors got together in the salubrious surroundings of The Grosvenor Hotel to showcase Britain’s diverse market for fresh fruit and vegetables. The Great Room was heaving with colourful displays of fruits and vegetables from the homely to the exotic. The trends are tipped towards micro vegetables this season.
I was treated to some tiny, perfectly formed carrots that make a sweet and crunchy snack, and mini chioggia beetroots that on first-glance look like radishes until you cut into them to reveal their signature pink and white stripes. Vernon from Westlands produce, who supply top London restaurants with novelty and specialist micro-veg, foraged foods and edible flowers gave us punnets of his specialty veg to take home. I had radish ‘tadpoles’, cucumber flowers and ‘salty fingers’, all of which I had never tried before. My favourite were the cucumber flowers – these are baby cucumbers picked before they grow and ripen, so they still have the yellow flower attached. They give an intense burst of cucumber flavour, except tangier and less watery than the full-grown fruits. These will add a little colourful flavour explosion to your salads.
Cucumber Flowers
These fresh seasonal ingredients took centre stage at the media masterclass, where accomplished chefs demonstrated recipes they had developed especially for the show. We were given a warm welcome by Valentine Warner, who set the agenda for the afternoon – celebrating the best of seasonal British produce and showcasing the versatility of fruit and vegetables in the culinary world. He then swiftly signed some copies of his new cookbook, What To Eat Next, before being whisked off to the next foodie event.
Valentine Warner
Adam Degg
Our attention turned to Adam Degg, head pastry chef at Wild Honey, who showed us how to make the two dishes that were later served to us, along with some lovely English wines. The first was an elegant spring salad with lamb’s sweetbreads, goat’s curd, asparagus and peas. I confess I had always thought sweetbreads were sheep’s testicles but Adam corrected my misconception – sweetbreads are actually the throat gland. Anatomy lesson aside, this dish was a delightful combination of fresh flavours with the perfect amount of crunch contrasting with the soft warm honey glazed sweetbreads. To complete this picture of spring-on-a-plate, it was finished with a flourish of nasturtium leaves and borage flowers (which I learned are the new go-to edible flower, along with cucumber flowers and snap dragons).
Lemon Verbena Posset
The next dish was a lemon verbena posset, topped with blueberries and a meringue shard. I didn’t realise what a simple dessert this is to make – simply stir sugar, lemon zest & juice into cream and leave to set. Ta da! Its simplicity is pleasing. Adam’s special touch was to infuse the cream with lemon verbena leaves, which gave it an extra herbal citrus twist. The result was a lovely, light and refreshing dessert with no fuss and lots of flavour.
I really enjoyed seeing fruits and vegetables getting star treatment at this event. My only criticism is that the recipes developed for The London Produce show were all starters, desserts or salads. I would have liked to see at least one main course recipe that wasn’t a salad. Perhaps if they got a chef on board who specialises in gourmet vegan or vegetarian cuisine, we might have been introduced to even more innovative approaches to cooking with fruit & vegetables. Still, this was a great event and it was inspiring to see so much enthusiasm and energy dedicated to our often-overlooked greens. There really is no excuse for boiling them to smithereens anymore.
May thanks to London Produce Show for the invite.
