Eat the Seasons

seasons eat the

Keeping you in the know as to what is coming into season each month is NEIL MORTIMER from Lovejoys Wholesale...

With the weather working with us for a change we have had the best quality vegetables being available I have ever known! The rain has come along regularly (but maybe this is just a growers ‘ view with lots of people I know going camping!!) and that rain, with intervals of fairly warm sunny days, has produced an abundance of high quality, locally produced goodies including salads and fruit.

As you know most of our vegetables are produced in Bromham, our potatoes in Corsham, salads on the edge of the New Forest, organic watercress from the chalk streams feeding the farm just outside Warminster and most of the soft fruit comes from the Wye Valley. These included strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and gooseberries but also asparagus when in season followed up by green beans and bobby beans which are not grown in our area. If you are reading this and you are a grower or producer in the area of this magazine please do get in touch with me.

I suppose I should mention how our industry has coped since the re-opening of the hospitality trade and I think from a supply side we have done fantastically, especially managing to source a reliable supply of certain produce. Some of

our produce inevitably comes from outside the UK and imports have been extremely fraught at times. Our mission is to keep everything as fresh as possible and delivered into our chefs in tip top condition, we have got over this by buying less more often. Lorries can take an extra day sometimes to get through all of the checks and this is due to Brexit as well as Covid causing drivers to have to isolate and wait for other drivers to arrive to bring the lorries on. We adapt as always! One thing the rain does do is make our country a green and pleasant land (okay, I stole those words). As I drive around, dropping off second deliveries when needed, I have been observing the lovely wildflowers in the hedgerows and along verges. Recently I dropped down to Stanley near Derry Hill and drove through to Foxham - I could have been in Devon or Cornwall as it was completely unrecognisable

to me. I have been local my whole life but I don’t think I’ve ever driven that route, it was stunning. The Foxham Inn was my destination - it’s well worth a visit. Why not ask the places you go to eat if they use local suppliers where possible?

More on the allotment next month. As always email me about anything.

“Our mission is to keep everything as fresh as possible and delivered into our chefs in tip top condition”

Neil neil@lovejoyswholesale.com

@lovejoysuk @lovejoysuk • lovejoyswholesale.com