Taking advantage of some late spring sunshine, the Boss and I headed out west along the M50 to the rolling hills of Herefordshire and the beautiful Wye Valley. Our mission was to hunt down a special kind of perennial spear being harvested within an area famed for its abundance of fresh produce.We meet up with long standing supplier and charismatic legend that is Richard Price from Three Counties Supplies and then head off in convoy to meet Chris Chinn from Cobrey Farms. Chris is one of four brothers who farm the 975 acres of land at Cobrey, growing asparagus, potatoes, onions, rhubarb, blueberries and even chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes from which they produce their own award winning sparkling wine appropriately called ‘Chinn-Chinn’
Imported asparagus can be found on the supermarket shelves all year round but the juicy fresh native crop has a particularly short season. We get really excited at The Daffodil about British asparagus and with a season spanning no more than eight weeks, we eagerly await the first spears in the kitchen!
The importance of asparagus to the Chinn family is shown in Chris’s obvious passion for the land, telling us that “Asparagus is the first green vegetable of the year and the most eagerly awaited springtime crop. With such a short season, it’s a seasonal challenge to harvest and deliver this traditional delicacy straight to our customers in order to retain the crisp freshness”.
Asparagus first arrived in Britain with the Romans but wasn’t commercially cultivated until the 17th century. Originally known in England as ‘sparagus’, peasants would prefer the colloquial variation of ‘sparrow grass’ in order to refer to it.
At Cobrey they grow two Dutch varieties, Grolim and Backlim renowned for their strong quality and yield. However I learned that growing asparagus is not a quick win and it takes a few years to see your first crop. As a member of the Slow Food UK Chef Alliance, who work to promote the greater enjoyment of food through a better understanding of its taste, quality and production, I was pleased to hear that growing asparagus is a real labour of love. To start with a small piece of the asparagus plant is carefully placed in the ground where it grows into a fern with a central crown, closely resembling an artichoke. The crown expands and is left for at least a year and then cut back in order to grow bigger over the following year. It then starts to establish itself and by year three it has enough energy to produce good sized spears at ground level. The plant itself looks like a long straggly fern and by cutting away the extra growth each year, all the goodness goes back into the crown and the soil. It really is a very efficient and low impact vegetable and is kind to the land too! Surprisingly it requires no irrigation and is planted just below the soil level, two meters wide and two metres deep with raised banks either side.
Out in the fields you really get an idea of the scale of the farm with busy lines of seasonal workers, harvesting the morning pick of asparagus. It’s a particularly labour intensive crop as experienced eyes are needed to spot the spear tips in the soil. Believe it or not, at the height of the season there are two cuttings a day as the spears are like mini thermometers and grow incredibly quickly with the warmth of the sunshine and a little help from short term cover. For this reason, the harvest is frantic and Cobrey pride themselves on freshness, packing and distributing within a day. Now that really does take a lot of organisation, much like a busy service back at The Daffodil!
As I unpack my mobile stove and take a few delicate tasting spears from the ground, I get cracking with a duck egg that the boss has brought with him from home, add a little olive oil, some watercress and hey presto, lunch is cooked and served in the middle of a busy asparagus harvest field! In fact, these ingredients form the basis of our Wye Valley Asparagus starter dish on our current menu.
I pull out my pad and make notes for further potential asparagus dishes ready for our ‘Dailies’ specials menu back at the restaurant. As a perfect food match with sparkling white wine it also gives me an idea for our ‘pop up’ Champagne Pavilion at the forthcoming Cheltenham Food & Drink Festival in Montpellier Gardens from 14th – 16th June.
Back in the kitchen the idea gathers pace and soon becomes a plan, so please do visit us at the Taittinger Champagne Pavilion where we will be showcasing the freshest Cobrey Farm Wye Valley asparagus alongside Three Counties Supplies together with fresh strawberries and cream, and what champagne bar would be complete without fresh oysters and a stunning fruits de mer to share? See you there!
