“This will be a fantastic step, especially for organic growers. We are about inner quality, not outer appearance – that is our hallmark. Fresh, local and seasonal is better than a bland but cosmetically perfect piece of fruit or veg.”
Patrick Holden, director of the Soil Association
As we all know , Mother Nature doesn’t spend all her energy ensuring our fruit and veg grow exactly the same … and as gardeners we know they taste just the same whatever their shape!! So thank goodness the EU Commission has seen sense and from yesterday – 1st July – supermarkets are now able to sell 26 types of produce which previously would have had to be binned as unsuitable for sale…
However…
The top ten most popular types of fruit and veg will still be subject to meeting ‘stringent’ standards – unless they are labeled as “product intended for processing”. These are:
On the 1st July the EU will lift its ban on misshapen fruit and veg – as a result supermarkets are vowing to reduce costs and we’ll see more ‘less than perfect’ shaped fruit and veg on the shelves … With the promise of prices being reduced by up to 40% I think we’ll all be keen to fill our carrier bags with curly carrots and cucumbers!
EU Bonkers About Barmy Rules On Regulation Veg …
Cucumbers were the first vegetable to be targeted by the EU in 1988 when they ordered all member states to ensure every single piece on sale met a raft of conditions … including:
i) Class I
Cucumbers in this class must be of good quality. They must:
- be reasonably developed
- be reasonably well shaped and practically straight (maximum height of the arc: 10 mm per 10 cm of the length of cucumber).
... man in white overalls with ruler starts to check the straightness of thousands of cucumbers … blah blah blah
Quickly followed by rules regulating dozens of vegetables … which has resulted in farmers binning up to a fifth of their produce which breached the rules.
With the hottest week upon us … I’m sat melting in 26 degrees in the office as I read my copy of Kitchen Garden to see it’s already time to be thinking about planting potatoes ready for Christmas!
If you plant potatoes now – ideally in containers so you can move them into your greenhouse or polytunnel as the weather turns later in the year – you should have a delicious crop of new potatoes in the winter.
Although growing potatoes ‘out of season’ can be tricky by planting them in containers you are going to bypass many of the potential problems – you can control the warmth of the compost and prevent the conditions becoming too wet (which can happen if planting directly into the ground) and you have the option to move the containers or cover them with fleece when it starts to get cold.
You can read more about growing Potatoes for Christmas in the August issue of Kitchen Garden … work now and enjoy later!
The worlds BIGGEST potato weighed a massive 3.2kg and was grown in Germany in 1997.
On average a person will eat 103kg of potatoes in their lifetime – that’s about 500 medium sized potatoes – WOW
Potatoes have even been grown in space – not by little aliens I’m afraid (or I don’t think so anyway!) – they were taken into space aboard the shuttle Columbia in 1995 and they were the first food to be grown in space
Britain can claim the fame of being the third largest consumer of potatoes in Europe – just below Portugal and Ireland
Potatoes first became popular when Marie Antoinette paraded in France wearing a crown of potato blossoms whilst Louis XVI wore potato blossoms in his buttonhole
Sometimes You Just Need To Relax ... And Not Take Gardening Too Seriously ...
A Few Benifits Of Gardening ... From Wallace & Gromit (new gardening experts??)
"Gardening is a joyous experience..." can't disagree here ... unless you're faces an infestation of slugs easting the leaves, mice eating new seedlings ... damn damping off and disease ...
"It gets you out of the house and away from the stresses and strains of everyday living..." it also gets you away from work which can cause lot of the stresses of day...
"When it's just you and your vegetables, problems ... just fade away." very profound Gromit ... and very correct ... get out into your garden or go down to your allotment, focus on your plants and all those problems which seemed so important start to disappear ...
Just a few reasons I love gardening, sign up here if you agree!
At this time of year we’re all starting to sense the change in temperatures ... Nights are getting colder, frosty windscreens provide extra effort in a morning ... and at a weekend walking the dog now involves coat, gloves and scarf (hat to follow) as I crunch through the frosty countryside.
As well as you and I feeling the cold, so are our plants and Adrienne Wild from the Sunday Mirror reminded me this weekend that we can treat our plants well in the winter whilst still keeping costs to a minimum ...
Have You Got A Spare £165,000 In You Back Pocket??
If the answer is ‘yes’ ... are you single? Seriously though, you’ve just missed out on a gorgeous gourmet treat ... a seriously special white truffle ...
The World’s Most Expensive White Truffle ...
Gourmet history was made at the annual Tuscan Truffle Auction this month when a 1.5kg white truffle ‘tuber magnatum pico’ sold for the princely sum of £165,000 – just £110,000 per kilo ... more expensive than gold ... but not quite as long lasting.
No Leftovers ...
Stanley Ho, the lucky bidder, has only got a short time to enjoy his purchase ... a truffle lasts for just 20 days after being unearthed ... after that time it’s off! So, if you’re a friend of Mr Ho’s I’d say you should be sniffing out an invitation to a very special dinner ... mmmm
Walking The Dog Never Sounded So Good ...
There can’t be any better reason in Italy to take you dog a walk than managing to sniff out a truffle worth £165k! Truffle hunters use dogs to sniff out these most expensive delicacies and Luciano Savini and his son had an excellent find last week when their mongrel dog ‘Rocco’ dug up this white truffle near Pisa in Northern Italy.
So what I’m wondering is ... could I train my dog to find truffles rather than sticks when we go a walk? I’m thinking my chance of a truffle find in North Yorkshire to be fairly remote ...
If You’re Looking For Something A Bit More Long Lasting ...
