Unfortunately this is actually due to the extreme amount of rain we have received this month. The wettest April on record I recall hearing somewhere. Despite this we managed to get a full week’s worth of drilling done so we shouldn’t be too far behind with harvesting five or six weeks down the line.

Three more members of seasonal staff started on Tuesday of this week allowing us to catch up on some jobs that have been on the ‘to do list’ for far too long. These included gapping up all our crops inside and out. New sheets of mypex have been laid ready to receive new plugs and our long awaited edible flower range. The new corner in the greenhouse has seen a transformation from old workshop to new flower area which should improve the aesthetics of that part of the site!

Along with all these jobs we have found time to cover some of the Coriander, Dill and Chervil crops with fleece to try and combat this cold weather we are experiencing.

We are finally starting to think about our open day which will be held in the not too distant future to help showcase our products and speciality ranges. With the help of Stephanie Moon we hope we will be ready in time!

Susie Wilkinson

Production Manager

This week it’s the battle of the North East chefs including returning contender our own Stephanie Moon. Tonight they cook their fish course and Stephanie will be using our herbs for her ‘see food’ dish featuring some local Gurnard. Steph will be using thyme, dill and parsley in the dish. We also see Steph meet Olympic hopefuls the Brownlee Brothers who give her valuable tips on competing at the highest level.

Great British Menu veteran Nigel Howarth decides who goes through to the judges on Friday… Good Luck Steph!

We are cutting all our own Tarragon, Salad Leaves and Chives for both packing and processing along with an ever increasing number of speciality herbs.

The mints are looking good with large quantities available of Basil, Chocolate and now Lime mint that all smell and taste delicious.

Sweet Cicely is looking good and is available in small quantities. We have finally managed to track down some more Sweet Cicely plants which are notoriously difficult to establish which we found out from our own attempt at growing from seed!

Lovage is growing well and is also available from this week onwards. Lovage is a wonderful alternative celery flavour suitable for numerous dishes.

We also have Blackcurrant Sage available which smells delicious and is fantastic used in both sweet and savoury recipes.

On the specials side we are starting to offer some product lines such as Chocolate Mint, Basil Mint, Hyssop, Lemon Balm and Blackcurrant Sage which are selling well so far. The Wild Garlic is benefiting from all this rain as it just keeps getting better and better.

Flowers are starting to appear on the Garlic, which we are picking and offering as a seasonal special.

We have also chopped up and incorporated our Hot Mustard crop back into the soil this week which should start to act as a soil sterilant to hold back weeds. The idea being that it is a more environmentally friendly way of controlling weeds as well as helping to add nutrients back into the soil.

Sowing and propagating is going well with various batches of herbs and specials looking good, so much so that we have started to gap up our sage crops with our first lot sown in February. We are looking forward to the flowers coming on as our new range of edible flower varieties should provide an even more interesting mix of colours, shapes and sizes this year.

Due to wild garlic’s increasing popularity as a local wild food source and with ‘Foraging’ becoming the in thing for chefs, we are looking at doing more with this product. We are thinking about trying to establish our own source on site to make it more sustainable in the long term.

Wild garlic is a useful ingredient in numerous soups and sauces whilst making interesting products such as pesto where it replaces basil for example. With imagination and flare, the use of wild garlic is endless. Its pungent smell and subtle flavour make it ideal for wilting to serve with meat and fish amongst many other dishes.

The wild garlic season only lasts a few weeks and so this makes it a really special seasonal treat that people seem to go mad for! The flowers are also edible and add an interesting colour and flavour to any dish. Please do not hesitate to ask should you fancy trying wild garlic flowers and we will forage around for them!

First job this week was to pick the Purple Sprouting Broccoli that has rocketed up, so much so that we picked over 600k instead of the usual 100k! Another big event this week is our first batch of drilling outside which is always an exciting event as it is the first sign of the summer season. Needless to say it is a joy to get out of the office in this nice weather after a long winter of audits and paper work which will hopefully see us pass our first ever LEAF Marque audit this month.

We have taken on another employee this month. Stacy is helping us to get started with our propagating for the coming season starting off with mint cuttings and herb seedlings. She will also shortly be starting to sow our ever increasing speciality range, especially edible flowers which we are having requests for already! We are predicting that these will be very popular this season and have therefore extended our flower range. We are continuing to cut back our Sage plants inside and out in order to encourage new growth. The Tarragon we cut back last month is growing back well and is looking like it will be a good first crop, although aphids are already proving to be a problem.

Please follow us on Twitter @HerbsUnlimited for more regular updates on our 2012 progress!

Phil is a young and enthusiastic chef who has worked in some of the top restaurants and pubs in the area and since leaving school 8 years ago. He specialises in fish which are plentiful on The George’s weekly changing specials board. Presentation and quality of his food are Phil’s pride and joy as well as sourcing from local producers wherever he can.

Pan fried seabass fillets on buttered purple sprouting broccoli with phils salsa verde.

Ingredients.

• 2x 4oz seabass fillets
• 6x heads purple sprouting broccoli
• 125g unsalted butter
• Handful of thyme
• Handful of sage
• Handful of parsley
• Handful of chives
• 10x small capers
• 10x anchovie fillets
• Splash white wine vinegar
• Teaspoon wholegrain mustard
• Good standard olive oli
• Juice and zest of a lemon.
• Teaspoon chopped garlic

Method

• Trim and score sea bass.
• Dust with seasoned flour.
• Trim the heads from the broccoli and pan fry until al dente with the cubed butter.
• For the salsa verde, Finely chop the garlic, capers, anchovies and herbs and put them into a bowl. Add the mustard and vinegar, then slowly stir in the olive oil until you achieve the right consistency. Balance the flavours with freshly ground black pepper, a bit of salt and maybe a little more vinegar.
• Place a non-stick pan on the heat until just smoking, coat sea bass in olive oil, place in the pan skin side down until golden brown ( about 4 minutes) turn and cook skin side up for a further 4 minutes or until cooked through (should be just firm to touch)
• Drain sea bass on kitchen roll to remove excess oil.
• Assemble on a warmed plate as pictured, enjoy

P.I.BOLTON

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Sage is also used in many other cuisines such as Italian, in Eastern Europe and in the Middle East.

We always have a plentiful supply of sage for our restaurant and catering trade and us it in our processed herbs for our food production customers.

Sage figures prominently in our recipe for Herb Fed Turkeywith the perfect Christmas stuffing.

Other varieties of sage are grown in season – including Pineapple Sage and Blackcurrant Sage