Down on the Farm

Harvest will be upon us before we know it, and the realisation of this tipped me out of bed early this morning to head down to the farm for a look at our hops.

Humphrey was out, then back, then dashing out again on some farmer type business, so I was left to my own devices to assess the state of play. My (amateur) reading of the situation is thus: early rain has caused excess vegetative growth in some of the Goldings, stopping the sunshine getting down the bine and causing the flowers to concentrate at the top - this will lead to a lower yield. In other areas this hasn't been a problem and the bines are in cone all the way down. Maturity is patchy - some plants in burr, some in full cone - it is early for East Kent afterall. Apart from that, they look clean, unbruised, and loving the warm sunshine.

This pundit is going for a 5th September start to the eastest of east Kent's hop harvest. Here's some photos:

Hop Shoots!

It's been a pretty cool spring so far, and the hops have been reluctant to show themselves too early as a result; the shoots are a week or so late in emerging from the ground. They are here now and, before they get sprayed, we have an opportunity to get into the gardens and pick bagfuls of them for the dinner table.

Hop shoots, you see, are a culinary delicacy, revered in the England of the past, and still vaguely remembered in Belgium and Italy. Picking them is thankless and back breaking and, in the absence of any automation, this makes them extremely expensive and consequently rare.

However, Ross Hukins of Haffenden Farm has invited us over next week to fill our boots, so long as we provide all the labour. I've never eaten Risotto di bruscandoli, or any other hop shoot dish, but I would certainly like to. And I like the idea of my favourite Kentish restaurants offering this very local, very seasonal, and very rare vegetable for one week a year, just to remind us all of where we live, if for no other reason.

So I'm off to Haffenden on Wednesday morning armed with suitable clothing, a sharp knife and some sacks to see what all the fuss is about. I'll even take a small stove, a pan, some butter, a bit of wild garlic and a bottle or two of beer to do a bit of Keith Floyd style in-the-field cooking. Hopefully I'll harvest vast quantities and spend Wednesday evening distributing them to the top Chefs in the area

If you live in East Kent and fancy joining me please drop me a line soonest - the more, the merrier.