The Taste of Britain. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

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СКАЧАТЬ DESSERT FRUIT THAT IS LARGE, YELLOW AND SWEET.

      HISTORY:

      The gooseberry is usually a fruit more suitable for cooking, needing considerable sweetening for palatability unless used as a savoury accompaniment to meat or fish. But Leveller is a variety raised by J. Greenhalgh in Ashton-under-Lyne (Lancashire) in 1851 that became an important dessert fruit. Roach (1995) remarks that it was, and still is, grown in the Chailey-Newick district of Sussex, ‘where the cultivation of large-sized Leveller berries for the dessert trade has reached a very high degree of perfection.’ The berries have been grown in this area for the London market since before World War II.

      TECHNIQUE:

      The area in East Sussex associated with the growing of this variety for the dessert market is sandy and highly suitable, producing a berry which ripens well with a very sweet flavour. The fruit is gathered by hand in late July or early August; it must be picked when it is just ripe and marketed straight away.

      Those who grow gooseberries for show prune the bushes severely and strip most of the fruit early in the season, leaving only a few berries to attain the largest possible size.

      REGION OF PRODUCTION:

      SOUTH EAST ENGLAND, EAST SUSSEX.

      COMPARE WITH:

      Careless Gooseberry, East Anglia (p. 113)

      Medlar

      DESCRIPTION:

      MEDLARS ARE SMALL FRUIT (3-4cM DIAMETER), WEIGHING ABOUT 15G. THEY LOOK LIKE BROWN-SKINNED APPLES, BUT HAVE A CUP-SHAPED DEPRESSION, KNOWN AS THE EYE, BETWEEN THE CALYX LOBES. COLOUR: GREEN-PURPLE WITH A SLIGHT GLOSS WHEN FRESH; PURPLE-BROWN, DULL AND SOFT WHEN BLETTED. FLAVOUR: SWEET-ACID.

      HISTORY:

      The medlar, Mespilus germanica, is a native of Transcaucasia and made its long journey into northern Europe after its adoption by Greece and Rome. It may even have been brought to Britain by the Romans - a single seed has been excavated at Silchester - and it was certainly cultivated here during the Middle Ages. The hedge-row specimens that are still found, especially in the South-East, are probably escapees from this early cultivation (Roach, 1985).

      When English garden varieties were first described and codified, there were not many sorts of medlar held in high esteem - the most celebrated were the Dutch and the Neapolitan. Thus, by and large, it remained until the end of the eighteenth century when a new variety, or so it seemed, was named: the Nottingham. This appears in fact to be a Neapolitan, but muddled or renamed. The re-baptism stuck, and Nottingham it is to this day. There were some new cultivars developed in the Victorian years, but what perhaps makes the medlar quintes-sentially British was the enjoyment of the bletted (rotten) fruit by drinkers of port at the end of a meal. Not everyone appreciated these ‘wineskins of brown morbidity’ (D.H. Lawrence, quoted by Davidson, 1991) and their number reduced as time went on, but their use as a jelly which accompanies meats has seen their survival in a sphere wider than the private gardens of a handful of connoisseurs. (See also Medlar Jelly, East Anglia p. 136.)

      TECHNIQUE:

      Medlars are propagated by grafting or budding. Various species have been used to provide rootstock; today, the quince is most commonly employed. The fruit are left on the trees until late autumn and may be quite hard when hand-picked. At this stage they are considered astringent and inedible. The fruit is stored in moist bran or sawdust until it becomes brown and soft. Effectively, this is a controlled rotting of the fruit. They used to be brought to the table in a dish still covered with bran or sawdust and cleaned off by the diners who scraped out the pulp to eat with sugar and cream, and to accompany port.

      REGION OF PRODUCTION:

      SOUTH EAST ENGLAND.

      Strawberry (Royal Sovereign)

      DESCRIPTION:

      ROYAL SOVEREIGN HAS SMALL TO MEDIUM ROUNDED BERRIES OF A BRIGHT INTENSE RED, AND IS STILL THOUGHT BY MANY TO HAVE THE BEST FLAVOUR OF ALL BRITISH VARIETIES. MODERN STRAWBERRY VARIETIES TEND TO HAVE MUCH BIGGER, POINTED FRUIT AND A LESS INTENSE FLAVOUR.

      HISTORY:

      Although wood strawberries, Fragaria vesca, are native to Britain, the history of the strawberry in its modern form really begins in the early nineteenth century. At this time, Michael Keen, a market gardener in Isleworth (Middlesex), used the Chilean strawberry (F. chiloensis) to produce improved varieties. The first of these was Keen’s Imperial; the second which he raised, Keen’s Seedling, caused a sensation, and became very important both in its own right and as a parent of other varieties. There was much interest in strawberry growing during the mid-nineteenth century. One of the most influential of Victorian nurserymen, Thomas Laxton at Bedford, bred Royal Sovereign. This was esteemed for its appearance and flavour and for the fact that it cropped early.

      Royal Sovereign lost commercial favour around the time of World War II as producers, driven by necessity to cultivate disease-resistant stock and by the changing needs of processors, began using the Cambridge varieties (bred from the 1930s at the Horticultural Research Station of Cambridge University) and their descendants. For many years, Royal Sovereign was grown only by amateurs, but interest is reviving among commercial producers on the south-east coast of England. This region came into its own as a centre of market gardening at the end of the Victorian period. London, its chief customer, had outgrown its eighteenth-century envelope and was fast expanding into land on its western side which had until then been the main area of commercial gardening. Simultaneously, efficient railway transport enabled producers to base themselves further away than those who had depended on water-borne delivery, carriage on foot or by cart, or conveyance in panniers slung each side of a donkey. The counties along the south-eastern coast of England have been noted areas for strawberry production for over 100 years. Hampshire was known for its early strawberries, a trade now severely eroded by foreign imports.

      TECHNIQUE:

      Strawberries are now grown from virus-free runners produced by specialist growers. The old method was to grow under glass cloches, now superseded by polythene tunnels. Soil sterilization is also practised to control disease. In the old days, the ground was mulched with straw. The berries are grown both for dessert and processing. Royal Sovereign is a dessert variety which is grown by similar methods to other strawberries, but requires special care in handling as the berries are delicate and soft. Cambridge Favourite is regarded as a good dual-purpose type. The growth of pick-your-own farms has meant that many people have access to supplies of very fresh strawberries.

      REGION OF PRODUCTION:

      SOUTH EAST ENGLAND.

      Victoria Plum

      DESCRIPTION:

      A VICTORIA PLUM WEIGHS 30-50G AND HAS DARK RED SKIN, PALE GREEN FLESH, AND A GOOD SWEET-ACID BALANCE OF FLAVOUR.

      HISTORY:

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