Good now: Our on-going national infatuation with “traditional” Christmas dinners continues to cause me dismay. Up until the mid 1960’s most Brits had never even tasted turkey, yet now this bland and overrated bird has somehow become “traditional”! I can only imagine that it is the grand size they attain which gives a sense of the festive occasion when they are carved at the table that our countrymen find so appealing, but I have to say that a goose can be equally impressive visually while a great deal more interesting to the palette! Whichever meat you select there is a wonderful range of vegetables to enjoy outside of the “traditional”. Foremost among the greens are delightful kale, cauliflower, spinach, watercress, Swiss chard and leeks. Root vegetables offer even greater options – why not roast up a selection from root parsley, root chervil, parsnip and salsify? Perhaps celeriac or kohlrabi is more to your taste, not forgetting onions, shallots, carrots, Jerusalem artichokes, crosnes and beet. If swedes and turnips press your buttons then you will love a pair of newcomers we are now offering; “Boulette de Bussy” is a turnip as sweet as they come, while the Brittany Yellow is as, um, yellow. And what would Christmas dinner be without roast potatoes? Happily there are plenty of excellent roasters available at the moment including Maris Piper, Arran Victory, Golden Wonder and King Edwards all of which will allow you to produce the ultimate result – crispy shell on the outside, soft, melting perfection within. Causes salivation just to think of it.
Perhaps eclipsed by the “traditional” festive fare there are still many other great products which merit mention at this time; with sweet clementines on the branch one of the first of many citrus fruits coming into their new season prime. Many chefs don’t realise that Dutch forced pink rhubarb started some weeks ago, and that the first product from the celebrated “Yorkshire Triangle” will come onstream before Santa has had time to scrape this year’s fresh crottie from his sleigh’s runners. As may be expected cranberries and chestnuts will be in every kitchen right now, although sales of these will probably taper off quite sharply on or shortly after December 26th. Just call me Nostradamus.
In the last few weeks a new variety of pear has caught our attention. For years we have been opining that the famous Passe-Crassane had no equal in the pear world, but perhaps what we should have been saying is that the Passe-Crassane is the finest pear generally available on the market. The “new” pear which has caught our attention is the well-named “Grand Champion” which has a divine flavour approaching but not quite equalling that of the Passe-Crassane and yet a texture which is gloriously buttery and quite surpasses the grainy texture of its rival. A score draw if you will! We have also been advised that there is another variety, the “General Leclerk” which will force us to search for even greater superlatives should we be lucky enough to encounter it! It doesn’t seem to matter how long you potter about in the fruit and veg business – it retains the ability to surprise you and never ceases to refresh the imagination!
There are other excellent pomes on the market too, primarily quinces which are fabulous this year and Egremont Russet apples, delightful as always! With the low price – ten or eleven apples will set you back a quid or so – it is hard to imagine better value for any food item at any time of the year.
On the way out… they have served us well over the past months, but now is the time to give the wild mushrooms a break. Girolles have been too poor to contemplate using for a couple of months now, and they will soon be joined by the Pied de Mouton, Trompettes and Chanterelles on the seasonal scrap-heap. Fresh cobnuts are holding on by their fingertips too, but in the coming weeks they will join Muscat wine grapes, pumpkins and squashes (with the exception of the ever-present Butternut of course!) in disappearing to make space on our shelves for the new produce 2012 will bring. Autumn truffles will suddenly depart as will the famous white “Alba” truffle, but...
Coming soon... they will be replaced almost immediately with the black “Perigord” truffles (noticeably late this year) and the white “Bianchetti”. The coming weeks will also see us enjoying the annual explosion of citrus fruits from ugli to pomelo, pink grapefruit to blood orange, satsuma to minneola. Now is the time to enjoy working with fresh lemons, limes, navel oranges and clementines “on the branch”. And don’t forget the wonderful Seville orange – the closest thing you will find to a wild orange living in Europe – a “must” for all those wonderful marmalades and sauces. Its season only lasts a few weeks, so get cracking before January grows too old! Sea kale will be available early in the New Year for a short time, but will probably be as extortionately priced as usual. January King cabbage might be a more realistic bet, and signs are good the purple sprouting broccoli should be very fine this season, always assuming we can get hold of some alongside the greedy supermarkets!
On the horizon... as we pass the Winter Solstice the next stepping stone towards the sanity of Spring is the appearance of the first daffodil shoots (please forgive the Scottish perspective if you’re on the Isles of Scilly where daffs are probably flowering already!) followed by the idea that by mid-February, somewhere in southern England, wild garlic will be growing. Before its season is over in turn we will be anticipating the arrival of the first morels, wild leeks, Jersey Royals, fresh peas, English asparagus and summer stone-fruits from the Mediterranean countries. Let that thought blow away the winter gloom and put a smile on your face!
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