Hello Chef,
Happy Friday! I hope your week has been a good one and calm. We’ve been busy here at Wild Harvest with lots of beautiful produce to keep us occupied. This weekend, I’m keeping this sweet at the London Honey festival, held at Royal Festival Hall, Southbank. Dad has over 40,000 bees on his farm, so it will be good to see what local (toLondon) honey will be able to rival his ownShropshirehoney!
We’ve also been busy eating. Thank you at Alex at Bank of New York Mellon for sending us a plethora of muffins, banana bread, tuilles, marshmallows and pate de fruit – feel free to follow suit. And our own Natasha has been busy in the kitchen preparing Roasted Bresse Chicken with corn on the cob and floating islands for dessert! Not to mention enjoying basil ice cream from the Chin Chin labs inCamdenwith Sosa’s chocolate explosive popping candy….
We’re keeping things short and sweet this week – roll on September…
Wild Mushrooms & Truffles:
Scottish girolles have improved massively as weather cycles have produced a fresh flush
Small girolles fromEastern Europe are small and very affordable
Pied de mouton available fromFrance
Very nice and affordable trompette fromPoland to add a gothic garnish to gourmet gullet gratifiers
Spainhas kicked off with the yellow legged autumn chanterelle
Stropharia Rugos-Annulata [straw cep or burgundy cap] cultivated Scottish mushroom is now available
We are looking forward to
Sparassis Crispa (cauliflower fungus)
Cep
Giant Puffball
Italian black Summer truffles are available, but we are expecting the season to come to a close soon. The nose is at its very best but quantities are limited.
Seasonal & Foraged Produce
As French cob nuts dry up we are expecting to see the Kentish crop start by the next week
Stone fruits are now at their ripe best and Victoria plums (my favourite, as grown in my Granny’s garden) are in abundance
Late-summer berries are still coming through including blueberries, redcurrants and golden raspberries
Quince is currently coming fromChile but the European crop will start in a matter of weeks
Black radish is back. Great to pickle or run along a mandolin
We are now selling romanesco, purple and yellow cauliflower
Brassicas & beets are at their best with cavolo nero (black cabbage) and purple sprouting broccoli in good supply
Elderberries, Crab Apples and Sheeps Sorrel are now available from ourNorfolk forager
Coming to an end:
Fraises des bois (whole frozen fruit and puree is available)
Fresh peas
Broad beans
Gooseberries
We are expecting soon:
Apples and Pears
For a more comprehensive list please see last week’s update
(Email [email protected] if you need a spare copy).
Game
The young Scottish long legged grouse we have seen this year so far are excellent. The richly flavoured birds are more than plump enough to split for a single portion. We are hoping to add wood pigeon to our offerings very soon.
As ever, if you have any further enquiries please do get in touch with myself or your account manager and don’t forget to follow us on twitter to keep up to the minute up to date. Have a fantastic weekend chef and a great week for Monday.
Best wishes,
Louise Thomas
Wild Harvest
0207 498 5397
