Celebrating the best of British food this week at Big Barn
We’ve just come to the end of the British Food Fortnight which encourages everyone to opt for the brilliant local produce as the main harvesting wraps up for the year. Post-Brexit, if and when we get there, we hope even more people demand British, and hopefully one step further – local!
When you can pick up almost all fruits and veg all year round, it’s very easy to lose track of the seasons and the bounty which each of them brings. We’ve come to expect that we’ll be able to find everything from tomatoes and strawberries, to asparagus and broad beans on our shop shelves all year long, but if we were shopping locally they wouldn’t by rights, be available. That’s why it’s so important that we read the label and check where our food comes from. You might be as surprised as we were when we spotted asparagus on sale at £15/kg in a supermarket compared to £7/kg when in season!
The British Food Fortnight is a fantastic time to remind ourselves with what foods are really British and to take a moment to appreciate wonderful seasonality of British produce and some of the fantastic fruit and veg which is right outside on our doorsteps.
Right now you can enjoy apples, pears, plums and quinces, which are at their best. Keep an eye out though, for Eastern European apples which will be over 1 year old! Yes, stored for a whole year using chemicals and cold stores.
Squash are brilliant too and you should still be able to enjoy some delicious British raspberries and blackberries. That does mean though, that sadly beans, strawberries and tomatoes are on their final legs, so if you’re lucky enough to track some down, enjoy your fill before they’re gone until next year.
If you want to make the change to seasonal food for 52 weeks of the year, not just two, then www.bigbarn.co.uk is the place to start. Switch to your local farm shop/butcher/grocer for your weekly shop and save money by buying fresh, in season, food.
BigBarn local food map with Crop for the Shop & Cheaper than Supermarket flags
You can use our local food map or Marketplace offering produce from 530+ food producers and independent food stores, which can all be purchased online here.
You can even join the food industry and grow your own the Crop for the Shop by selling excess produce to your local shop on the BigBarn map flagged with a rosette. All helping build a social, local, food industry to replace the ant-social national one.
If you have a favourite recipe using British produce, and would like the chance to win a prize, please video your recipe and add it to KIS (Keep it Simple) Cookery. Please have a look at existing videos here and try and keep your video less than 2 minutes long.