Gary Rhodes on Tomatoes Great British Food Revival

-Some of the best British produce is under threat.

-At the mercy of foreign invaders.

-And food fashion.

-Produce around for centuries.

-Could die out within a generation.

-So together we're on a mission.

-To save it!

We'll tell you how to find it, grow it and cook it.

-And put sensational British produce.

-Back on the food map.

My name is Gary Rhodes and I'm passionate about a fruit that is so often misunderstood

and not recognised as one of our great British ingredients - the British tomato.

Now there's no denying we love tomatoes. We buy 500,000 tons of them every year,

but 70% of these are shipped in from as far as Israel and Morocco,

leaving the British tomato grower in the cold.

I fell in love with tomatoes as a little boy at the corner shop, where it was all British tomatoes.

That was all we had. There were no super airliners flying them in.

They were true home-grown, soft, they were ready to eat.

'I'm going to try to revive the fate of the great British tomato.

'I'll be meeting a grower who's turning waste into watts.'

Not just British. This is a true green tomato.

'Rediscovering the incredible shapes and sizes we could be tucking into.'

-We grow 63 varieties.

-63?!

-Some of the older ones are 100 years old.

'And what better way to honour the good old British tom than a three-course menu

'with a show-stopping tomato pudding.' Oh, look at that.

It's really quite odd. All I'm eating here is sweet tomato.

'In the UK, this juicy little fruit has been demoted to an everyday ingredient,

'available 365 days a year.'

I couldn't tell you their season.

I buy tomatoes all year round.

Out of season, you've got no choice. You've got to buy Spanish-grown or Dutch-grown.

We just put them in the trolley. We don't mind where they come from. As long as they're tasty.

'Only 30% of the tomatoes we eat are home-grown, a fact that sadly says it all.

'I've travelled to Barnham, home of one of our largest tomato growers,

'to find out where we're going wrong.'

From the general public's point of view, a tomato is a tomato.

It's deep red, it maybe has a little bit of different texture or shape or size about it,

but really where it's from does that bother our public?

I hope so, because we're very proud of the product that we grow as British growers.

A lot of the imported tomatoes are a little bit cheaper.

-How are we going to counter that?

-We've got to get the consumer to recognise the investment that goes in

to make British tomatoes the best.

Literally, it's millions of pounds that are invested before the first tomato is even picked.

We've got to make sure the consumer recognises what British represents.

It's fresh. It can be picked within 24, 48 hours and be on your plate. That is fantastic.

Are we buying because of some kind of shelf-life here? Because imported last an extra week or more?

It should be the other way round.

If product is travelling from Spain, from Italy, the Canaries and takes four, six, seven, eight days,

it has less of a shelf life. Buying British guarantees a better shelf life.

It can be picked, packed, in the store within 24 hours.

I want to know how we can take all of this, show it off and sell it.

Tomato production actually starts towards the end of February.

And we finish at the end of October, so it is a long season.

But May is a key time for us.

We actually have British Tomato Week which kicks off in May every single year.

It's when volumes are at their highest. If we get supermarket support to push that even more,

it'll be a huge benefit for us, the consumer and the supermarkets.

I'll only buy tomatoes during that British season.

This is the message I want to get across.

'We need to pay a little bit extra for a premium ingredient

'and savour British tomatoes when they're at their best.'

Now you've seen where they're from, I want to show you what we can do.

It's incredible. Here I am making an Italian dish

to show off the great British tomato, but I think the British can do just as well, if not better.

'My version uses beautifully sweet British plum tomatoes and I'm oven-roasting them

'to intensify their already amazing flavour.'

Let's take a bowl. There's one or two flavours I want to add to it.

'First, thyme - two or three little sprigs.' It's there to enhance, to add something.

A hint of garlic.

Just lightly press these on the board.

And they become that little bit easier to peel.

'Use as much or as little as you like.'

There's plenty in there.

Now, other things to add: some icing sugar here.

'A generous pinch to bring out the tomatoes' natural sweetness.'

Some sea salt.

A twist of black pepper.

And I'm going to add just a touch of olive oil. This is extra virgin.

It adds quite a lot to this dish.

That's how simple this dish is.

'These fragrant little toms will be the star of my salad.

'I just need to pop them into a low oven for 20 minutes.'

So while they're cooking, I want to make a dressing also using the tomatoes.

These look fabulous here. Really rich, beautiful to eat.

And all I want to do is literally chop them up, quarter them roughly like this.

This is what I love about really good cooking. It can be so simple.

There's so much intense flavour here. It needs very little. That's the beauty of British ingredients,

particularly these tomatoes. 'All I'm going to do is get them in a blender

'with a couple of their sun-dried cousins for added depth.

'Give them a blitz.

'And push them through a sieve so I'm left with a smooth, rich tomato puree.'

Look at that.

A couple of other bits and pieces to add - English mustard is nice,

but a little bit too harsh for the tomato. I'm going for Dijon, which still gives strength of flavour,

but not too strong or powerful.

'Then a couple of teaspoons of red wine vinegar,

'a dash of sugar,

'a pinch of salt, then pepper

'and some extra virgin olive oil.'

I'm also going to add to it a little touch of sesame oil. Not essential,

but it does add that nutty bite.

'And, finally, the tomato puree.

'20 minutes later and our oven-roasted tomatoes are ready.'

There we are. That has such a great flavour and all we've done is warm them.

'What they need now is a bed of creamy British mozzarella,

'a drizzle of the nutty tomato dressing,

'a squirt of fragrant basil oil

'and a scattering of baby basil leaves.' That's it. Very simple.

Very flavoursome. That is a British tomato and mozzarella salad.

'I'm on a journey to rediscover the virtues of the British tomato,

'an ingredient I should find here.'

This is New Covent Garden Market where they turn over £11 million of fruit and veg every week.

'With over 200 wholesalers supplying Michelin-starred restaurants to local cafes

'it's the perfect place to find out why we're not growing British.'

This is more than a surprise. You don't expect to see this from home-grown, do you?

It's just a wonderful collection. It's incredible. As far as I'm concerned, if I'm looking at that,

-I have just bought these from a Sicilian market.

-Yeah.

-It has that kind of shape about it, but these are from our own soils.

-Yeah, absolutely.

'Not known for our good weather, we have to grow our tomatoes in greenhouses

'that require heat and irrigation, making them more expensive.'

What can we do to really help and support the British grower?

If you went back 10 or 15 years ago, there was a lot of small, independent growers on the south coast, all over.

Unfortunately, the price just hasn't gone up. We have all the cheaper imports from primarily Holland

and they seem to get cheaper every year and the small independent English grower can't keep up.

For me it's like an investment. What it's going to supply you with some of your greatest culinary memories.

Just those extra few pennies to buy ingredients like this. This is a chef's dream.

'But a dearer price tag isn't the only side effect to greenhouse growing.

'The heat needed costs the environment, too,

'resulting in British tomatoes having a higher carbon footprint,

'a problem John and Caroline Jones are tackling head-on at their farm in Hertfordshire.'

-What is it like being a British tomato grower?

-It's not easy.

Production costs are going up, supermarkets in general are trying to squeeze the price,

these structures you see behind, we have to heat these the whole long season, even in the summer.

-These are heated throughout the year?

-In the summer as well.

We need a slight amount of heat going through the pipes.

-But this must be very costly.

-It is. Very.

'But they've found a revolutionary way to reduce their costs and their carbon footprint

'and it could change the fate of the British tomato industry.'

I didn't expect to see this!

That is incredible.

-So this is what is creating your electricity?

-This is the waste vegetables

that powers our turbines.

I am in a state of shock. I cannot believe it. There are so many.

All these great flavours sitting here. And it just goes to show how much wastage there is

-with great food.

-There is, but we're putting it to very good use.

-Absolutely, absolutely.

'It's a unique system that converts rotting fruit and veg from markets like Spitalfields

'into green electricity to heat their greenhouses. And what's even more incredible

'is they did it all themselves.'

-It sounds so simple. Is it that easy?

-Absolutely not!

It's been a real trial and tribulation over the last 5 years. We're nearly there now.

We are making methane gas and generating electric and heating our nursery,

but there's been several divorces on the way!

'All this for the humble British tomato. And to think everything from the hot water

'to the CO2 pumped in to enrich the atmosphere has come from that waste fruit and veg.'

And here is the end result. Beautiful British tomatoes.

-Not just a British tomato. This is a true green tomato.

-It could be said.

-Stunning. Look at the richness and the colour on that.

-Superb.

-We've done everything we can

-to reduce our carbon footprint to a minimum.

-Stunning.

It's sweet, it's wonderful. Look at all those rich juices.

And the colour of the flesh is stunning.

That is where we win over an imported tomato.

We can allow these to stay on the plant until we get that fantastic red colour and all its flavour,

-whereas imports are picked so far in advance, they're green...

-Days and weeks in advance.

So it's very hard, it doesn't develop that full richness. But that's what I'm tasting here.

'What an inspirational couple. They really are setting an example to the rest of the industry

'and I can't wait to show off their produce in the Revival kitchen.'

So for my second recipe,

I've chosen, of course, John and Caroline's lovely, rich, sweet tomatoes.

And to go with them, an equally sweet fish - salmon. Absolutely delicious.

'These tomatoes are so delicious, they hardly need any cooking.

'All I've done is blanch them in hot water to remove the skin and seeds.'

That's the beauty I found with John and Caroline's tomatoes.

Even in its totally raw state, with skin and seeds, it was wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

Now you'll notice I'm being quite generous with these.

If you've got something as tasty as this, enjoy it.

'I'm going to warm them through with a handful of juicy grey shrimps and then plenty of chopped herbs,

'added at the end, so they keep their exquisite taste and texture. With a beautiful fillet of salmon.'

Easy to cook, only takes minutes. That's the great thing with this dish. It's very quick to cook.

'If you want to cook it perfectly every time, dust the fish with flour to prevent it from sticking

'and resist the temptation to season until halfway through.'

If you start throwing salt in now, it can draw some juices from it.

Then it begins to stew in the pan rather than fry.

'I'm serving spinach with it, simply thrown in the pan with a knob of butter.'

These are actually going to steam.

'As soon as the salmon starts to turn pink, it's safe to season it.'

A touch of table salt is all I'm using here. Again, that twist of pepper on top.

So the spinach is cooked. Let's get rid of that pan. Let's look at the salmon now.

You can see how far that line has come up the side of the fish, telling me it's almost ready.

'All I need to do now is add a knob of butter and a squeeze of lemon juice to moisten the fish.

'And then heat up the little grey shrimps.'

What you don't want to do is fry them. Fry them and they toughen. That's not what we're after.

Next our tomatoes. Let's throw some nice tomatoes in there so they can warm as well.

Plenty of them.

'And, lastly, a handful of chopped herbs for flavour and colour. I'm using chervil, tarragon and chives.

'And it's as simple as that.'

Look at the fish. You can still see how soft that is.

Still slightly pink in the centre which means it's retained lovely juices, maximum flavour

and that lovely sweetness which is going to accompany the wonderful, wonderful tomatoes.

'Just pop the fish on a bed of spinach.

'And spoon on the warm tomato and shrimp.'

Very simple dish, but it holds so much sort of character and flavour.

The strength of tomato is really quite phenomenal. You can almost smell the sweetness.

Right. Let's tuck in.

Now you can still see... What did I say? That little pink left in the salmon itself.

Wonderful and moist.

Mm.

That holds quite a melting experience. The softness of the fish,

the gentle little bite of the lovely shrimp,

but the real maximum flavour is found from the British tomato.

Quite sensational.

'Our love affair with tomatoes has always been about much more than just eating them,

'something I'm keen to explore further at Audley End Organic Kitchen Garden in Essex

'where they keep the Victorian appetite for variety alive.'

The Victorians had a strange attitude towards tomatoes. They were newish.

They grew them, but wouldn't eat them. They believed them poisonous.

-Really?

-Yeah. They grew them as ornamentals and would show them off to their friends.

Somehow they crossed over and began eating them.

'And thanks to their experimentation, a wealth of British varieties were born,

'some resurrected here.'

-We grow 63 varieties of tomato.

-63?!

-Yes.

-Oh, my goodness, me!

-Like a food shop.

-This is phenomenal! Are these all British?

-The majority are.

-There are one or two Americans, but most of them are British.

-How old are these?

Some are almost 100 years old.

'It's taken Mike over a decade of careful growing to bring these Victorian varieties back to life

'and he's done it with the help of the Heritage Seed Library, a charity conserving rare seeds.'

-A classic is Auntie Madge's.

-Oh, the little sort of plums?

-Baby plums.

-That was found in the corner of someone's potting shed

and was sent to the seed library. The real name has long been lost,

-so they gave it the name Auntie Madge's so we'll stay with that.

-Absolutely. You're supporting it.

There are many, many... Plumpton King, Earl of Edgecombe.

These are all from certain farms, certain families who sent them in?

Yes. Some are straight from nurseries. Others have been found in granddad's garden

-in a box or a drawer. That's the beauty of the seed library.

-I'd love to try one.

-There's a lovely red one there.

-One of these?

-Take that nice one.

-This is called Welsh Farmer Laws.

Look at that. Beautiful.

And actually you smell that...

It smells so beautiful and rich. Absolutely wonderful.

That'll be quite sweet, I imagine. I'll let you know.

Look at the colour on it.

Ohh...

That is quite immense in its flavour. Absolutely stunning to eat.

-Should we be encouraging more and more people to grow their own?

-Definitely. I'll show you how.

That's a good start.

-Pop it there.

-There he goes.

-You've partly eaten it, but left us some to work with.

All you really need to do is simple. We've a sheet of kitchen paper. Go after the individual seeds

and just let them dry on the paper. Store them in an envelope, somewhere relatively dry for wintertime.

It's incredible just seeing this because it's given me inspiration.

I hope it gives everybody watching and seeing this equal inspiration to start growing our own.

'Even if you don't have a garden, you can still get involved.

'Take the residents of Brighton and Hove. They've set up a community vegetable plot in the local park,

-'which is run by volunteers.'

-Over 100 people

have asked to be involved or given a few hours to help.

One of our gardeners is growing two dozen varieties of tomatoes.

That's the San Marzano, a plum variety like you find in your tins.

We try to grow things people might not think of growing, something new.

These are a black cherry. It's supposed to be the sweetest tomato you can get.

To plant a seed and wait a few months until food is ready to be eaten, that's really rewarding.

This actually came from a shop last year and I liked it so I kept the seeds.

And grew them this year.

'They also organise allotment shares so neighbours with no outside space can muck in and share the harvest.'

-They're one of the...

-The main thing you look forward to.

-Our own tomatoes!

One of the plants was really big. My little boy thought that was amazing.

'They even encourage local businesses like this restaurant in the centre of Brighton

-'to make the most of whatever space they've got.'

-This is our bin alley.

I started these off in my little back garden in a plastic greenhouse, then brought them here.

They've shot up the wall. I've got some big beef tomatoes that will make fantastic chutney.

These little tomatoes garnish my salads. If you can say you've done something on the premises

and it's literally come off the vine, it's such a good story to tell customers.

For my final recipe, I'm going to make a dessert.

That really will show you how versatile these tomatoes are.

Let's face it, they are a fruit.

I thought they must work in a pudding. This one's going to be a little different.

Where are the white tomatoes from? From here.

Just look. They're giving wonderfully. Almost that slightly overripe stage.

They'll be quite sensational, giving me a lot of juice to make that white in the sorbet.

'A kilo of these plump tomatoes should give me about a pint of juice.

'Just chop them roughly and pop them in a blender, stopping and starting so as not to overwork them.'

You can see this looseness.

That red will all be left behind and it's the pure white juice that you're going to extract.

'And I'm going to do this by pouring the chopped tomatoes through a piece of muslin.

'It will take some time to drip through, but it's worth it.

'You can use the pulp for soups or pasta sauces.'

Once it's all dripped through, you can see that slight little tone in it of the tomato.

Almost a kind of yellow, if you like. An orangey-yellow.

But that is white tomato liquor.

The next thing I'm going to make with it is, of course, the base. It won't make a sorbet on its own.

'Simply dissolve some liquid glucose in a pan with some caster sugar.

'Add the tomato water and leave to cool.'

You need to add that sweetness to prevent it setting like a big block of ice.

While that's happening, I'll make the actual almond pudding itself.

'It's a simple sponge mix made entirely in the food processor

'that starts with the dry ingredients, including almonds,

'and some digestive biscuit crumbs to give it texture

'and room-temperature butter.'

It's so quick and easy. Every single ingredient in together.

'To end, add the wet ingredients, namely three eggs,

'which once blitzed into a soft runny batter is simply poured into moulds.'

You want to fill them probably about two-thirds, three-quarters full.

Now straight into the oven. 140 degrees.

And we're going to leave these now for about 15 or 20 minutes. On they go.

Right. Let's finish off now our sorbet mix.

Let's have a little stir.

You certainly can't hear the little grains of sugar in there so you know it's absolutely ready.

'Once it's cooled, pour it into an ice cream machine to churn to the right consistency

'and pop it into the freezer to set.'

If you don't have an ice cream or sorbet machine, don't worry.

Set it, as a block, and then put it into a food processor to create that very thick slush.

Refreeze it and you'll have an ice cream.

Let's have a look at the sponges.

Here, let me show you these.

I think they look lovely.

Slightly soft in the centre.

You can see just getting that little colour around the outside.

And we've got the sorbet. Now this is how it got its title

of white tomato sorbet.

You can see it's firmed up just enough.

Let's have a little taste. Take a clean spoon.

And we can just... Look at that.

It's really quite odd because all I'm eating here is sweet tomato.

It's almost got a strawberriness.

It's absolutely delicious.

So, without burning myself, let's see if we can pop one of these... There we are.

Take that out of the mould.

There you have a lovely sponge.

'I'm serving this with a tangy lime syrup that soaks into the sponge, keeping it nice and moist.'

Trickle that over the top.

'A flavour that complements the tomato sorbet perfectly.

'And I'm garnishing the plate with some oven-dried tomatoes dusted with sugar

'and more of those fragrant basil leaves.

'And there you have it.

'Another exciting dimension to the British tomato.'

This has been nothing but an education for me.

Really quite incredible. Finding myself eating a dessert with tomato,

it's opened up my eyes to the great British tomato.

I'm convinced by it. I hope you'll agree it needs to be revived.

Let's stick by it.

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd 2011