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We're here to put Britain back on the food map. We're on a mission to | :00:10. | :00:16. | |
save fantastic British produce from extinction. But we need your help. | :00:16. | :00:18. | |
Essential ingredients that have been here for venchries. Are in | :00:18. | :00:23. | |
danger of disappearing. Forever. Together we want everyone to get | :00:23. | :00:29. | |
back to culinary basics. And help us revive our fabulous... Mab any | :00:29. | :00:36. | |
set. Mouth watering, Unique food heritage. Great British Food | :00:36. | :00:46. | |
:00:46. | :01:14. | ||
I'm Gregg Wallace and I want your help to revival a product that we | :01:14. | :01:18. | |
Brits have a very special relationship with. An ingredient | :01:18. | :01:23. | |
that underwent a revival in the UK 130 years ago and needs our help | :01:23. | :01:27. | |
again. In its heyday we in Britain supplied 90% of the world's | :01:27. | :01:32. | |
consumption. That was then. Right now, we pretty much ignore it. I'm | :01:32. | :01:38. | |
talking about the beauty and splendor of rhubarb. In my campaign | :01:38. | :01:43. | |
to help revive this versatile veg, I'll uncover some of the rhubarb's | :01:43. | :01:48. | |
knock-out property. It is a good laxtive as well. Nice! Nice Janet. | :01:48. | :01:52. | |
Meeting a Yorkshireman who is passionate about keeping our | :01:52. | :01:56. | |
heritage alive. These old rhubarb varieties are part of the national | :01:56. | :02:04. | |
treasure trove as Drake and the armada, Lennon and McCartney. | :02:04. | :02:10. | |
the revival kitchen I'll wow you with some of my all-time favourite | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
rhubarb dishes, including an incredible rhubarb meringue tart. | :02:14. | :02:21. | |
That is a great big cuddle off the pudding angel. | :02:21. | :02:24. | |
I'm a greengrocer and I adore rhubarb. I fell in love with | :02:24. | :02:30. | |
rhubarb as a child, as soon as I stuck a spoon into my grandmother's | :02:30. | :02:35. | |
rhubarb crumble and custard. That sweetness with a hint of sharpness, | :02:35. | :02:38. | |
that is rhubarb's unique flavour, sweet-and-sour. You can serve it | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
soft or firm. It's brilliant as a pudding. It can accompany fatty | :02:43. | :02:46. | |
meats. It's versatile, beautiful, British, bring on the rhubarb | :02:46. | :02:51. | |
renaissance. What's the story? Rhubarb was first | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
introduced to Europe in the 13th century and used from medicinal | :02:55. | :03:01. | |
purposes, until it made its crumble debut. During both world wars, the | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
country ate masses of rhubarb, so the Government intervened to make | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
sure prices were kept low and everybody had access to it. Rhubarb | :03:08. | :03:14. | |
became one of the most widely available and cheapest food. | :03:14. | :03:21. | |
Raspberry jam sold during World War II was only 25% raspberry, the rest | :03:21. | :03:24. | |
was rhubarb with wood chips added to lock like seeds that. British | :03:25. | :03:29. | |
love affair with rhubarb was short lived. Post war people wanted | :03:29. | :03:34. | |
sweeter fruits and British forced rhubarb producers dwindled to just | :03:34. | :03:40. | |
11 years from 200. What have we got against home-grown rhubarb. It's | :03:40. | :03:45. | |
not like an apple, you can't just take a stick and bite into it and | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
enjoy it like an apple. Have you to know what to do with it. All I | :03:49. | :03:54. | |
think you can do is crumble. Aind don't make crumble. I think the | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
taste is very sour and it's all strinky and mushy. They do rhubarb | :03:58. | :04:04. | |
pie when it should be apple. It's red and I'm not a fan of it. It's | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
horrible. At school dinner time, they used to give rhubarb and | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
custard. I absolutely hated it. I used to swap with the sponge cake | :04:11. | :04:19. | |
with my friends. You see what we're up against. To kick off my revival | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
I'm on my way to Wakefield in Yorkshire, the home of British | :04:23. | :04:28. | |
forced rhubarb, where hopefully it will receive a warmer reception. | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
The area between Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield became known as the | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
rhubarb triangle. In 1877 growers came up with a very clever way of | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
growing it indoors. This technique became known as forced. It produced | :04:42. | :04:47. | |
a far sweeter rhubarb. That saw farmers turn around 30,000 tons of | :04:47. | :04:50. | |
rhubarb a year, a figure that's plummeted since, leaving rhubarb | :04:50. | :04:57. | |
producers like David Westwood in the cold. He's one of the 11 forced | :04:57. | :05:01. | |
growers left. At this time of year he only has outdoor rhubarb to show | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
me. What are the issues with growing rhubarb? It's a complete | :05:05. | :05:12. | |
mind of its own. That crop can look like that in, let's say, beginning | :05:12. | :05:18. | |
of November and three days later, it will be all dead. But it's all | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
weather related. If it hasn't got the water in spring, it just | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
doesn't survive. This is risking quite a bit isn't it? Risking a | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
heck of a lot. How many people and how long, if we wanted to harvest | :05:29. | :05:34. | |
this now? It would take ten people two week, maybe three week. Is that | :05:34. | :05:39. | |
right? There's no way can you mechanically do it. It's all done | :05:39. | :05:44. | |
by hand. I can't believe rhubarb farmers are using such age-old | :05:44. | :05:50. | |
techniques. I had no idea it was such a labour intensive crop. But | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
what has really struck home is that rhubarb, grown like this, outdoors, | :05:54. | :05:58. | |
it's a summer vegetable. It's available from April through to | :05:58. | :06:01. | |
September. And if we are going to support growers like David, we have | :06:01. | :06:09. | |
to buy it when it's in season. And I have the perfect recipe to show | :06:09. | :06:14. | |
it off, a sweet and tangy starter. It takes full advantage of that | :06:14. | :06:19. | |
marriage made in heaven, rhubarb and cheese. | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
I really did enjoy my time with David. I have never seen so much | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
rhubarb growing in one place. It was like being in a rhubarb jungle. | :06:27. | :06:30. | |
I have David's rhubarb. In celebration of this, I'm going to | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
show the versatility of this product to the full. I'm making a | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
dish which is both sweet and savoury. It's a rhubarb and goat's | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
cheese salad. It confuses people rhubarb. No-one | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
is sure whether it's a fruit or vegetable. It really is a vegetable. | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
Unless you're in the States, where a court ruling in the 1940s said | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
because it was eaten with sugar, that it was a fruit. But they're | :06:55. | :07:02. | |
wrong! About lots of things. Rhubarb and goat's cheese salad. | :07:02. | :07:07. | |
First cut the rhubarb into small batons. Don't worry, you don't need | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
fancy knife skills for this recipe. fancy knife skills for this recipe. | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
It's all about great food cooked simply. I'm looking at about that | :07:15. | :07:20. | |
sort of thickness. Remember, those leaves are poisonous. Don't worry | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
if you nibble a bit. Just don't eat it by the plateful. Rhubarb is one | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
of those ingredients where you really have to taste as you cook. | :07:28. | :07:32. | |
You've got to keep on tasting, because you won't know how sour it | :07:32. | :07:38. | |
is until you start cooking. When you're cooking, taste, taste, taste. | :07:38. | :07:43. | |
( Melt butter in a pan. About 60 grams should do it, along with four | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
tea spoons of caster sugar. The rhubarb laps it up. Then add your | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
stalks, these are small, so they won't take too long to cook. As you | :07:51. | :07:55. | |
can see, as I'm pressing down, the spoon is beginning to change the | :07:56. | :07:59. | |
shape of the rhubarb, that's soft enough. Told you it was easy. So | :07:59. | :08:05. | |
the glaze. The makings of which are right here in the pan. Heat up a | :08:05. | :08:11. | |
little bit. We've got butter, sugar and rhubarb juice in there. Now | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
what we're going to do is add a glug of port. My tipple of choice | :08:14. | :08:20. | |
when it am coulds to cheese and it goes brilliantly -- when it comes | :08:20. | :08:26. | |
to cheese. We want this to become thicker and stickier. While that | :08:26. | :08:31. | |
bubble as way we can make our salad dressing. I use a universal | :08:31. | :08:34. | |
dressing all the time. One dressing for me does everything. It starts | :08:34. | :08:40. | |
with a generous glug of olive oil, virgin is fine. Any olive oil with | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
less than 1% acidity is extra virgin, it's too strong. English | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
mustard. In with the oil. Followed by a squeeze of lemon and plenty of | :08:48. | :08:53. | |
salt and pepper. And what did I tell you at the beginning? Taste, | :08:53. | :08:56. | |
taste, taste! Lovely. That's it. All we need to do now is bring | :08:56. | :09:01. | |
everything together. So first of all, leaves. I'm using rocket | :09:01. | :09:06. | |
because it's peppery and goes perfectly with the sweet-and-sour | :09:06. | :09:13. | |
rhubarb. Little pile of leaves. Rhubarb that took two or three | :09:13. | :09:18. | |
minutes, around the outside. So you can really appreciate that | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
incredible colour. Next its partner in crime, goat's cheese. Try and | :09:21. | :09:27. | |
use a hard one, not a sticky one. You want to crumble it. That sour | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
milkiness you get from the goat's cheese should be lovely with the | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
rhubarb. Not to mention our sweet rhubarb and port glaze. Look at | :09:35. | :09:40. | |
that. Drizzled over David's delicious rhubarb. There you are. | :09:40. | :09:50. | |
:09:50. | :09:52. | ||
Now that's what I call a salad. Right, knife and fork. Mate, I know | :09:52. | :09:56. | |
it's mine, but I love that. I absolutely love that. You've got | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
the leaves, a bit of sharpness on there. The goat's cheese bringing a | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
bit of milky sourness. It's the sharp sweetness of the rhubarb with | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
the port sauce that's the absolute star. This proves the versatility | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
of rhubarb. It can be sweet. It can be savoury. It's down to you. Be | :10:13. | :10:23. | |
:10:23. | :10:28. | ||
rhubarb as a national treasure. I'm off to rodgewell to meet a grower | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
who is as passionate about rhubarb as I am and has been instrumental | :10:32. | :10:34. | |
in putting Yorkshire forced rhubarb in putting Yorkshire forced rhubarb | :10:34. | :10:44. | |
:10:44. | :10:45. | ||
I love forced rhubarb, tender, soft, sweet, bright pink and the chefs I | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
work with simply cannot get enough of it. But in recent years, there's | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
been a rival on the shelf, those naughty, crafty Dutch are trying to | :10:54. | :10:59. | |
pass their off as the hallowed forced Yorkshire. Not right. And | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
the Yorkshire growers weren't prepared to take that lying down. | :11:02. | :11:08. | |
They knew they had a unique product. They were prepared to fight for it. | :11:08. | :11:13. | |
And got news is, after six long years, battling with bureaucrats in | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
Brussels, Yorkshire forced rhubarb has been awarded a protected | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
designation of origin status, a PDO. It's an exceptionally rare accolade, | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
which puts it up there with the likes of champagne and Parma ham. | :11:25. | :11:32. | |
And Janet is the woman who made it all happen. There it is, the beauty. | :11:32. | :11:36. | |
Now your forced rhubarb, fair to say, has been a huge success in the | :11:36. | :11:40. | |
last ten years. I've got to congratulate you on your hard work | :11:40. | :11:44. | |
on getting European PDO status. Thank you. It was hard work. It | :11:44. | :11:49. | |
took six years in total. Now no-one can call it Yorkshire rhubarb. | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
Exactly. Unless it comes from Yorkshire. Yes. Yorkshire forced | :11:53. | :11:58. | |
rhubarb is available for just a few months a year, from January to | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
March. It's first established outdoors. Is this where its life | :12:02. | :12:07. | |
starts? It is. This is a two-year- old root. Then when do you decide | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
to take it in? It has to have two to three years living out here | :12:12. | :12:17. | |
getting stronger and stronger. The root amassing an energy supply. | :12:17. | :12:22. | |
leave it dor mont for over two years, you don't get a penny out of | :12:22. | :12:27. | |
it? It's not dormant, but it's working for the plant. When they're | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
ready the roots are moved indoors to pitch black forcing sheds, a | :12:31. | :12:35. | |
controlled environment that produces sweeter tender stems. In a | :12:35. | :12:38. | |
forcing shed there is no light. Nofrpblgts. What make it's grow at | :12:39. | :12:43. | |
all? In the forcing sheds? Yes. It's looking for light. That's when | :12:43. | :12:49. | |
the scientists have found out it puts out this substance polyphenols | :12:49. | :12:55. | |
that we need in our bodies. They basically clear out your body of | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
pollutants that could cause cancer in your body. Do scientists who | :12:59. | :13:02. | |
found the cancer cure in the rhubarb, could you ask them to look | :13:02. | :13:06. | |
in the beer at rugby matches. I'm sure it has the same preventative | :13:06. | :13:12. | |
medicine in there. It is a good laxtive as well. Nice! Nice, Janet. | :13:12. | :13:17. | |
Would you let me look in one of these sheds. Yes, let's have a look. | :13:17. | :13:22. | |
Nothing's growing, but it will give you an idea. Janet has ten sheds of | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
varying sizes producing around 200 tons of proper Yorkshire forced | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
rhubarb a year. So this is one of the famous forcing sheds. This is | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
the largest one in the country. It's one of the last ones ever to | :13:33. | :13:38. | |
have been built, because they do say today, to build a forcing shed | :13:38. | :13:43. | |
you'd never get your money back, because they're only used for six | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
weeks harvest. When do the roots come in here? Late November, early | :13:47. | :13:53. | |
December. They're ready to be in production straight after the new | :13:53. | :13:57. | |
year. How many plants will we get in here? You'll get between 20,000 | :13:57. | :14:01. | |
to 30,000. They need to be kept damp and warm with mist irrigation | :14:01. | :14:08. | |
and propain heaters. Looks like an aircraft engine. Ouf got... Two of | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
them. Do you think I may have learned enough to grow my own on a | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
small scale? I won't bet on it. You're not going to be in | :14:17. | :14:20. | |
competition, I don't think. I've been truly blown away by the hard | :14:20. | :14:23. | |
work and dedication that goes into producing our forced rhubarb and | :14:23. | :14:29. | |
can't believe it's taken this long to give it the recognise -- rois it | :14:29. | :14:34. | |
deserved. It's a piece of our heritage and delicious. For a start, | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
it's amazingly tender. The force of my tongue on it, against the roof | :14:37. | :14:42. | |
of my mouth is enough to make the whole thing dissolve. Yeah. That is | :14:42. | :14:45. | |
just stunning, that's nectar. I'm having that. You don't have to | :14:46. | :14:55. | |
taste it, do you? No. Close your eyes, I'll only be a minute. | :14:55. | :15:00. | |
I'm really impressed. I had no idea how difficult it was to force | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
rhubarb. It's not a scientific process at all. It's completely | :15:04. | :15:07. | |
artisan. Everything depends on the skill and the knowledge of the | :15:08. | :15:12. | |
grower. I'm pleased they've managed to get PDO status, for an industry | :15:12. | :15:16. | |
once in decline has now been recognised for its uniqueness. It's | :15:16. | :15:19. | |
a beautiful product. Now, luckily, it's protected forever. | :15:19. | :15:24. | |
You can do your bit by buying and cooking it, because trust me, once | :15:24. | :15:27. | |
you've tasted it, you'll think it's worth every penny. | :15:27. | :15:32. | |
I'm going to use some of Janet's forced rhubarb now. I think it's a | :15:32. | :15:35. | |
beautiful product. It's without compare. To show you how good it is | :15:35. | :15:40. | |
and how versatile it is, I'm going to make a chutney with it. It goes | :15:40. | :15:43. | |
with cheese, certainly and with other meats. My favourite way of | :15:43. | :15:46. | |
doing it is the way I'm doing it doing it is the way I'm doing it | :15:47. | :15:54. | |
now, rhubarb chutney with gammon. Rhubarb first from the freezer. | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
Yorkshire forced rhubarb has such a short season early in the year, so | :15:57. | :16:02. | |
buy it fresh and freeze it. Then you can eat it all year round. This | :16:02. | :16:08. | |
will freeze beautifully well as long as you can krb cook it first | :16:08. | :16:12. | |
with sugar. You need about a pound of rhubarb for this chutney and a | :16:13. | :16:18. | |
splash of water. And soft brown sugar, quite a bit. It's got to be | :16:19. | :16:28. | |
:16:29. | :16:29. | ||
sharp. It's got to be slightly sweet. Right, we're going to put an | :16:29. | :16:34. | |
onion, tomato and some garlic in there. I put salt on garlic when I | :16:34. | :16:39. | |
crush it. It's abasive and helps to crush the garlic and also, all the | :16:39. | :16:44. | |
garlic juice then gets absorbed by the salt and it helps to keep the | :16:44. | :16:53. | |
chopping board clean. Not just a pretty face, am I?! And wheel -- | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
we'll check the rhubarb has softened. It has. That's the colour | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
you get with the forced stuff. Beautiful. All this can go in. We | :17:00. | :17:06. | |
have chopped onion, a rough old garlic paste, chopped tomato and | :17:06. | :17:10. | |
we're infusing all of these flavours together. All this chutney | :17:10. | :17:15. | |
needs now is some time. Plenty of red wine vinegar, followed by my | :17:15. | :17:22. | |
favourite, the spices. Remember, these things are strong, really, | :17:22. | :17:30. | |
really strong. One clove, teaspoon of ginger, half a tea of cinnamon. | :17:30. | :17:35. | |
I tell you I smell cinnamon and it's just like I want to sail away | :17:35. | :17:39. | |
like on a sea of donuts. Zesting this lemon should bring me back to | :17:39. | :17:42. | |
earth. I wants the zest and juice to bring out the sour in the | :17:42. | :17:52. | |
rhubarb and that's it. All you need to do now is let that bubble away | :17:52. | :17:56. | |
gently, while you make yourself a brew. Two hours later your chutney | :17:56. | :18:04. | |
will be ready. That's the consistency I wanted. It's kept its | :18:04. | :18:08. | |
beautiful vibrant colour and the smell coming off the chutney is | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
lovely. The great thing about my chutney is you can eat it straight | :18:12. | :18:16. | |
away. None of this leaving it on the shelf for two months nonsense. | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
Right, gammon next. It goes brilliantly with our tangy chutney | :18:20. | :18:26. | |
and takes minute its to cook. First get your griddle on drve minutes to | :18:26. | :18:30. | |
cook. First get your griddle on. Get a knife or scissors and cut | :18:30. | :18:33. | |
through the fat in a number of places. This will stop the meat | :18:34. | :18:43. | |
:18:44. | :18:44. | ||
curling up when it hits the hot pan. Leave it, don't touch it. Don't | :18:44. | :18:48. | |
keep turning it over. You'll see the colour rising up through the | :18:48. | :18:58. | |
:18:58. | :18:59. | ||
gammon on the thick side. Look at that! That is lovely. Off the heat, | :18:59. | :19:08. | |
on to a plate. Nice little mound of cabbage and the star of our show, | :19:08. | :19:17. | |
forced rhubarb chutney. Right, the proof is in the tasting and I can't | :19:17. | :19:27. | |
:19:27. | :19:32. | ||
bit of seasoning, but it's that chutney that is delightful, the | :19:32. | :19:36. | |
sweetness of that forced rhubarb, picking up a bit of spice, also a | :19:36. | :19:46. | |
:19:46. | :19:48. | ||
bit of acidity. It is perfect. I want you to fall back in love | :19:48. | :19:54. | |
with British rhubarb an ingredient we were once world famous for. I'm | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
heading to Clumber park, a National Trust property with a kitchen | :19:58. | :20:03. | |
garden that dates to 1772, to rediscover some of our long lost | :20:03. | :20:09. | |
varieties. There's no doubt that our taste for | :20:09. | :20:13. | |
rhubarb has diminished. It is an industry in decline, which has | :20:13. | :20:19. | |
meant we've lost touch with many of our heir loom varieties. It's not | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
commercially viable for growers to produce them. It's a sad state of | :20:23. | :20:27. | |
affairs. But people are out there doing their bit to preserve our | :20:27. | :20:32. | |
heritage varieties, like the head gardener Chris Margrave, whose love | :20:32. | :20:38. | |
of rhubarb has led him to create a living museum. This place is | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
stunning. That's very kind of you to say so. Absolutely beautiful. | :20:42. | :20:46. | |
How many varieties have we got here? We reckon about 95 or 96 at | :20:46. | :20:52. | |
the moment. The target is to get the century. The one we're after is | :20:52. | :21:02. | |
:21:02. | :21:03. | ||
a variety called tobbolsk. That allegedly had a favour of plums. If | :21:03. | :21:07. | |
you have one, I'd be interested to hear from you. What is it about | :21:07. | :21:11. | |
rhubarb. I used to commute to work through the rhubarb kingdom. It | :21:11. | :21:15. | |
became apparent that the kingdom was shrinking rapidly. It was | :21:15. | :21:21. | |
brought home when I saw a forcing shed being demolished. That was the | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
impetus to help with the preservation of old rhubarb rerites | :21:25. | :21:30. | |
-- varieties. The greengrocer in me can't wait to see what sets the | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
varieties apart. That's completely different. Many ribs, one big spine. | :21:34. | :21:39. | |
Break it and see the flesh colour. That's quite green. That's red, | :21:39. | :21:42. | |
isn't it? There's one variety in particular I've only ever heard | :21:43. | :21:50. | |
rumour of, the Irish giant. So this legendary Irish beast, crying out | :21:50. | :21:57. | |
loud. Thfrpblgts one here. -- one here. You can see just how | :21:57. | :22:02. | |
thick the leaf stalks are. That's after a very, very dry season. | :22:02. | :22:09. | |
you got a hawks champagne? No, but we have a pink and red champagne. | :22:09. | :22:15. | |
One of my favourites. This is pink champagne. Quite a thin stalk this | :22:15. | :22:21. | |
one. I like them thin. I think they're finer and slightly sweeter. | :22:21. | :22:28. | |
The champagne for me is a bit dry on the tongue. I think it's like a | :22:28. | :22:32. | |
good bolinger, a bit dry. I get a feeling you may have tasted a bit | :22:32. | :22:37. | |
more rhubarb than I have. I suppose it's one of the perks when you have | :22:37. | :22:40. | |
95 varieties to sample. He's a lucky man and these are lucky | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
plants, saved from the brink for everyone to enjoy. What's the | :22:44. | :22:49. | |
future for the rhubarb collection? Ideally I'd like to have three | :22:49. | :22:53. | |
plants of each variety. Then we can make an application to have our | :22:53. | :22:57. | |
collection as the national rhubarb collection. Then maintaining them | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
so that these wonderful old varieties are not lost to | :23:01. | :23:05. | |
cultivation. These old rhubarb varieties are a part of our | :23:05. | :23:10. | |
national treasure trove as Drake and the armada, Lennon and | :23:10. | :23:16. | |
McCartney, the sounding of the final whistle July 3, 1966. They | :23:16. | :23:20. | |
bring with them stories, not just about what people ate, but how | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
communities worked and lived. There's tremendous historic | :23:23. | :23:28. | |
importance with them. Will people be able to buy the varieties? | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
when we have surplus of the varieties, we'll hopefully make | :23:32. | :23:38. | |
them available through our plant centre so people can acquire them. | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
I'm chuffed that there are people like Chris who are passionate | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
enough about rhubarb to keep all these plants alive and that there | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
are beautiful places like this where we can visit. What can we, | :23:49. | :23:53. | |
the public, do to support it? We can come and visit and who knows, | :23:53. | :24:00. | |
maybe grow the odd plant ourselves. We can even go and explore the | :24:00. | :24:05. | |
famous triangle itself. Wakefield is so proud of its rhubarb heritage, | :24:05. | :24:08. | |
it's even given rhubarb its own festival, a hugely popular event | :24:08. | :24:13. | |
that celebrates the area's growers and producers. I do think it's | :24:13. | :24:17. | |
worth a troip Yorkshire, because walks and eating go together very | :24:17. | :24:22. | |
well. You can explore the area, work up an appetite and then try | :24:22. | :24:27. | |
some of the rhubarb specialities after. There are plenty to choose | :24:27. | :24:33. | |
from, including rhubarb cheese. produce ruby gold. It's got a layer | :24:33. | :24:39. | |
of local rhubarb through the centre. The base cheese is a sheep's milk | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
cheese, a bit like fete ya. The two flavours go well together. They | :24:43. | :24:51. | |
haven't stopped there. We do a pork, rhubarb and chilli sausage. We do | :24:51. | :24:55. | |
ay burger with local rhubarb in that as well. The opportunities are | :24:55. | :25:02. | |
endless with rhubarb. One North Yorkshire pub even serves rhubarb | :25:02. | :25:08. | |
schnapps, known to the locals as grown up Calpol, because of its | :25:09. | :25:16. | |
colour and medicinal properties. Give rhubarb a chance, it's worth | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
trying for this recipe alone. And it's in the a crumble. That's not | :25:20. | :25:22. | |
saying it's one of the best desserts in the world. Because we | :25:22. | :25:27. | |
know it is. It's so much more than that. To prove it, I'm going to | :25:27. | :25:35. | |
make a rhubarb meringue tart. Right look, rhubarb meringue tart. | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
They have the tart, the rhubarb and the meringue. The first bit and the | :25:40. | :25:42. | |
most important bit, the rhubarb. most important bit, the rhubarb. | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
Cut it into chunks. Same way you would a crumble. It's going to get | :25:47. | :25:50. | |
covered in meringue later so you don't have to be exact. You can't | :25:50. | :25:54. | |
smell it, but it's giving off, it's like being in a garden after the | :25:54. | :25:59. | |
rain. It's lovely. And it's going to make the most amazing dessert, | :25:59. | :26:08. | |
stewed up with plenty of sugar. A bit of water, help it along its way. | :26:08. | :26:12. | |
Then zest and juice of a lemon. Which will help it keeps its colour | :26:13. | :26:21. | |
and its tang. Right, heat, lid on. Leaving it to soften for about 15 | :26:22. | :26:27. | |
minutes. It's going to be quite wet. We need to thicken it, a bit like | :26:27. | :26:29. | |
custard, with some cornflour and water mixed together and a couple | :26:29. | :26:36. | |
of egg yokes. -- yolks. Look at that! That is a happy rhubarb dance. | :26:37. | :26:44. | |
Heat down a bit. Then get the cornflour in and your two egg yolks. | :26:44. | :26:53. | |
Nice. Stir. OK. I can feel that's thicker. As that cools, that will | :26:53. | :27:00. | |
get thicker still and be able to support the meringue. Now for the | :27:00. | :27:05. | |
tart bit. You need sweet shortcrust pastry cases. Shop bought is fine. | :27:05. | :27:10. | |
Just fill them halfway, leaving room for the meringue. Now I've got | :27:10. | :27:16. | |
my egg whites. We're going to whisk them up until we have stiff peaks. | :27:16. | :27:21. | |
It will take a while, so be patient. Gradually you'll notice a change in | :27:21. | :27:28. | |
texture. Look how firm that is. Then add the sugar, bit by bit, | :27:28. | :27:35. | |
until it's thick and shiny, a bit like me. What comes next is a | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
gloriously messy job. What we're going to do is we are going to put | :27:39. | :27:43. | |
the meringue mix in here and we're going to pipe this across the top | :27:43. | :27:48. | |
of the tarts. This bag enables you to get the meringue mixture into | :27:48. | :27:53. | |
every little bit of the tart. That's if you can get it in the bag | :27:53. | :28:01. | |
in the first place. When it's full, you can start piping. I find it | :28:01. | :28:05. | |
easier to follow the outside and work my way in. | :28:05. | :28:09. | |
There, now tell me that is not one of the most beautiful things you | :28:09. | :28:14. | |
have ever seen. Looks great. Right, into the oven. Remember the pastry | :28:14. | :28:18. | |
is cooked. The rhubarb is cooked. This is just to cook the meringue. | :28:18. | :28:25. | |
You want to bring it out when it goes toasty brown. It won't take | :28:25. | :28:30. | |
long in a medium oven so keep an eye on it. Around 20 minutes later, | :28:30. | :28:40. | |
:28:40. | :28:50. | ||
absolutely divine. It's not too sweet. It's really light, but the | :28:50. | :28:54. | |
star is the sharpness and the slight sweetness of that rhubarb. | :28:54. | :28:59. | |
You know what that is? That is a great big cuddle off the pudding | :28:59. | :29:02. | |
angel, that's what that is. I can't understand why we're not eating | :29:02. | :29:07. | |
rhubarb by the shed load. What are we going to do? You're going to | :29:07. | :29:11. | |
help me. We need to lift this beautiful British product. It's | :29:11. | :29:15. | |
available to us and being grown for ten months of the year. We node a | :29:15. | :29:19. | |
mantra - rhubarb is not just for crumbles. Let's kick off a rhubarb | :29:19. | :29:22. | |
renaissance. Now here's another foodie who's | :29:22. | :29:27. | |
passionate about reviving a small, but perfectly formed great British | :29:27. | :29:37. | |
:29:37. | :29:37. | ||
My name is Ainsley Harriott. I want to tell you about one of the most | :29:37. | :29:42. | |
exciting vegetables in Britain. Despite having loads of varieties, | :29:42. | :29:48. | |
we've been eegt the same type of this little veg for generations. | :29:48. | :29:54. | |
It's time to safe guard the future of this precious part of our food | :29:54. | :30:00. | |
heritage. We're talking about the great British pea. | :30:00. | :30:05. | |
The hugely popular frozen pea may be king of convenience, but the | :30:05. | :30:08. | |
fresh pea has almost disappeared from the supermarkets. If we don't | :30:08. | :30:12. | |
start using fresh peas and looking out for them in season, we may lose | :30:12. | :30:19. | |
them forever. To convince you to join my revival, I'll be visiting | :30:19. | :30:24. | |
one of the most famous gardens in Britain in the grounds of Highgrove | :30:24. | :30:28. | |
House. Until you've tasted them fresh and break open the pod and | :30:28. | :30:33. | |
taste them, there's nothing quite like it. I'll find out how peas | :30:33. | :30:35. | |
helped uncover one of the most important scientific discoverries | :30:35. | :30:43. | |
of the last 200 years. Pea is a plant that was used to uncover the | :30:43. | :30:46. | |
laws of inheritance and genetics. As well as showing you different | :30:46. | :30:52. | |
ways to get your family screaming "Pass the peas please skphram" | :30:52. | :31:02. | |
Fresh peas burst in your mouth. It is exciting. My dad would be proud. | :31:02. | :31:06. | |
You know whu sit round shelling peas like this, memories come | :31:06. | :31:09. | |
flooding back, because it was such a wonderful family thing to do. We | :31:09. | :31:16. | |
grew them. It was exciting, a bit of Nina Simon E.On the radio, | :31:16. | :31:24. | |
shelling peas. It gives you time to slow you down. They are delightful | :31:24. | :31:30. | |
yum yums. Out of the 35,000 hectares of British soil given over | :31:30. | :31:38. | |
to growing peas only 8.5% is grown for the fresh market. Every year | :31:38. | :31:41. | |
that percentage gets smaller and smaller. If we don't act now then | :31:41. | :31:45. | |
the joy of eating peas straight from the pod may be something our | :31:45. | :31:51. | |
children may not -- never experience. To prove my point, I | :31:52. | :31:55. | |
want to get onto the streets and find out where you guys are getting | :31:55. | :32:02. | |
your peas. I'm assuming that you probably eat peas from where, the | :32:02. | :32:08. | |
freezer? From a tin. From a tin? prefer them. Why? I don't know, | :32:08. | :32:12. | |
because my dad grows peas but I don't like them. In the freezer. | :32:12. | :32:17. | |
Really? Always, even when you were a young girl, what were they like | :32:17. | :32:22. | |
then? Out of the pod. Have you poded your own peas. Do you know | :32:22. | :32:27. | |
what a pea is? Of course. I did it with my granny when I was little. | :32:27. | :32:30. | |
Most people want them from the freezer. That's boring. You're | :32:30. | :32:33. | |
getting rid of the freshness of the product. That needs to be happening | :32:33. | :32:37. | |
with the country. There's too many families today who haven't got time. | :32:37. | :32:42. | |
Promise me you're going to go home and take some of those peas from | :32:42. | :32:51. | |
your parents' garden and pod them for me. That's the pea revolution | :32:51. | :32:56. | |
right there. This is what it's about, reviving these lovely little, | :32:56. | :32:59. | |
beautiful fresh peas that taste so sweet and succulent and so, so | :32:59. | :33:03. | |
lovely. I know that you're probably thinking, well the frozen peas I've | :33:03. | :33:08. | |
got in my freezer is probably the nearest thing our kids will get to | :33:08. | :33:13. | |
eating green vegetables. Once you try these, you realise why I'm so | :33:13. | :33:16. | |
passionate about it. It's that pea passion that I want to share with | :33:16. | :33:20. | |
you. So to start my revival, I'm heading to Gloucestershire, where | :33:20. | :33:28. | |
many fresh British peas are grown. Guy Barter from the Royal | :33:28. | :33:34. | |
Horticultural Society is mine of information about peas. I see | :33:34. | :33:39. | |
you're admiring the wonderful pea. Why should we eat more of these? | :33:39. | :33:43. | |
This these succulent pods there are lots of tasty and nutritious peas. | :33:43. | :33:47. | |
They're full of protein as well as being sweet from shuingarz as well. | :33:47. | :33:51. | |
Aren't they gorgeous? Fantastic. They're especially bred to be full | :33:51. | :33:57. | |
of sugar. The roots are the critical part. They fix nitrogen | :33:57. | :34:02. | |
and that is transferred to the plant. That enriches the soil | :34:02. | :34:08. | |
again? It enriches the plant full of protein and enriches the soil, | :34:08. | :34:12. | |
so you don't have to add fertiliser. Peas are environment yael friendly | :34:12. | :34:18. | |
as well as being good to eat. enriching of the soil made peas an | :34:18. | :34:22. | |
important crop in the past. In the mid-Twentieth Century, pea picking | :34:22. | :34:30. | |
became a lost art and the product suffered. They took a long time to | :34:30. | :34:37. | |
get to market. By the time they arrived on the greengrocer shelves | :34:37. | :34:42. | |
there were immature ones, overmature ones. They were dry. | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
Many people are unaware now of what fresh pods are like. Would you | :34:46. | :34:51. | |
agree it's time for a food revival with the poded pea? Yes, I | :34:51. | :34:56. | |
certainly would. Peas can arrive on the dinner table very quickly after | :34:56. | :34:59. | |
being picked. All the issues with poor quality that used to give | :34:59. | :35:04. | |
fresh peas a bad name, one hopes are a thing of the past. People can | :35:04. | :35:09. | |
enjoy fresh peas. But it's not just the way the peas get to market has | :35:09. | :35:12. | |
changed. The peas themselves have changed. The peas in this field | :35:13. | :35:16. | |
have been grown by Martin Hanes, whose family have been growing peas | :35:16. | :35:22. | |
for generations. We're using more modern varieties, sweeter tasting. | :35:22. | :35:28. | |
We pick them a little bitterlyier now than maybe we did. My father is | :35:28. | :35:37. | |
90. When he looks at the farm, he says "These aren't ready yet." They | :35:37. | :35:42. | |
are now for the pallet that people are looking at now. When I was | :35:42. | :35:46. | |
growing up, the pods were thicker, more velvety. Yes, part of the | :35:46. | :35:52. | |
development is to get the pod to be thinner and weaker and more pea in | :35:52. | :35:56. | |
the pod. More pea in your pod for your pound! Yes, exactly. That's | :35:56. | :36:02. | |
wonderful. To really illustrate the beauty of | :36:02. | :36:10. | |
this great British bounty, I'm going to get cooking. Peas, Mother | :36:10. | :36:15. | |
Nature's present to all of us. I love them because they're so | :36:15. | :36:20. | |
wonderfully versatile. They have a great taste. They're easy to grow. | :36:20. | :36:23. | |
Oh, dear, what would we do without Oh, dear, what would we do without | :36:23. | :36:30. | |
them? My first recipe is a fresh pea, broad bean and ham hock salad. | :36:30. | :36:34. | |
This is a great dish for a long summer evening, combining all the | :36:34. | :36:41. | |
classic flavours that traditionally go with peas. Take your peas, bring | :36:41. | :36:45. | |
your water to the boil and in they go. They're only going to take a | :36:45. | :36:48. | |
couple of minutes and not too much water. If you boil them in too much | :36:48. | :36:53. | |
water, you're losing all the vitamin C. To the peas I'm adding | :36:53. | :37:00. | |
mangetout. These really don't take long o -- to cook. Then straight | :37:00. | :37:04. | |
onto ice. I want to keep that colour, vibrant green colour. This | :37:04. | :37:09. | |
is great. This will set it off. It stops the cook prog ses immediately | :37:09. | :37:19. | |
and just cools everything down. -- process immediately and just cools | :37:19. | :37:23. | |
everything don. Something about a salad you don't want water. If | :37:23. | :37:28. | |
you're washing lettuce leaves, you want to dry them off. Dry them off. | :37:28. | :37:32. | |
You really want the natural flavour to come oust them. I'm going to | :37:32. | :37:39. | |
give those a little bit of a pat dry. I've poded, shelled and | :37:39. | :37:45. | |
lightly cooked my broad beans which are ready to add a buttery contrast | :37:45. | :37:50. | |
to the peas' crunch. My secret ingredient? Fresh pea shoots. Those | :37:50. | :38:00. | |
:38:00. | :38:00. | ||
pea shoots are great, dry, not wet, lovely. Beautiful, peppery, not as | :38:00. | :38:06. | |
much as rocket or watercress. What better accompaniment than coursely | :38:06. | :38:11. | |
cut ham hock. Just take that and pop it in there like that, really | :38:11. | :38:18. | |
lovely. I like to put a bit of chilli. Maybe it's a Caribbean | :38:18. | :38:24. | |
thing, I don't know. It's lovely. It just adds just enough kick to it. | :38:24. | :38:30. | |
A splash of colour and it's time for the dressing. A dash of cider | :38:30. | :38:39. | |
vinegar, a drizzle of olive oil, followed by some freshly, finely | :38:39. | :38:42. | |
chopped spring onions, then parsley and a good friend of the pea, fresh | :38:42. | :38:49. | |
mint. Let those flavours just mingle together, really, really | :38:49. | :38:53. | |
coming alive. It's pretty, those flecks of chilli pepper in there. | :38:53. | :38:58. | |
It's just kind of, it's -- it almost adds exoticness to your | :38:58. | :39:03. | |
salad. Serve all the freshness of an exotic British summer on a plate. | :39:03. | :39:09. | |
I think I'm going to finish that off with a little few of those | :39:09. | :39:14. | |
gorgeous pea shoots, sitting on the top there. How about that? There | :39:14. | :39:21. | |
you go. Really gorgeous, fresh pea, broad bean and ham hock salad. | :39:21. | :39:25. | |
I hope this dish shows you that brilliant and convenient as they | :39:25. | :39:29. | |
are, there is more to peas than being frozen. There are lots of pea | :39:29. | :39:39. | |
:39:39. | :39:41. | ||
varieties, each with their own The next stop on my campaign is the | :39:41. | :39:46. | |
John Innes centre near Norwich. At the leading centre of plant and | :39:46. | :39:48. | |
microbial research, it's the home to the world's largest pea | :39:48. | :39:54. | |
collection. Mike has been involved with the collection for over 30 | :39:54. | :40:00. | |
years. How many varieties do you have here? We grow and maintain | :40:00. | :40:07. | |
just over 3,500 different types of pea. Wow. 3,500 varieties of peas?! | :40:07. | :40:11. | |
And they're all kept in one room. I can't wait to see them. This is it, | :40:11. | :40:15. | |
isn't it? This is it. Oh, my word. Look at the size of this, Mike. | :40:16. | :40:21. | |
This is extraordinary. Is this all peas? No, about two tracks of | :40:21. | :40:26. | |
shelfing are peas. The rest are the seeds for the research on site. | :40:26. | :40:33. | |
This is peas from all over the world? Yes. Including wild types, | :40:33. | :40:37. | |
but cultivars from all over the world. Wow, amazing. If you need | :40:37. | :40:40. | |
convincing there's more to peas than the ones in your freezer, then | :40:40. | :40:45. | |
this is the room for you. There are peas everywhere and each one with | :40:45. | :40:52. | |
individual characteristics. These are the selection of the British | :40:52. | :40:57. | |
heritage peas. We have 86 different lines that go back to the middle | :40:57. | :41:01. | |
1800s. I've got a few on these trays here, things like this one | :41:01. | :41:06. | |
here, this is champion of England from the late 1800s. Duke of Albany, | :41:06. | :41:10. | |
a very popular, long picking variety. Why do you collect all | :41:10. | :41:14. | |
these peas? What's the idea behind it then? The important thing is to | :41:14. | :41:18. | |
have all this variation for researchers and breeders to work | :41:18. | :41:22. | |
with. Because you never know what is needed to try to improve the | :41:22. | :41:28. | |
plants for tomorrow and the crops to make them more disease resistent, | :41:28. | :41:36. | |
pest resistent, so adapted to climate. We can serve them here and | :41:36. | :41:41. | |
using them they can be kept alive. This is a living catalogue for the | :41:41. | :41:44. | |
thousands of varieties that exist. Our pea varieties have been | :41:44. | :41:49. | |
documented for centuries. Mike has accessed us some unique records of | :41:49. | :41:58. | |
our pea-growing past. What I'd like to show you here is effectively | :41:58. | :42:03. | |
Elizabethan version of our seed store. That's like, 1500s we're | :42:03. | :42:08. | |
talking about? Yes late 1500s. very exciting to think this | :42:08. | :42:11. | |
manuscript pre-dates Shakespeare. The star of the show is the British | :42:11. | :42:18. | |
pea. Are any of these varieties still around today? Their | :42:18. | :42:21. | |
characteristics are. We have many lines which illustrate and are very | :42:21. | :42:28. | |
similar to the types that you see represented here. Just brilliant. | :42:28. | :42:34. | |
The seed cat logs illustrate the peas variety. These books helped to | :42:34. | :42:37. | |
uncover one of the most important scientific discoverries of the last | :42:37. | :42:43. | |
200 years. What many people don't think about when they're opening | :42:43. | :42:46. | |
their packet of frozen peas is the important role that peas have | :42:46. | :42:53. | |
played in genetics. It was the plant that was used to uncover the | :42:53. | :42:58. | |
laws of inheritance and genetics. How amazing. By studying pea plants, | :42:58. | :43:02. | |
it was discovered the patterns of dominant characteristics in certain | :43:02. | :43:07. | |
varieties N so doing the corner stone for modern genetics was laid. | :43:07. | :43:11. | |
Would he have used these books for that information? We know the seed | :43:11. | :43:17. | |
cat logs were in the library, that he was using at the time. So, yes, | :43:17. | :43:20. | |
he would. The Victorians who read these cat logs would have loved | :43:20. | :43:25. | |
their peas. They have h a surprising use for their pods, pea | :43:25. | :43:35. | |
:43:35. | :43:39. | ||
pod wine. Cheers! That's interesting. You can taste the pea | :43:39. | :43:42. | |
coming through there and it's kind of an interesting thing to do with | :43:42. | :43:47. | |
your pods really, isn't it? We used to throw them into the stock pot at | :43:47. | :43:51. | |
work, but to produce them into wine. That's not bad, is it? At the end | :43:51. | :43:56. | |
of the garden. I suppose after a few glasses of this, you don't care. | :43:56. | :43:59. | |
You wouldn't. You wouldn't remember where you planted them. That's | :43:59. | :44:05. | |
quite strong. I'm not convinced that pea pod wine will make a huge | :44:05. | :44:09. | |
revival, but the peas themselves, that's a different matter. | :44:09. | :44:14. | |
Look at this, I have really delicious fresh peas here, along | :44:14. | :44:18. | |
with my corgette which reminds me of summer. That's inspired me for | :44:18. | :44:25. | |
my je. Dish, a fresh pea, corgette, parmesan rosties with a tangy | :44:25. | :44:30. | |
dressing. Poding is one of those strange | :44:30. | :44:34. | |
things. It feels like a job that goes on forever and ever, but it | :44:34. | :44:39. | |
brings the family together. I sit round with my brother or sister, | :44:39. | :44:43. | |
sometimes aunts and uncles, poding peas. It was a great way of having | :44:43. | :44:46. | |
conversation. I put my peas into boiling water, giving me enough | :44:46. | :44:53. | |
boiling water, giving me enough time to shred the courgette. We | :44:53. | :45:00. | |
want to make them nice and dry. When you cook your rostis they will | :45:00. | :45:10. | |
:45:10. | :45:11. | ||
be crispy. Peas and courgettes go into a large mixing bowl, pinenuts | :45:11. | :45:16. | |
and freshly grated parmesan are added. Then use two eggs to bind | :45:16. | :45:19. | |
the ingredients. And I'm going to get my hands in there now. I'm | :45:19. | :45:23. | |
going to work that through. Look at those peas. Don't they look | :45:23. | :45:26. | |
wonderful? You could use frozen peas here. There's nothing wrong | :45:26. | :45:30. | |
with frozen peas. Don't think I'm having a go at you, saying hey you | :45:30. | :45:34. | |
can't use frozen peas. Let's face it, fresh peas are only in season | :45:34. | :45:39. | |
until about September and that's pushing it, to be honest with you. | :45:39. | :45:45. | |
But frozen peas are great and often it's one of the few ways that we | :45:45. | :45:49. | |
have of getting vitamin C into our kids, there's the orange juice and | :45:49. | :45:54. | |
stuff. But kids tend to like peas as a vegetable. Fresh or frozen, | :45:54. | :46:02. | |
this dish is all about the pea. Let the rice flour absorb any liquid, | :46:02. | :46:07. | |
then add the basil. Then it's time for the real fun. A bit of a squash | :46:07. | :46:12. | |
down with the palm of your hand. Then using the pallet knife just to | :46:13. | :46:17. | |
shape them, to bind them, pull them together. The peas tend to fall | :46:17. | :46:20. | |
away. You think oh, it's all going to collapse. That won't happen, | :46:20. | :46:25. | |
when it hits the pan, the egg begins to set and the Chris pince | :46:25. | :46:30. | |
of the ground rice begins to work, cook out. It's just absolutely fab. | :46:30. | :46:35. | |
Not too hot here. There's a tendency when you're making things | :46:35. | :46:38. | |
like rostis you turn up the pan too much. It will brown before it | :46:38. | :46:44. | |
starts to cook. Just nice controlled heat, then we can talk | :46:44. | :46:49. | |
about getting a bit of colour with them afterwards. There's a tendency | :46:49. | :46:53. | |
that we tend to overload our pan a bit. Don't do that. When you're | :46:53. | :46:59. | |
talking them out, put them on absorbant kitchen paper and keep | :46:59. | :47:03. | |
them warm in the oven. They're not too bad even warmed to be honest | :47:03. | :47:08. | |
with you. It doesn't take long for them to turn golden brown, with the | :47:08. | :47:13. | |
green peas shining through. Now it's time to work on the dressing. | :47:13. | :47:17. | |
Plum and sun dried tomatoes, add olive oil, shallots, and a dash of | :47:17. | :47:25. | |
pea pod wine. If you haven't got pea poded wine | :47:25. | :47:29. | |
don't worry, red pine, vinegar, tablespoon or two will be fine. You | :47:29. | :47:33. | |
can serve them individually, but I like to stack them in a tower. Then | :47:33. | :47:39. | |
drizzle on my lovely tomato dressing and finish with some fresh | :47:39. | :47:44. | |
chopped basil. Wonderful. They look so good. Just want to get stuck | :47:44. | :47:54. | |
:47:54. | :47:54. | ||
into it, don't you? Here we go. That's OK. Fresh peas are just | :47:54. | :47:59. | |
burst in your mouth. It is exciting. A bit of ground rice, holds it | :47:59. | :48:04. | |
together, giving it another dimension, another nexure if you | :48:04. | :48:09. | |
like, with the tangy tomato dressing. It brings the peas out | :48:09. | :48:19. | |
:48:19. | :48:20. | ||
beautifully. You have to try it. We The Victorians referred to peas as | :48:20. | :48:23. | |
the Prince of vegetables. What better way to restore the | :48:23. | :48:29. | |
reputation than to visit peas grown by a Prince. I'm at Highgrove House | :48:29. | :48:36. | |
in Gloucestershire to look around a very special garden. His Royal | :48:36. | :48:38. | |
Highness the Prince of Wales gardens at Highgrove are not what | :48:38. | :48:41. | |
you might expect from a royal residence, more personal than | :48:41. | :48:46. | |
formal, more fun than stately. The grounds here represent a vision 30 | :48:46. | :48:52. | |
years in the making. To find out more, I'm meeting the head gardener | :48:52. | :48:58. | |
in the walled kitchen garden. Well this is clearly a very, very | :48:58. | :49:01. | |
special garden. So what's the philosophy behind it? I think | :49:01. | :49:07. | |
you're going to have to listen. You're going to hear the bees. It's | :49:07. | :49:12. | |
an organic garden. That makes it very special. Do you have to put in | :49:12. | :49:16. | |
more effort for an organic garden? You have to think long and hard how | :49:16. | :49:20. | |
you garden. It's the rotation of the vegetables. It's encouraging | :49:20. | :49:23. | |
wildlife to take care of the predators, choosing varieties that | :49:23. | :49:27. | |
are disease resistant and taste good. So, every plant and vegetable | :49:27. | :49:32. | |
in this garden has been hand picked for its uniqueness. And of course, | :49:32. | :49:37. | |
few plants or vegetables will have as many characteristics to choose | :49:37. | :49:42. | |
from as the good old British pea. What about peas, how important are | :49:42. | :49:47. | |
they here? Well, every since His Royal Highness came to Highgrove | :49:47. | :49:50. | |
and basically layed out the kitchen garden that you see, he's been | :49:50. | :49:59. | |
growing peas. He has stuck with one all the way through, that's the | :49:59. | :50:02. | |
Alderman. It has a special flavour. It's a flavour he enjoys. This is | :50:02. | :50:06. | |
what I want to get across. This is what I want to get across to | :50:06. | :50:10. | |
viewers, there's lots of different varieties here. Until you've tasted | :50:10. | :50:13. | |
them fresh and break open that pod and taste them, there's nothing | :50:13. | :50:19. | |
quite like it. The Alderman holds an important place in the garden. | :50:19. | :50:24. | |
Though late in the season, they've kept their pods drying on the plant. | :50:24. | :50:27. | |
They're actually past their best. But that's because we've had a | :50:27. | :50:33. | |
great harvest off of them. We've now left the last few here for | :50:33. | :50:39. | |
producing seeds, so we can save it for next year. Explain this wigwam | :50:39. | :50:43. | |
formation here. I've never seen this before. It's a traditional way | :50:43. | :50:47. | |
of growing the tall varieties of peas. The nice thing about growing | :50:47. | :50:52. | |
tall varieties, this is nearly six foot tall, it can grow taller, you | :50:52. | :50:57. | |
need a structure to support them, but per area ground, you can | :50:57. | :51:03. | |
produce more peas than the smaller varieties that... Ideal, especially | :51:03. | :51:07. | |
for people with small gardens like myself. This is great. I know that | :51:07. | :51:11. | |
His Royal Highness is keen on organic gardening and very hands on. | :51:11. | :51:14. | |
I think nothing would probably give him more pleasure than to see | :51:14. | :51:18. | |
people around Britain growing their own peas. He couldn't think of | :51:18. | :51:22. | |
anything better than encouraging generation upon generation to keep | :51:22. | :51:26. | |
the old varieties going for future generations. So we need to instil | :51:26. | :51:32. | |
that in the gardeners of today. Here, here. So why not join the | :51:32. | :51:36. | |
thousands of gardeners around the UK who are already growing heritage | :51:36. | :51:41. | |
peas? These the -- the easiest way is to join the heritage seed | :51:41. | :51:45. | |
library, with over 97 varieties of peas in their collection, there's | :51:45. | :51:54. | |
sure to be one to suit your palate. My next dish is unbelievable. It is | :51:54. | :51:59. | |
unbelievably tasty. I'm using a very inexpensive cut, belly of pork, | :51:59. | :52:09. | |
:52:09. | :52:10. | ||
to make my jerk belly of pork with thing instead of a hash works | :52:10. | :52:12. | |
perfectly beautifully with this inexpensive cut of pork. When you | :52:12. | :52:17. | |
cook it slowly, it rewards you. It is so succulent and fabulous. Oh, I | :52:18. | :52:23. | |
love jerk cooking, but to do it well, you must get the right mix. | :52:23. | :52:28. | |
Look at the colour of that. Really lovely and the smell, you can smell | :52:28. | :52:32. | |
the cinnamon, the allspice. Real memories of my mum's cooking, | :52:32. | :52:36. | |
Caribbean cooking in general with the lovely spices. This is cooked | :52:36. | :52:42. | |
slowly. It gives it a chance to drift in the air and you are | :52:42. | :52:45. | |
following it. I feel like deputy dog or something like that | :52:45. | :52:50. | |
following supper for the evening. Really lovely. Seer off the pork in | :52:50. | :52:55. | |
a hot pan and prepare a baking tray with thickly sliced onions and | :52:55. | :53:00. | |
garlic. I have fresh thyme from the garden here. I'm nestling that on | :53:00. | :53:07. | |
top. It's wonderful walking around Highgrove, I've got to say, because | :53:07. | :53:12. | |
His Royal Highness has just grown this wild thyme everywhere. It's a | :53:12. | :53:19. | |
wonderful aroma, but no, I did not take this from the royal garden. | :53:19. | :53:23. | |
Place the pork on the onions then add cider and chicken stock that | :53:23. | :53:29. | |
will be absorbed by the pork and create a wonderful sauce. Cover the | :53:29. | :53:36. | |
tray with foil and it's ready for the oven. That's 180 centigrade, | :53:36. | :53:40. | |
350 Fahrenheit, gas mark four, for about two-and-a-half hours. It will | :53:41. | :53:45. | |
be wonderfully tender. I'm going to have a cup of coffee. Like fresh | :53:45. | :53:49. | |
peas, slow cooking has become a thing of the past. But the joy of | :53:49. | :53:54. | |
filling the house with the taste and flavours of dinner is just a | :53:54. | :54:01. | |
wonderful way to get the family excited about good food. Ah, | :54:01. | :54:05. | |
gorgeous! Look at that. It just smells so rich. You can see that | :54:05. | :54:10. | |
it's going to be so tender, really lovely. And I'm going to be serving | :54:10. | :54:15. | |
that with my pea and potato mash up. I've been poding a few of them here. | :54:15. | :54:18. | |
We're going to cook those until they're tender. They only take a | :54:18. | :54:25. | |
couple of minutes. My new potatoes have been boiled in their skins. | :54:26. | :54:31. | |
Now we're ready for the mash up. Nothing could be simpler. Take a | :54:31. | :54:36. | |
fork and give them a crush, on the side of the pan there. It's a | :54:36. | :54:42. | |
casual breaking up of the potato. We'll turn the gas off there. A | :54:42. | :54:49. | |
glug of olive oil paved the way for the main event. Take your peas on | :54:49. | :54:59. | |
:54:59. | :55:01. | ||
the top like that. Then just mix it through. It's a play of textures | :55:01. | :55:06. | |
here. You have got the softness of the potato. You have a bite, it's | :55:06. | :55:10. | |
cooked with a bite, then the peas burst through. You get that lovely | :55:10. | :55:16. | |
joy in your mouth. You think, mmm, pea and potato mash up! Taste of | :55:16. | :55:26. | |
:55:26. | :55:26. | ||
spring. Let's sort out that pork, shall we? Oh, it's almost just | :55:26. | :55:34. | |
falling away there, so beautiful and tender. You know what I'm going | :55:34. | :55:39. | |
to do here is take some of those beautiful pan juices here, look at | :55:39. | :55:44. | |
that, remember you've got the cider in there and you've got the | :55:44. | :55:50. | |
delicious chicken stock mixed with that. What could be better than | :55:50. | :55:56. | |
serving that with a little bit of hot pepper sauce. My dad would be | :55:56. | :56:04. | |
proud! When you have such a rainbow of colours on the fork, you know | :56:04. | :56:09. | |
you're in for a taste sensation. Wonderfully juicy, real succulence | :56:09. | :56:16. | |
about it. The big payoff is right at the end, you get the bursting of | :56:16. | :56:21. | |
the pea. The pea is such a rewarding vegetable. You know, you | :56:21. | :56:24. | |
bite into it and you know what you're going to get. There's an | :56:24. | :56:27. | |
element of surprise, especially when they're fresh peas because it | :56:27. | :56:37. | |
:56:37. | :56:39. | ||
bursts out that bit of sweetness, What celebration of British peas | :56:39. | :56:46. | |
would be complete without a mention of the good old mushy pea. In | :56:46. | :56:49. | |
Norwich, Anita's family have been selling peas to the locals for over | :56:49. | :56:55. | |
60 years. We're unique in the fact that people have a bowl of peas on | :56:55. | :57:01. | |
their own. It's just like a vegetable, but it's not. It's a | :57:01. | :57:06. | |
meal. It's a mushy pea tradition. Mushy peas start life as marrowfat | :57:06. | :57:12. | |
peas, one of the oldest varieties in Britain. Packed with protein and | :57:12. | :57:16. | |
fibre, the peas arrive small and dry, then soaked overnight and then | :57:16. | :57:19. | |
finally boiled. It looks like a heritage pea revival could be | :57:19. | :57:28. | |
starting right here. Is that for you? Yeah? Mint sauce? Get your | :57:28. | :57:33. | |
mushy peas here. Come on now. Bit of tomato ketchup on there now. I | :57:33. | :57:39. | |
don't mind that. How about that? That is now �4.50 mate, instead of | :57:39. | :57:45. | |
�1. What can we do to get more people to eat peas? People need to | :57:45. | :57:49. | |
be aware. Many people have come up here and they won't try them | :57:50. | :57:53. | |
because they're green. But once they try them, they love them. | :57:53. | :58:03. | |
:58:03. | :58:08. | ||
Come on, join in. Next time you're I've got to say, that's been a | :58:08. | :58:11. | |
fantastic adventure, getting out there, meeting people who are | :58:11. | :58:15. | |
passionate about peas. And it's inspired me too. I hope it's | :58:15. | :58:20. | |
inspired you to get out and do a bit of cooking. Because we know -- | :58:20. | :58:23. | |
we no longer want food to be flown in from different parts of the | :58:23. | :58:27. | |
world, when it's out of season here. We want food taken out of the | :58:27. | :58:29. |