Herbs and Cabbage Great British Food Revival

We're here to put Britain back on the food map. We're on a mission to

save fantastic British produce from extinction. We need your help.

Essential ingredients here for centuries. Are in danger of

disappearing. Forever. We want to get everyone back to British

cullinary basics. And help us revive? Our fantastic.

Mouthwatering. Magnificent. Unique. And quintessentially British foot

heritage. -- food her ripbl.

I'm Mary Berry, and I am really passionate about good family food,

from local ingredients, I like to know where my food comes from. I

want you to help me revive something that's very close to my

heart. They have been essential to my

dishes since I started cooking over 50 years ago. They have been part

of our cullinary heritage for thousands of years. I'm talking

about herbs, and there is a wealth of them out there. Parsley, thyme,

Rosemary, dill, but I want you to be adventurous, and use fresh herbs

in more variety. As part of my campaign, I will reveal vital tips

on how to look after your fresh herbs. Critical is water from below.

Proving there is more than supermarket basil. It is the

strongest thing I have tasted today. And sharing some quick herby

recipes, like my easy lemon balm ice-cream, and soil and spinach

sauce. -- sor reel and spinach sauce. I have two passions in life,

cooking and gardening. At home in Buckinghamshire, I grow a huge

range of herbs. All of these herbs are edible, as you would expect

from a cook. I have 30 different varieties of herbs, they make all

the difference to my cooking. end are all the thymes. Great with

coasts and vegtables. I have tarragon over here, it goes

so well with fish and chicken. Golden marjoram, I use it for

tomato dishes and casseroles. Then sorel, this is common sorel, that

can be used sauces. And I love dill. It goes so well with fish, new

potatoes too. But I wasn't known all this, they are techniques I

learned from my mother and now I'm passing it on to my grandchildren.

On Sunday night we have scrambled egg, if you take a handful of fresh,

leafy herbs and chom them finely and just add them before the end.

The sale of fresh herbs in Britain is in excess of �135 million. You

may well say, why does it need a revival? Well, that figure doesn't

tell the whole story, because 60% of the herbs and spices we buy are

dried. It is good news everybody is more

adventurous with their cooking, I bet if you had a peak into a lot of

the -- peek into a lot of cupboard, you would find these, dried herbs.

When you come to smell them, it is very strong, and intense. It lacks

colour, it is brown. There is no room for them in my cupboard. But

we are still buying them, what is the attraction? The convience of

dried herbs. It is easy to pick a jar out of the shelf, or the

cupboard. They last longer and they are more convenient and easier for

me to use. I have tried to grow fresh herbs, they all die on me, so

I stick with the dried ones. It is a common problem. I'm concerned

that we're putting convience before taste, and losing the art of

growing and cooking with fresh herbs. Something that was second

nature to our grandparents. So I have come to West Sussex, to

convince you to use fresh herbs and to find out once and for all how to

keep those supermarket herb pots alive. This is the UK's largest

grower of potted herb, producing a staggering 14 million plants a year.

I'm gobsmacked, I have never seen, it is like green fields. What area

do you cover here? It is about ten football pitches. How many

different herbs do you grow? Basil, biggest seller, parsley and

corriander, it is the league table of the top ten, 4 and 5, is mint

and chiefs, then mints and other things. Each is coming from seed

and comes naturally within 45 days, given the exact amount of light,

water and heat. Chives, what should I do with them? You should always

have light, a windowsill. Something underneath? Always water from below,

that is critical, water from below, don't swamp them with water from

the top. How often should I water my chiefs? Sparingly, don't kill --

is My chives? Sparingly, don't kill it with kindness. Rather than

chopping it, isn't it better to take a section and cut it from

there? Take bits and pieces, always remain a nice structure of herb

within the pot. What about that best seller, basil? The one thing

you mustn't do with this is get it too cold. I know you pick some and

put it in the fridge, it will go limp, straight away, it needs a hot

house. It doesn't want to be tkhiled at all, anything below --

chilled at all, anything below ten degrees, it will go black. Fridges

a no. A warm kitchen? Windowsill, water

from below. With great care and watering it will survive, won't it?

It will, and grow into quite a large plant if you look after it

carefully. That was mind boggling. Ten football pitches, all squashed

together, every plant was in perfect condition. Now those won't

be quite as strong as the one us grow at home, but they will be very,

very good, just use a little bit more of them. Fresh herbs really

will transform your cooking, and to prove it, I will cook with one of

my favourites. The recipe I'm making is a goats cheese, red

pepper and fresh thyme galette. Let me explain the gallette, it is

Let me explain the gallette, it is a posh savoury tart.

Is starts with a classic onion marmalade.

I'm going to put a little oil in there, not an expensive one,

because I'm going to heat it. Then I have three onions I have chopped

up, and to help that, give it a nice brown colour, you put a little

bit of sugar, about a table poon of sugar and a little balsamic vinegar.

Give it a stir and leave it to bubble away until it is nice and

thick and beautifully carameliseed, while you prepare the pastry,

preferably puff and, yes, it's shop bought. Flour on the board, I will

roll it to an ob long. It takes me back to my college days, flour on

the board and on the rolling pin, rather than on the pastry. I will

try to keep it to this shape. Frequently turning it over, until

it is nice and thin. Trim off the edges.

There is usual little people in my house, grand Chire, I might say,

they love using -- grandchildren, I might say, they love using up all

the trimmings to make jam tarts and the like. Lift it on to some

parchment, folding it will help, cut it down the middle, lengthways,

towards you, and prick it with a fork to stop it rising in the oven,

it is ready to stop with creamy goats cheese. Soft goats cheese, it

is spreadable, spread that all over, and you notice that I'm leaving a

little edge, that will, I will brush that with a bit of beaten egg,

that will be all crispy. Then I come to the onion, and this is just

the colour I want it to be. It is cooled, so spread it out evenly, in

preparation for the essential ingredient, fresh thyme. It is not

just any old thyme, this is broadleaf thyme. There is the

common thyme and here is broadleaf time, there is much bigger leaves

and it is much easier to get off the leaf. This is the ordinary

thyme, and it really is such a bother, you are supposed to pull

that way to get it off, it is difficult to get these little, tiny

leaves off. It is so easy with broadleaf time, because you just

pull it and the leaves come off. It is such a good herb. In fact, it is

one of my favourite herbs, now we have several bushes of the

broadleaf. It also seems to go from year-to-year better than other

thymes, it doesn't get quite so woody. Look out for it. Now some

roasted peppers. A quick dab of egg wash, which

reminds me of mum. Mum was 105, she has just departed, she would never

use a brush, she would get her finger and go around, I can't stop

doing it. Apple pie she was making on Sunday morning, she would run

her fingers. It is very sensible, it is easier to wash your hands.

For a crisp base, preheat the baking tray in the oven.

That will neen will get a brown underneath, no soggy bottoms. In 20

minutes your gallette should be ready. Gosh, that looks good.

So, I think a bit of salad will go well with that. And I use fresh

herbs to jazz up salads too, like fragrant dill, another of my

favourites. Now the moment of truth. Can you hear that lovely crisp

pastry. Shall we have a look and see if it is brown underneath.

That's what I call well baked. What shall I have first? Middle or

crust? Always serve it warm, it is so much nicer, all pastry should be

warm. It is quite a big mouthful. The thyme is coming through, not

too strongly, it is just perfect. Buying fresh British herbs is the

first part of my revival. But I want you to experiment with greater

variety. I'm heading to Bristol, home to the UK's largest organic

herb newsry, to find out how many different herbs will -- nursery, to

find out how many different varieties will grow. Most

supermarkets have a variety of herbs which is limited, parsley,

mint, basil and chiefs. I have come here to be inspired, I want to see

them all. No-one knows more about herbs than my friend Jekka. She has

won many gold medals fo -- for them. When did I last see you? It must be

20 years. I was at a charity event and you were selling your little

pots. She's devoted to the growing of herb, she grows 650 types, some

date back to medieval times and beyond. We grow a lot of English

herbs, I think it is very important we understand with the changing

climate, what we can and cannot use and how things grow. Back here I

have got mallow, marshmallow is one of the ones that was introduced

into this country by the Romans, it is now a native of the UK. It is

the one that gave us the marshmallows that we ate, we stuck

on the sticks and put in the barbecue. Literally, marshmallows,

they use from the roots for, that now it is manufactured. It is one

of the best cures for coughs. don't recognise that? Look at the

name alepost. This goes back to Fallstaff brinking his ale, but the

bitter was made for the ale. You might want to spit after that.

is like a strong chewing gum. is what it was, isn't it amazing.

Jekka has many new and exciting foreign herbs too. This is the

glass house, we have 2,000 of these to grow. Because taste this. Have a

taste, you only need that much. That is the strongest thing I have

tasted today. It is stevia, 30- times sweeter than sugar. It is the

thing that will revolutionise the soft drinks industry. It is hugely

inspiring to see and taste unusual herb, with such enormous potential.

I want you to be inspired too and grow fresh herbs at home. All you

need is a seed tray, compost and pact pack -- packet of seeds, there

is wealth of varieties to try those two. Most of the plants are raised

from packets and seeds. You can do it in a small space, there is 36

plants in that space. Such fun to do and let them go on a bit more.

How much nicer to give to friends when you go out to supper, a herb

plant, rather than a box of chocolates that won't do them any

good. They don't just do you good, they

taste good too. So give less common herbs a chance, they will transform

your cooking like this British native. I want you to be less

scared of the unknown, I'm going to cook salmon with fresh sorel and

there is no difficulty in make -- Hollandaise sauce, there is no

difficulty in it, not as rich either. What more could you want,

it starts with a tub of low-fat creme fraiche, straight into the

processor with one egg yolk. Then the juice of half a lemon. It is a

nice lemony sauce, and two level teaspoons of flour to thicken it.

I have no mam melted butter here. Half the amount you would use in a

traditional Hollandaise, and some salt and pepper. I know that

purists would always use white pepper in a white sauce, but I like

to see the fleks of black. Whizz it until it is um mulsfied. That

doesn't take a -- emmulsfied, that doesn't take a moment.

Cook it out in a bowl of simmering water. This is a good sauce to make

ahead, Hollandaise you have to make at the last minute, often a recipe

will say gently reheat it. Half the time if you try to gently reheat

Hollandaise it separates. This is very untempermental. We have in the

bowl, everything except for the spinach and sorrel. The reason for

not adding it now, is if you cook sorrel and spinach and keep it hot

for a long time it goes grey. We will add it at the very last minute.

While that thickens we can get the fresh herbs ready for the spot. I

have already got the sorrel here, it is nice young sorrel. It has a

sharp, lemony flavour. I will take some of those stalks off like that,

and then then chop it up. Sorrel was very popular in Tudor

times, nowadays not many people use it. It is so easy to grow, the one

thing you have to do is keep cutting it, because the leaves get

very tough if you don't. But it is a perennial, and once you have

planted it you have it forever, which is a good thing. Then add the

spinach, chop it, we add the spinach and sorrel, a handful of

each, and give it a stir. I will taste that, although I tasted it

before. It might need a dash of sugar, because sorrel is very, very

sharp. When you are happy with the seasoning, it is ready to serve.

This is a beautiful piece of salmon, it could be salmon, trout, a little

halibut, or sea bass. I have cooked it in the lemon with a touch of

lemon juice, it goes really well with this sorrel and spinach sauce.

What would I serve it with, I would like that with small new potatoes

would be good. There is a generous amount of sauce. But I'm married to

a gravy man, I always make a lot of sauce.

What does it taste like? Truly lemony, sharp and, of course, very

inviting, because this is a lovely bright, green colour.

That is bait of all right. And I'm I grew up in the countryside, and

have fond memories of foraging for fresh herbs, but it is a skill in

danger of disappearing, I want to pass on some knowledge to you at

home. I'm off to the forest of Avon, near Bristol, to see what we can

get for nothing. I love foraging and going through the seasons.

First of all it is black breeze, I have such happy memories -- black

berries, and I have happy memories of doing that as a child. But today

I'm foraging for herbs. The key to foraging is having an expert with

you and the landowner's permission. I'm meeting Dave, who has written

several field guides. You might find herbs like wild chives,

Rosemary or mint, many of them look like those you can grow in your own

garden. This is horseradish. We can't dig it up by law, but we can

use the leaves to flavour. When I'm making a prawn cocktail, I always

put a spoonful of horseradish in it, if you chopped up the leaves very

finely, I suppose about half a leaf, that would give a lovely flavour.

It is slightly tough be, you have to boil -- tough, you have to boil

it up a bit as well. This is something I would normally overlook.

I want to show you this, it is technically not a wild plant. This

is more of an escapee, it has escaped from one of the gardens

here. This is the edible part of this, this is the stag horn sumack,

this plant. This stick part, I will snap one off, but these taste of

lemon, believe it or not. How do you tackle it? There is a few ways

of dealing with it, these contain the seeds. So if you just have a

little? I will be the collector of seeds. Have a little suck, and then

spit it out, you should be able to get the lemon flavour. It is

immensely sharp, just like lemon. You can put these in cold waters,

give them a squeeze, leave them overnight, you end up with pink

lemonade. Dave has made some for me to try. What have you got then?

This is the sumackade I was telling but, a lovely pink. That is natural,

no dyes? No colours, no dyes. Remind me what is in it? This is

squeezed sumack into cold water with sugar, that is it. It is

absolutely delicious. It has been really exciting meeting a young man

as passionate about fresh herbs as I am. And I have a handful of seeds

to plant when I get home. And the best thing about growing

fresh herbs yourself, is you don't need a lot of space. There is no

excuse for not growing your own herbs, even in a window box. Here I

have basil, this is sweet basil, the easiest of the basils to grow,

and I have fresh dill. This is about three weeks growth, and in

another three weeks I shall have plenty to cut.

If they are fed and watered herbs will grow anywhere, on a balcony, a

roof top, even in a Wellington boot. If you don't have any space of your

own, club together with neighbours like they have done here. This is

the food farm, in Brixton south London, in the Cowley Estate. You

have Euros plea and thyme and so forth, we grow basil, corriander,

fennel, we have things like stevie. One urban farm shop in East London

is even growing fresh herbs on the walls of its cafe. We are a cafe in

Dalston and trying to grow as much food as we can in a three storey

building. And use as much of the food in the cafe for the food. We

are growing a range of herbs with or regular know in the polytunnel,

and basil in the hydrouponics upstairs. We have corriander, dill,

cumin, if we can have so many different herbs ready for us to use,

everyone can. Let me show you another recipe with a fresh herb

you haven't come across. A delicate refreshing herb from the mint

family. I'm making a lemon meringue ice-

cream with fresh lemon balm. It is very quick, very easy. No

It is very quick, very easy. No make sure you get pouring double

cream. And I'm going to whisk that until it just holds its shape.

It won't take long. That is nice and froty, holding in its peaks.

Then I will add meringues, you sometimes have meringues left and

they are broken in the bottom of the tin. Don't crush them into a

fine powder, just break them into decent-sized pieces, just like that.

That is one of the ingredients later. There are the meringues. I

will put lemon zest and lemon juice. I have a nice lemon here. When we

were foraging we sound a sumack tree, the fruit of that was very

lemon year, you could put a little of that in too. In goes all that

zest. Here is a tip I use in my baking too. If you are doing a lot

of lemon, squeezing them, it helps if they are warm, put them in a

microwave for a short time, something like that. Just warm them,

you will get that much more yield out of them. For more lemony

flavour, I'm adding lemon Kurd. In goes half a jar. That's about right.

Now lemon balm, or you could use mint. I have a big pot of it here.

This is one from a nursery, it is a little bit legy, and so if I had

bought that one, once I took it home, I would cut it down and it

will shoot up again, in fact, if you keep nibbling at it, and keep

it low, the leaves are beautifully fresh. It comes just like this, or

you can have it varri gated. It is a lovely aroma. I will pick off the

stalk and chop it. I'm not speedy like the chefs but I have all my

fingers! Before adding the meringue, to give it text nuer and sweetness.

Then give it ashire, pour it into a lined tin, it helps -- a stir, pour

it into a lined tin, it helps get it out. Then all you need is the

pulp of three passion fruit, and the rest of the lemon Kurd. It is

such a simple sauce. It will just make the ice-cream taste that much

better, also it looks very smart and special. You can make this in

advance too. All you have to do is slice and serve. It feels very cold

and set. Thanks to the clingfilm it should come out easily. Let's cut a

slice from that. You can see the flecks of white, that is the

meringue. And the green is the lemon balm. Let's just lift that on

to the plate. Spoon on some of your passion fruit sauce, and finish it

off with some freshly picked leaves. There we are, some lemon meringue

ice-cream with fresh lemon balm. This is the moment I have been

waiting for. It has softened enough to eat. Just

gone through that crispy meringue, plenty of sauce too.

It tastes of lemons in abundance. It has that lovely fresh taste, and

it looks so much more interesting with the flecks of herbs going

through it. To give fresh herbs a go, be inspirational, and try

something new. Now here's a michelin star chef who is set on

reinventing a much maligned, great My name is Jason Atherton. My

mantra on food is very, very simple, keep it seasonal, keep it local,

keep it exciting. My cuisine has always had one foot in the past and

one foot in the future. One of my favourite British season

ingredients is in complete crisis, that is the great British cabbage.

The British cabbage, in all its guises, is in big trouble. Over the

past 30 years, the amount of cabbage we eat on a weekly basis,

has fallen by 71%, it is insane. If we carry on like this, British

cabbages could be a thing of the past.

My campaign is about reinventing and repositioning the cabbage back

into our shopping trolleys. I will be meeting the producers of this

unloved vegtable. British cabbage on the shelves all year round now.

Hitting the streets to tickle the tastebuds. Who likes cabbage? If

that is not enough to convince you, I will be in the Revival kitchen,

cooking cabbage dishes with a kick. Showing you this wonderful veg as

you have never seen it before. Just dynamite! Can I buy one savoy

cabbage and one red cabbage. I have a confession to make, when I was a

boy I hated cabbage, now as a professional chef, I can't get

enough of it. I'm in the minority. In the past year alone cabbage

sales have fallen by just under 6%, we're turning away from cabbage at

a disastrous rate. Do you like cabbage? The texture is always

soggy, I can't stand it. I don't tend to eat it that much. You do

like it, that is a good start. is not really nice is it. It is

like lettuce, but a not nice version of it. It is good for you.

It gives you energy. You're not going to buy one. There is no doubt

people associate cabbage with stinky school dinners. Mrs Beaten

to didn't help, advising readers to boil their cabbage for 45 minutes.

Let's face it, cabbage does not cut the mustard with the great British

public, I'm going to change that. As a Skegness boy, I'm returning to

my roots in Lincolnshire, to find out what it is like at the cold

face for the British cabbage farmer. I spent my school holidays working

in cabbage fields like this, that was 25 years a I'm not sure I can

keep up with modern methods. So, it is a while since I have done it, I

helped with the gang work in and around Skegness, up the road from

here. You have to give me a lesson. Bakesically, if you take a cabbage,

and just aim at the bottom there. One cut and then if you do it well

enough, you should just be able to take a couple of the outer leaves

off, and then it goes straight into bag, simple as that. How many will

the boys do? About 500. We better That's OK? Job done. Acceptable

boss? That looks all right mate. Give me a job? Yeah. Farmers work

hard to grow a quality crop, but since the late 1990s, consumers

have relegated cabbage to the back burner. Probably due to the poor

image. Growers are taking the heat and production has grown by 30%.

How many hours a day do they do it for? They start at about 5.30am,

and they will work through until, they have got their orders done,

which could be about midday. Have we tired you out yet? This is a

savoy cabbage patch, this farm grows seven million of them a year.

These are packed on site and sent straight to the supermarkets,

produce doesn't get much fresher than this. There are other lesser

known varieties we could be eating. So, Ben, so many different types of

cabbages. There seems to be a cabbage for every season, and more?

Absolutely. I mean, to be honest with you, as a British cabbage,

more than one, all year round. The window where there isn't is getting

smaller and smaller. From spring to the pointy, to the white, the red,

the sa voi? There is something for everybody all year round. It should

be at the top of the shopping list, buy some and exterplt, and that

will be the start of the cab -- experiment, and that will be the

start of the cabbage revival. As a chef, cabbage is one of my

favourite ingredients. It is so easy to cook with. Each variety has

warm salads or to brais. Then you have the red cabbage, great to

braise for game. This cabbage is great for the Sunday roast, creamed

with shallots and garlic and served with chicken. Then the hispy, the

pointy cabbage, you can use it for salad, braise the hearts for

chicken and quail, more light meats like pork. That is the cabbage

family. The first dish I'm going to be

cooking for you to is white cabbage, free-range quail and golden chant

reels. To start this off we need a pickleing liquid. That will be a

combination of sweet and sour flavours. I'm using white wine

vinegar, star anise, and corriander. Now for the sweet. A couple of

teaspoons of sugar, and add a little bit of water. This is where

the name comes from, escabeche, is spannish for pickling. I learned it

at a Spanish restaurant. We pickled walnuts, and fresh almonds, ready

for the winter dishes. It is great way to do vegtables. On to the

carrots, all I'm doing is peeling, and slicing thick. As a small boy

mum used to have a hotel in Skegness, we used to have to help

with the cooking for the guests. Mum used to cook all the vegtables,

they were always overcooked n the old days that is how people used to

cook the vegtables. They would boil them, leave the nutrients, never

refresh them, this is a great technique to keep the nutrients

inside the vegtables, so when you serve them to guests and family

they taste of the vegtable. That is what we are after.

Next, prepare the shallots. What we are after is the beautiful petals.

Remove the centre hearts and separate the petals. Now for the

star ingredient, the white cabbage. It is one of the cabbages people

don't use enough at home, they taste so great. Inside, where the

stalk is, you can already see where it is starting to release the

beautiful juices, that is where the nutrients are. It tastes great, so

healthy. Most people at home cut it out and throw it away. I will

blanche it, along with the leaves. Cut a V-shape into the cabbage,

then slice, and go around the back. Trim down the heart and shave into

ribbons. Now take of the leaves, thank's the cabbage ready for

blanching. By cooking cabbage like that, you won't get the horrible

smell we had at kids. We not know - - know at home that smell, that was

only when you overcook the cabbage. With this, no smells. Because I'm

using the cabbage to have a salad texture and have some bite, it only

needs to be blanched for 30 seconds. We are going a little tranlucent,

and we are pretty much there, you want a bit of crunch to it. In they

go to the eyes water. Blanche the cabbage stalks, followed by the

carrots and shallots, when softened, transfer to the iced water. Then

remove when they feel cool. Slice out the vein from the cabbage, it

is too chewy from the salad. Now we will cook the quail.

As you can see the birds are only small, they will take seconds to

cook. Heat olive oil and butter. Season

before placing in the pan. Always breast side down, a nice

carameliseation on the breast. They will only need a couple of minutes

in the pan. Then pop in the oven at 180 degrees. All the oil into the

pickle and liquor, it is nice to see the flavours all coming

together. Season. You have the beautiful cabbage smells, a far cry

from the whole stinky cabbage smells mum used to do. Gosh, she

will kill me! Remove the quail from the oven, take the birds off the

tray and set aside. I want to use the same pan to saute the

chanterelle mushroom, which will take a few seconds to cook. I'm

adding a few sprigs of thyme for extra flavour. All that is left is

to serve. The cabbage has retained its colour

and crunchy texture, that will compliment the moist quail meat.

Then we put over the the sauce. It is done, cabbage with free-range

quails and golden chanterelles. I am IRA sure, like me, you grew --

I'm sure, like me, you grew up being told to eat your greens, they

are good for you. I want to know what that means. I think knowing

the health benefits will help convert you back to cabbage. Here

at Lyndon University, food lecturer, Linda, is an expert on its

nutritional qualities. I am here today to find out exactly how

cabbages are for us. All cabbages are incredibly healthy. Several

different varieties here. The main thing cabbage contains is vitamin C.

There is as much vit man C in a white cabbage as an orange. A lot

of people don't know that. Vitamin A is the other one. That is good

for seeing in the dark, not only carrots good for that. The more

green the cabbage is, the more vitamin A it contains.

Unfortunately, when people buy a cabbage like this the first thing

they do is take it off. It is a tragedy. At the restaurant we use

that as much as possible. They taste great. White cabbage, the

health benefits of all cabbage t lowers cholesterol, it might

protect against heart disease. It has also been found to protect

against certain types of cancer, it is also an anti-inflammatory. You

can drink cabbage juice, and it might help to prevent or cure

stomach ulcers. It is all round Dr Cabbage! We go on to one of my

personal favourites the red cabbage. Again, that has all the vitamins,

it also has something in it, there is research being done to though

that anthrocyines, to show it improves your memory. There may be

some evidence to suggest that eating red cabbage might prevent

the on set of Alzheimer's disease. It really is a superfood. I have

been blown away by all of that. We should be making cabbage part of

our five-a-day. There is one unusually-shaped and underused

variety that needs to be revived more than most. Compared to other

cabbages, the hispy, compared to other cabbages is in complete

crisis. Sales have fallen by over 70%, having a massive impact on

growers like Will Edwards, here on his organic farm it takes three

years to plan the cabbage fields. So fluctuating sales make it even

more difficult. What is going wrong with summer cabbage, why is it

people are eating less with them and falling out of love with them?

We think that people picture cabbage as a winter crop. We need

people to be buying them in the summertime, to keep sales up. But,

you know, it is such a good quality cabbage. It is in season. That is

the thing. It is in our growing season. This is what people need to

buy. Our vegtables in our own country's growing season. Throw out

the preconceptions of cabbage being a winter veg, and give this summer

variety a go. That's a queue for me, to get back

into the kitchen, to show off these cabbages at their best. I have a

delicious recipe here, it is cabbage pesto with teamed tush bot.

First, I'm using the regal savoy cabbage to make the pesto.

We want it to be as green as possible. As many of the outer

leaves as possible. Keep this for a simple salad what's left over.

Remove the vein, cut into quarters, and it's ready for blanching. The

water is boiling. Very simple, we want to get it all in one go. Push

the whole lot down. Immerse in boiling water, for a minute. Then

transfer to iced water, remove when cold. Chop and place in a blender.

In go toasted pine nuts. Sea salt and olive oil, blilts. Now for some

cheese. G rate it in, Parmesan. It is great for pesto, rip up some

parsley with stalks on. Freshen it up with lemon. One last turn.

That's cabbage pesto finished. Transfer it to a dish and store in

the fridge. Place the turbot on to a chopping board and fillet. As a

chef I should really do this myself. But you could get your local

fishmonger to do this for you, or buy a prepared fillet. It has a

natural line up its back, as you see, we always go straight down the

natural line, straight off the tail. Follow it down. Very simply, when

you fillet a fish, force your knife down its bones. Take a bit of its

tail off. We take the main piece of fillet off. Trim off and you are

left with three beautiful pieces of turbot. I'm baking it cooked in a

parcel. My simple version is to wrap it in grease proof paper. Add

a little bit of oil. Rub the fish in like so. All the time just

coating the fish. Season, add a squeeze of lemon juice and wrap it

up. Very simple, we just make a parcel. Turn it upside down, and we

place that in the oven, for about seven or eight minutes. Now it's

time to showcase this recipe's second cabbage variety. The sweet,

summer, pointy cabbage, cut into half, then quarters, get the pan

really hot. Add olville oil and butter, and saute the cabbage until

it is really soft. Cabbage has this terrible mystique about it, people

say who wants to eat cabbage, it is not cool and sexy. Hopefully with

the dishes I'm proving cabbage is cool and sexy.

I'm serving this dish with potatoes, which I boiled in their skins, then

lightly peeled, when they are still hot, add cheese. Pretty much use

every cheese, we are using Lincolnshire cheese, we are melting

it over the potatoes, adding double cream and good to go.

As is the fish. Up wrap the fish, giving off the

beautiful smell. Place the turbot on top of the carameliseed cabbage,

along with a couple of the cheesey potatoes, and top off with rich,

green, savoy cabbage pesto. There t my double whammy cabbage recipe,

with steamed turbot and left- wingshire potato royale. The

flavour that fish has, the cabbage, doesn't overpower it, the acidity

from the pesto is just perfect. The potatoes with the cheese royale

over it is just dynamite. Who could have thought one cabbage could be

this Dell illusion shu, never mind two. This has to help -- delicious,

never mind two, this has to help my cause for the cabbage Revival.

I'm positive, the cabbage revival is only just around the corner. But

there's one huge sector of the population who hardly ever eat it,

that's the youth of today. Only 24% of cabbage buyers are under the age

of 45, that is absolutely appalling. But there is a young cabbage

convert, Rosie Hogg, she's a foot writer and blogger, she uses her

work to coax people back into food. She has a fabulous pickled cabbage

recipe she will show me how to make. We think it could be the key to

turning young tastebuds. I grew up not liking cabbage too much. Nobody

grows up liking cabbage? I grew up next to a field that grew white

cabbages for sheep to eat. The smell of it comes up from the

fields and it is pretty gruesome, that is how you remember it. You

think I'm not going to cook or eat it. Especially at cool, it is

overcooked, it is disgusting. But there are so many ways of cooking

cabbage, you can have them raw, having them in a pickle like this,

having it with Asian food and northern European food. It is a

versatile ingredient, I think a lot of people don't know that.

Especially my age. You think bubble and squeak. That is a Grandpa dish.

Rosy's recipe starts with softened white cabbage, then dried off in a

tea towel. Next, fry chopped shallots in hot oil. Followed by

garlic, ginger fennel seeds, and a pinch of nutmeg. Heat up cider

vinegar with caster sugar, until the sugar dissolves. Mix the

shallots and spices with the vinegar, and leave to cool.

Meanwhile slice half an apple, add all the ingredients into a jar. Top

off with a few tarragon leaves and Rosie and I are heading to Notting

Hill's market in London. We are setting up a stall for a taste test.

Try it myself. Very good. I'm convinced if anything can convert

cabbage haters it is this. likes cabbage? No. Shrug your

shoulders, everybody likes it. Try it, and see if you like cabbage.

You have to like cabbage. The great British white cabbage.

Not bad. You like that? Yes. more cabbage. Come on, let's get

these guys. Are you a fan of cabbage, try some of this. Very

nice. It is good for you. I like that. Eating more cabbage? Yes.

you want another one? Yeah. Mr Police officers do you like

cabbage? Our tasting has been a resounding success, it is all down

to the way Rosie cooked her cabbage. Do you like that? Yes. Is it good.

High five? Yeah! That's where we Brits went so fundamentally wrong

in the past. We just bored it to oblivion, other cusines, such as in

this Polish restaurant, have made it not just a staple veg, but a

Dell kacy. Cabbage is one of the most important ingredients in

Poland. We use cabbage in different ways, we use it as fresh cabbage

for our salads, we also use cooked cabbage, we also use stewed cabbage,

we also use sour Kraut quite a lot. I cannot imagine Polish cuisine

without it in it. All you younger viewers, try cabbage, pickle it,

eat it raw, blanche or steam it, help me make cabbage the trendy

vegtable on the street. I will have one final go at persuading you of

the deliciousness and versatility the cabbage. Most people want to

cut out the stalk, we want to keep it, there is loads of flavour. You

get all the beautiful veins, it is great cabbage to use. This has to

be probably my favourite cab aj. Next make a bouk Kay ofg arni -

bouquet ofg arni. We wrap up our herbs and tie it like a teabag.

Pour oil in pan, put in the cabbage and slightly season.

Add some sugar to start the carameliseing process. Being raised

in Skegness was a great place for school holiday jobs, my family were

very keen on, it was important for us to have jobs and earn our own

money. One of my other jobs in Skegness was being a donkey boy,

giving kids rides on the donkeys, then I progressed to cabbage

picking. Cover with red wine and some port, now we have to wait for

10-15 minutes for that to caramelise down, start cooking the

pork. This is simple to prepare, trim up, so it cooks evenly, and

remove part of the silver lining. Being a chef I like to leave a

little fat on, it helps Carmel yois the meat when we're cooking it.

What you don't want with pork is it can dry out quickly and you have to

be careful. That is the pork prepared, now cut into two portions.

Pour a bit of olive oil into a pan, followed by a nobody of butter and

sear the pork. - knob of butter and sear the pork. Keep rolling the

pork around the pan, by using my fingers I can feel when it has no

more give in it. This only takes ten minutes, remove, put on a tray,

and cook in the oven on 180 degrees. On to the sauce. I'm keeping this

simple by using the juices from the pork. Adding in some thyme, a bay

leaf and a smashed head of garlic. Top it off with red wine and some

veal jus. I love veal because it is more gelatinous. This is a much

better method of making gravy than the traditional way. The pork is

ready, I will leave it to rest on the tray.

Next pour the hot cabbage into the blender. Once it is blitzed, return

to the pan and keep warm. Now to plate up. I'm serving the pork with

tender shallot, which I have carameliseed in butter and sugar,

along with garlic, bay leaf, thyme and veal stock.

So that's my winter warming spiced red cabbage, with tender lion of

pork, and carameliseed shallots. I'm pretty shower that my mum, when

I was growing up in Skegness, never I was growing up in Skegness, never

I was growing up in Skegness, never Those beautiful balanced flavours,

the cabbage takes on the distinct flavour of red wine and port, you

can taste the star anise, the sauce enhances, you saw ow quick and easy