Product Description
I am proud to say that I have been to every single Abergavenny Food Festival that has ever been held (26 years!) and those first supporters and customers to our stand from all over Wales all those years ago have become friends – Scott, Christine, Bill, Beppe, Douglas etc and none more so than Franco and Ann Taruschio who founded the Michelin star ‘Walnut Tree Inn’ which served food inspired by Le Marche but made with the best Welsh ingredients. Interestingly there is a good Italian community here as the first Italians ran what came to be known as ‘Bracchi cafes’ (named after the Bracchi family) initially in coal towns around Wales.
Escaping London up the M4, you drop down into this characteristic market town which is framed by the ‘Sugar Loaf’ behind, wood smoke hanging in the clean fresh mountain air. Abergavenny is reminiscent in many ways to small towns in the Italian pre-Alps, except for the typical Victorian and Edwardian architecture. It is fair to say that Abergavenny is firmly on the regional food map because of the AFF in the same way that for their own reasons, Padstow or Melton Mowbray are, and there is certainly lots of room – and passion – for growing vegetables and fruit
So inspired as I always am having just come back a few weeks ago, I thought I would write about the varieties that are most often asked for from my stand, remembering that the event is held in September, so some are buying seeds to sow in October, and some are looking for seed to sow next season.
Without stereotyping at all because it is the national emblem of Wales (worn by Welsh soldiers on their shields to identify themselves by order of King Cadwaldr,) but we sell Leeks there well. One of my customers was telling me she makes a soup called Cawl Cennin made with leeks and potatoes and broth which is often eaten on St David’s day, (but she eats it throughout the winter) and why wouldn’t you, with a thick slice of sourdough. Yes my heritage is Italian, but I would respect this dish and avoid the obligatory dash of olive oil, overused by ‘trendy’ chefs nowadays (besides which my family are from the Alps, we have cows with bells on and we really only eat butter!). The variety I sell the most is LEEK GIGANTE D’INVERNO or Winter Giant, a heritage variety which has excellent resistance to cold, long white stems and ideal for winter harvests. Sow typically from Feb to June.
One that never surprises me is PUMPKINS of all sorts because 200 years ago, there was not a supermarket on every corner and varieties like pumpkins can be stored all winter and would have been used when fresh supplies were running low. Pumpkin would have been one of the ingredients in a Lamb stew called Lobsgows (a type of Cawl with lamb, vegetables including pumpkin, and potatoes) and there are more modern variations like lamb and pumpkin pies. I must admit that I would make pumpkin soup or pumpkin risotto with Taleggio cheese or pumpkin ravioli from Mantova containing pumpkin, amaretti biscuits and grana cheese filling, but my next pumpkin is going Welsh! Sow pumpkins in late spring and harvest them around Halloween or later. We recommend Pumpkin Hubbard which is used in the US to make pumpkin pie, a great eater.
In part this is a bugbear of mine because about 8 years ago ‘baby leaf’ spinach appeared in supermarkets which lasts a week in the bag, it is a quick crop, mechanically harvested and its thick. Its ok but equally TRUE spinach is far superior but I get it, it wilts a day or 2 after harvest so not the best for fresh market and it bolts easily. However, Green Swiss Chard or Perpetual Spinach can be sown from March to September so a long sowing and harvesting season and you cook it the same way you would spinach (though spinach is better to eat raw). Plus it I know a lot of my customers use it as an addition to tradition Welsh Rarebit and it’s a marriage made in heaven.
So in parting, I hope I have managed to transport you in the few minutes it took to read this piece and maybe I will see YOU there next year too but if not, try the varieties listed above via our usual special offer just to RHS members. The 3 packets above which would normally cost £9.27 plus postage and packing with free postage and packing which is a saving of 2.99 (unless you purchase other items).
