The Wine Merchant - Taylor and Shroff wines for Curry, with MoodFood.Com

What a glorious day for an English Vine Tour and wine tasting. The temperature was into the 80’s (old money that is!), the vines are on the point of bursting forth into vibrant life just before flower set and bud set. David and Linda Carr Taylor, along with Ben Furst …

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The Wine Merchant - The Grand Hotel in Eastbourne & English Vine Tours

The Grand Hotel in Eastbourne, a bastion of old fashioned style, elegance and tradition in today’s modern fast, sometimes trashy and throw away society. Situated on the Kings Parade Seafront in Eastbourne, commanding superb views over both The Downs and The Channel.

Andrew Boon, the Food and Beverage Manager of The …

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The Wine Merchant - Three Cheers for English Wines

Three Cheers for English Wine

It was International Wine Awards time again this week, another year where accolades of medals are handed out to the wines that tickled the judges fancy. Most years a plethora of medals are awarded to wines bottled under multiple labels (Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference etc), as …

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The Herb Gardener - The sweet smell of rain

Crickey, it’s hard to believe, but it rained in East Anglia this afternoon! I have spent so much time in the last couple of weeks lugging hoses about the place that I feel more like Fireman Sam than a market gardener. It has been necessary though, just to keep everything from giving up the ghost. The raindance that I was about to perform in my last blog did not have its desired effect, but fortunately someone else appears to have rather more rythm than I do (not difficult!), for which I am grateful.

Last night I appeared on the panel of ‘experts’ on a ‘Gardeners Question Time’ type of affair hosted by the Suffolk Organic Gardeners. I have to say that I was a little nervous, because the members are pretty experienced gardeners, and have probably forgotten more than I know. However, I needn’t have worried because I actually managed to find an answer to all of the questions put to me - not necessarily the correct answer, but an answer nonetheless. I was happy to participate as a favour, because 4 of the group help me one morning a month in the garden on a voluntary basis (bless their hearts), so it was the least that I could do.

I finally managed to finish planting the Tomatoes in the polytunnel today, some 2 weeks after the job should have been completed. the fact is that it has been so warm and sunny here that I have not been inclined to spend hours under a big sheet of clear plastic in the mid-day sun sweating my nuts off. It came to the point though where I couldn’t put it off any longer, so I bit the bullet and did it….and then wondered what all the fuss was about. Tomorrow I am going down the lane to cut a load of comfrey leaves which I will lay around the base of the tomato plants as a mulch. Comfrey is a herb containing high levels of potash, which is the perfect food for tomatoes. I also make a liquid fertiliser from the leaves by stuffing a bucket full of them, I put a lid on the bucket and leave it in the greenhouse for a few weeks. It produces a fantastic super-concentrated liquid feed - but by golly it stinks……like an open sewer! You can do the same thing with nettles.

This coming sunday I will be having a stall at a ‘Local Food Event’ at a nearby watermill. A number of local food producers and growers have been invited to promote themselves to the visiting public. It is the first time that they have put on an event like this, so it will be interesting to see how popular it will be.

The vegetable box scheme that I run is billed as being seasonal veg. I am a firm believer in consuming fruit and vegetables in their proper season; though I obviously try to extend the season of some things by using the tunnel and the greenhouse. The problem comes at this time of year in the middle of ‘the hungry gap’, when the things in season are limited and frankly boring, so it’s quite difficult to keep the punters interested, because they are so used to buying whatever they want from the supermarket at any time of the year. I will be standing by my principals though, because it will not be long before the Broad Beans are ready to pick, then we will know that the hungry gap has closed and the time of plenty is about to begin.

For more information on what I am all about visit www.langhamherbs.co.uk or email me at phil@langhamherbs.co.uk

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The Wine Merchant - Hot, Hot, Hot, Chilli Ahoy!

The Real Food Show, Earl’s Court May 2009. A celebration of real food, produced by real people in the UK. Anything from Jersey oysters to Riverford Foods and local cheeses were on display and available to taste.

On the whole a good show but one thing did stand out – Chillies! …

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The Wine Merchant - An Introduction to Wine Course, Sussex Downs College

Enjoy wine and want to learn more? An Introduction To Wine  offers you the opportunity to look at wines more closely. Over the 5 tutorials we shall be looking at how to taste wine and assess its quality professionally.  Using this knowledge we will then look at classic grape varieties …

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