Showing posts with label Richard Sandford. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Richard Sandford. Show all posts

Monday 1 July 2013

Richard Sandford.

A former chef (with a Michelin star) and wine merchant, he has turned half an acre of his Berkshire farm into a productive plot.
The immaculate plants are defended against deer and rabbits by a tall fence and the garden contains a polytunnel, large fruit cage and a central flower bed.
Espaliered pears and apples edge beds that rotate tightly packed crops of brassicas, herbs, salad and garlic, while great pylons of scrambling vines produce shelling beans for year-round use.
“Apparently, to grow good asparagus you must add 20 tons of manure per acre."
Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, which is believed to fight damaging free radicals in the body. Richard chooses dark-skinned varieties as the colour is an indication of high levels of antioxidants.
Parsley contains vitamins A and C and is believed to help prevent macular degeneration (i.e. loss of eyesight).
Onions are rich in the flavonoid quercetin, which has a variety of health benefits, while preliminary scientific studies at the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York suggest that garlic prevents breast and prostate cells from dividing, thus limiting tumour growth.
Horseradish contains thiocyanates which have been shown to provide some protection against cancer, while marjoram and thyme are respectively antioxidant and antiseptic.
So Richard produces the greenest chard, the most orange carrots, purple chillies, blueberries, blackberries, kale and asparagus, all to make up a richly coloured and flavoured diet.
The polytunnel is home to over 70 chillies including 'Hungarian Hot Wax’ and 'Aurora’.
It produces in excess of 250kg of tomatoes, such as 'Black Krim’, 'Purple Russian’ and 'Red Zebra’, which are eaten fresh, dried and preserved.
Home-made passata is a favourite, using 'Jersey Devil’ and 'Speckled Roman’ tomatoes. “We cook the tomatoes and strain off the juice to make tomato stock – nothing is wasted. And we also reduce passata with chilli and spice to make harissa paste,” he explains.
Roast tomato and garlic sauce, and tomato and chilli jam are favourites (see right). Sugar and salt are kept to a minimum while flavour is added with horseradish, black cumin and fresh herbs.
Japanese wineberry is the perfect example, the fruit tastes nice but you generally don’t get much of it. I put 12in (30cm) of seaweed and compost and clover mulch around the plants each year so I get sensible size fruit and lots of them.”
A gardener since the Seventies, Richard still regards the activity as fun. “I don’t plod away from year-to-year. I like to try out new things and experiment. One year I’ll plant 10 varieties of carrot, another I’ll do 10 different heritage shelling beans. Usually only a couple will be any good, but those I will grow again and I collect a lot of my own seeds as well.