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RTÉ News
13 hours ago
- Lifestyle
- RTÉ News
Here's what's in season in early summer and how to cook it
Normally at this time of year, we're just coming out of the so-called "hungry-gap", when the last of the winter crops has been harvested, and the late spring/early summer produce isn't quite ready to be picked. The gap is usually around March to May, but this year, the weather has been so warm, dry and sunny, that some growers are already harvesting height-of-summer treats, like strawberries, aubergines and even tomatoes. Climate change might have hurried along these fruit and vegetables that in 'normal' years are best eaten when the earth is cracked and the air buzzes with heat, but there is also a lot of early summer produce that is bang on time… Rhubarb Forced rhubarb season, when the tart spears are hidden away in cloches, deprived of sunlight to make them inch up faster and turn almost Barbie pink, is done and dusted. Now is the moment for greener, thicker rhubarb stems, harvested right through until July. "Technically a vegetable, rhubarb is easy to grow and so tasty. Unlike paler pink 'forced' rhubarb, which is grown in darkened tunnels, our rhubarb is field-grown, its blush-pink stalks stronger flavoured and more tinged with green," says Emily Lloyd, food lead at organic veg box company Riverford. Of course you can take the crumble route or be a little adventurous and have it pickled and served with oily fish like mackerel, but Lloyd also recommends simply stewing it "with a little sugar and a touch of ginger if you like, then serve with greek yogurt for an incredibly simple dessert or breakfast. Or mix it through freshly whipped cream to turn it into a fool – one of the easiest desserts you'll make, and so elegant." Broad beans These soft, slightly furred beans can divide opinion. A bag of them, still in their pods, requires setting aside a chunk of time to de-pod, blanche, and then peel each individual bean to remove the tough, translucent, papery case, to reveal the grass-green bean underneath – which, even after all that care and attention, can prove horribly mealy to eat. Frozen peas can seem like a much, much easier and more efficient option. But, if you're a broad bean fan, the faff to bean ratio is worth it. They peak in July but are cropping now and are best raked through a salad, eaten on toast with mozzarella, or blitzed with garlic, lemon, mint and loads of olive oil, salt and pepper from now until the end of July. In Italy, they're also eaten raw as a snack with Pecorino. Gooseberries If you grow these sharp, chandelier shaped berries, you'll know that picking them requires unbelievably thick skin – the spikes on the bush are medieval-style lethal. And the berries themselves are admittedly far less appealing to handle than blueberries and raspberries. They tend to need cooking, unless you love things that make your mouth pucker with sourness, but once cooked, they go silky and juicy. Top a bowl of custard with them, or add cream and shards of broken up meringue. Look out for the beautiful red varieties available, and scoff them between now and even into August (if we're lucky). Asparagus Hopefully you've already been nabbing every Irish-grown asparagus spear you've spotted through May. Keep going – they're in season until the end of June. "Compared to the year-round imports, which are not only less remarkable in taste and quality, they are often flown in, due to how perishable asparagus is, meaning there's a high carbon footprint attached," says Lloyd. "I love it steamed and dressed in a little olive oil and salt and then dipped into runny eggs as a replacement for toast soldiers. It's also gorgeous in a vegetarian carbonara – it pairs so well with dairy and creamy, cheesy flavours." Globe artichokes Like their seasonal compadres broad beans, globe artichokes are well fortified against being eaten, and effort is necessary to prise off their pointy petals and get to the meat inside. However, thanks to the plants being incredibly tall and sculptural, "you don't have to bend to pick them," says Guy Singh-Watson, founder of Riverford. "Artichokes are one of my favourite vegetables to grow – big, brash and dramatic. They're always a talking point on the farm. I love them," he adds. They're in season from now until late July and the classic way to eat them is steamed, before dipping each petal in butter, but they're also pretty striking deep fried, and artichoke hearts can make a great dip with lots of molten cheese. "I especially like them in samphire and blue cheese pasta," says Singh-Watson.
The Guardian
20-04-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
From kumquats to lime caviar: UK foodies embrace a whole new world of citrus
When life gives you pithy cedro lemons and sweet Tacle mandarins, what exactly do you make with them? British chefs and home cooks are increasingly embracing new and unusual varieties of citrus in recipes, with supermarkets and greengrocers offering a rising number of speciality fruits. Retailers like M&S now offer punnets of kumquats, while Waitrose has reported a 27% rise in sales of yuzu juice. Riverford, which offers boxes of organic produce for home delivery, has noticed a similar trend. The company has seen steady sales of kumquats, with sub-varieties and hybrids like Tacle mandarins (a cross between a clementine and a Tarocco orange) and Ruby Valencias (which have the sweetness of orange but the flavour of grapefruit) performing especially well. 'It's generally unknown just how much variety there is in shape, size, flavour, and use of citrus,' said Dale Robinson at Riverford. 'When consumers see that, they want to try it.' Emilie Wolfman, trend innovation manager at Waitrose, said unusual types of citrus were seeing a boom in popularity and the supermarket has seen an increase in recipe searches for premium fruits like Sorrento lemons, blood oranges and red grapefruit. 'Chefs and home cooks alike are embracing its year-round versatility,' she said. As ever, restaurants have led the charge, with chefs using slices of cedro lemon, squeezes of kalamansi, and pearls of lime caviar in savoury and sweet dishes across the UK. 'These citrus varieties bring a whole new vocabulary of taste,' said chef Mauro Colagreco, whose restaurant at the OWO in Raffles hotel, London, recently gained a Michelin star. Bergamot and makrut (commonly known as kaffir) lime are used to flavour broths, and the zest of Buddha's hand (a variety with finger-like segments) and yuzu are grated over everything from raw fish to meringue-based desserts. Colagreco has brought his passion for citrus diversity from his 130-variety garden in Menton, a town in the French Riviera, where his three-Michelin star restaurant, Mirazur, is located. 'I believe British chefs are more than ready for a citrus revolution,' he said. 'In fact, I think it has already begun.' Tom and Mathilda Tsappis, the husband-and-wife team behind Killiecrankie House in Perthshire, Scotland, use different citrus fruits depending on the season. 'In winter, we showcase Japanese varieties like yuzu, sudachi, and mikan,' said Mathilda. 'We use yuzu in a turbot beurre blanc and Ecclefechan tart to balance the sweetness. We also turn yuzu peels into a punchy miso condiment for fatty meats and fish.' Shrub, a UK fruit and vegetable wholesaler established in 2020, has partnered with Todolí Citrus Foundation, a research centre in Valencia. Shrub is now handling the logistics and distribution of Todolí's unique citrus fruits to consumers in London and the south-east. Sign up to Feast Recipes from all our star cooks, seasonal eating ideas and restaurant reviews. Get our best food writing every week after newsletter promotion The foundation works as a living seed bank, focused on preserving the biodiversity, history and culture of rare citrus fruits. 'It's rare to be given a brand new set of ingredients to work with and this is incredibly exciting for UK cuisine,' said co-founder Harry Dyer. In addition to supplying restaurants, a 3kg mixed Todolí citrus box has been made available to home chefs. Cornish Citrus at Curgurrell Farm is now commercially producing Meyer lemons and limes in the UK, using unheated glass and polythene, resulting in virtually carbon-free citrus. One chef who has taken notice is Andy Benyon of the Michelin-starred Behind in London Fields, who is incorporating in-season Tahiti and makrut limes into his kitchen. 'I grate them straight into dressings for a clean hit of acidity,' he said. Colagreco's research and development team at Mirazur discovered that mandarins arrived in Europe via England in 1805, when two varieties were introduced at London's Kew Gardens, before spreading to the Mediterranean by 1850. Mediterranean citrus culture is therefore 'a heritage that we owe to the English', Colagreco said. 'The citrus revolution isn't just about flavour. It's about connection to nature, cultural exchange, and rethinking what freshness can mean. 'British chefs are not only ready – they're helping to lead this movement.'
The Independent
20-02-2025
- Business
- The Independent
The great British food shortage: Why your weekly shop is about to get worse
Once upon a time, a trip to the supermarket was routine. You went in, picked up what you needed, paid and left – probably moaning about the price of cheese, but still confident that cheese would be there. Now? Not so much. Butter's on the endangered list, broccoli has gone into hiding and good luck finding a bottle of orange juice that doesn't cost the same as a pint in Soho. Shelves are bare. Prices are soaring. Food is turning into a luxury rather than a given. But this isn't some fleeting post-pandemic blip. This is the future. And unless serious action is taken, Britain is staring down the barrel of a food security crisis that will make the Brexit -fuelled tomato shortage look like a minor inconvenience. The weather's not helping, obviously If you've been outside at any point in the last year, you'll have noticed that it's mostly rained. This is bad news for farmers. Last year, England suffered its second-worst harvest on record, with farmers losing crops to relentless downpours and cold snaps. At Sandridge Barton, a vineyard in Devon, grape production plummeted by 70 per cent – which is a big problem when your entire business model revolves around, well, grapes. It's the same for wheat farmers. Their losses mean flour is in short supply, which means bread is more expensive, which means your morning toast just got a little less affordable. Meanwhile, broccoli and cauliflower – normally in abundance by this point in the year – are missing, thanks to a disastrous growing season in Spain and Italy. These are two countries Britain relies on for fresh veg, and this year, unseasonal cold and rain mean they've simply got less to send. The result? Supermarkets are struggling to stock even basic greens. If you do find broccoli, you'll probably pay more for it. And if you don't? Time to get used to life without it. But while the climate crisis is making growing conditions more volatile, Luke King, supply and technical director at organic veg box company Riverford, argues that the problem runs deeper. 'Yes, extreme weather is making growing conditions more unpredictable, but the industrial food system is at the heart of the problem,' he explains. 'We need a whole-system shift – one that values the true cost of producing good food and supports the farmers who work with nature, not against it.' Without fundamental change, these shortages will only become more frequent – and it's not just consumers who will suffer. Farms can't survive on razor-thin margins forever. If we don't start prioritising resilience over short-term profit, the real crisis will be when there aren't enough British farms left to grow our food at all. Hannah Brinsden, head of policy at the Food Foundation, meanwhile, says this is just one part of the bigger picture. 'As outlined by the government's Food Security Report published last year, geopolitics, climate change and Brexit are all impacting our national food security,' she explains. 'Meanwhile, cost of living and food inflation have contributed to a higher cost of food, widespread food insecurity and healthy diets being out of reach for many.' Imports can't save us Despite companies like Riverford championing home-grown produce, Britain isn't exactly self-sufficient when it comes to food, which means that when things go wrong elsewhere, we really feel it. The citrus harvest in Florida and Brazil has collapsed thanks to disease and extreme weather, meaning there's barely enough orange juice to go around. Innocent and Tropicana – two of the biggest names in juice – have been rationing supply. If you've noticed fewer cartons on the shelves, now you know why. It's the same story across the board. A global aluminium shortage has made it harder to produce cans, meaning beer is in shorter supply. Meanwhile, coffee and cocoa prices have doubled, thanks to extreme weather ruining crops in key growing regions. Your morning flat white and the bar of chocolate you reach for when the day turns to hell? Both are about to get significantly more expensive. Even basic cooking essentials are feeling the squeeze. Sunflower oil is becoming harder to source, butter prices are climbing and beef isn't far behind. The simple truth is this: as the climate crisis intensifies, food is only going to get harder to produce. Brexit, strikes and the case of the vanishing workers You can't produce food without workers, and Britain no longer has enough of them. Brexit saw an exodus of agricultural workers, and those who remain aren't exactly being incentivised to stay. The result? Arla, the UK's biggest dairy supplier, has warned that farmers are cutting herd sizes, which is why butter is getting more expensive. Meanwhile, a strike at Bakkavor's Spalding plant – the company that makes dips, soups and pasta sauces for most major supermarkets – caused a Christmas shortage of party food. This is the state of things now: a single factory strike is enough to send an entire category of products into freefall. The supply chain is that fragile. And then there's the question of trade. The US has been floating tariffs as high as 24 per cent on certain imported foods, which, if implemented, will push prices even higher. The cost of living is already at breaking point. If food prices keep rising, who knows what will happen next? This is now a crisis Food inflation in Britain has hit a 45-year high. And there's no relief in sight. 'Food prices have increased by about 26 per cent over the past three years, and our food insecurity survey found that 13.6 per cent of households were food insecure in June 2024, rising to 18 per cent in households with children,' says Brinsden. Supermarkets are trying to soften the blow by shrinkflation – giving you less product for the same price – but shoppers aren't stupid. They know a smaller packet of pasta when they see one. 'For decades, supermarkets have pushed down prices while giving customers the illusion of 'cheap food',' says King. 'The reality is that these costs don't disappear – they show up elsewhere, whether in poor wages for farm workers, declining food quality or damage to our environment.' He says this is often hidden by what he calls 'farmwashing' – 'where supermarket branding creates the illusion of small, family-run farms, despite food often being produced on an industrial scale with little transparency on environmental and ethical practices. This lack of transparency disconnects people from the reality of where their food comes from, and many smaller farms are being pushed to the brink.' As stocks fall and prices rise, on the other end of the spectrum food banks are seeing record demand, with families struggling to afford even basic essentials. 'What continues to be our biggest concern is ensuring we have enough food to meet the ever-growing demand for food support,' says Richard Smith, head of food supply at The Felix Project, a charity that saves surplus food and redistributes it to charities. 'Higher food prices mean more people are forced to turn to food banks for help and sadly they are buckling under the pressure.' There are growing fears that food shortages could lead to unrest. Sounds dramatic, but look at history. When food gets too expensive, people don't just sit around moaning about it. They protest. They riot. There's a reason the phrase 'bread and circuses' exists – when a government can't keep its people fed, things get messy. What can actually be done? The government has pledged £5bn to support British farmers, but most in the industry say it's nowhere near enough. Industry leaders are calling for urgent intervention, warning that the UK needs a coherent food security strategy before things get worse. One fix is bringing back seasonal worker visas, so British farms can actually, you know, grow food. Another is encouraging homegrown alternatives to imports, like the new wave of British-made pasta brands, which are helping fill the gap left by pricier Italian imports. There's also growing interest in vertical farming, where food is grown indoors under artificial light – a potential game-changer for fresh produce. Some experts are even suggesting a return to wartime-style subsidised canteens, where people can get a proper meal at a fair price. Churchill set up the National Restaurant Service in the 1940s for exactly this reason – so why not now? 'There's no one solution,' says Brinsden, 'but it's absolutely vital that the government takes action if it wants to meet its goals on reducing mass dependency on food parcels and supporting the healthiest generation ever.' She says this ranges from supporting our farmers in the UK and reducing reliance on countries at the highest risk of climate shocks, to boosting consumers' access to affordable, healthier foods and supporting free school meal programmes to support low-income households. King agrees; he's firmly in the British farmers' corner, demanding 'fairer pricing, greater transparency and stronger support for sustainable farming. If we want a resilient food system, we must start by choosing to support the farms and food businesses that are building one.' Right now, food shortages feel like a temporary inconvenience. A mild irritation. A thing you complain about in the supermarket queue. But it's time to start seeing them for what they really are: a warning. Climate change isn't going anywhere. Worker shortages aren't getting better. And as long as Britain is over-reliant on imports, it will remain dangerously vulnerable to global food supply shocks. There is still time to act. But if Britain waits too long, those half-empty shelves might just become the full-time reality.
