The Taste of Britain. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
and remarking, ‘On this account the pretty blue flowers can be had of every gardener during the picnic season, and it is grown under glass all the year round for the express purpose of flavouring claret-cup.’
Borage is grown in gardens on a small scale and produced in larger volumes by market gardeners and specialist herb growers. Several growers who specialize in herbs and salad vegetables, mostly in the southern and eastern part of England, grow borage as part of their mixed crop. Recently, it has been established as a field crop for the sake of the oil that can be extracted. Always recognized as a useful bee-plant, this modern development has allowed some apiarists to produce monofloral borage honey.
The flowers are used to garnish summer drinks, especially Pimm’s and claret cups. They are also added alone, or with other edible flowers such as nasturtiums, pot marigolds, chive flowers and heartsease, to salads; the leaves can be added too, if chopped finely. It is also used to flavour vinegars. The seeds can be used for the extraction of oils for food supplements. Until very recently, it was possible to buy borage flowers candied with sugar, although it appears that no-one makes these at present.
Alkanet, a related plant with similar leaves but smaller, rounder flowers is sometimes mistaken for borage; it is edible, although the applications are medicinal rather than culinary.
TECHNIQUE:
Borage is relatively undemanding and although some recommend well-drained calcareous soils, in practice it is tolerant. The plant prefers a sunny aspect. Commercial growers start the plants from seed under glass in about March and plant out in April. Borage is susceptible to frost, and dies back as the weather becomes colder in autumn. Once established, the plants will self-seed and grow again in the same ground year after year. The leaves and flowers wilt easily after picking, and so are generally picked to order for hotels and restaurants. One technique used by cooks for preserving the flowers is to freeze them in ice cubes.
REGION OF PRODUCTION:
SOUTH ENGLAND; EAST ENGLAND.
Cherry
DESCRIPTION:
ALMOST ALL CHERRIES GROWN IN ENGLAND ARE OF THE SWEET TYPE.
HISTORY:
Wild cherries (geans or mazzards) have been eaten in Britain since prehistoric times (Roach, 1985) but the development of cultivated fruit was the work of Mediterranean cultures. Pliny reported: ‘Before the victory of Lucullus in the war against Mithridates … there were no cherry trees in Italy. Lucullus first imported them from Pontus [Asia Minor] and in 120 years they have crossed the ocean and got as far as Britain. ‘This seems pretty firm evidence and it is certain that Roman soldiers were plentifully supplied - perhaps from the precursors of the Kentish orchards. In the Middle Ages cherries were a common occupant of garden plots and sold in street markets. However, Europe was still the chief source of the fruit, where climate and skill combined for a larger harvest.
Kent became a centre of cultivation during the sixteenth century, partly because of good water-transport to London, the main market, partly because there were close links with orchardists and gardeners across the Channel. Most varieties grown came from Europe, especially Flanders and France, but there were early signs of specifically English breeds, notably the ‘Duke’ cherries, hybrids of the sweet Prunus avium and the sour Prunus cerasus. This group was known to the French as Anglais’.
Several classic varieties were bred by nurserymen in the 1800s, including Frogmore Early and Early Rivers, both introduced in the middle of the century. Two others are Bradbourne Black and Merton Glory, the latter introduced in the 1940s. For technical reasons, most orchards consist of several cherry varieties grown together; of the large number of varieties available, about 12 are commercially important.
The area devoted to cherry orchards has sadly diminished and we rely on imports again, as we used to in the fifteenth century, when they were freighted over from Flanders. Kent, however, has kept its first place among the regions of production.
TECHNIQUE:
The custom was to cultivate cherry trees as tall standards with grass underneath. The orchards are grazed by sheep. Most sweet cherries require pollinators and care is needed to choose a compatible variety. Until the twentieth century, geans or wild cherry seedlings from the woods were used as rootstocks. These produce large trees which require very long ladders to gather the fruit; as there is now some reluctance to pick from these, producers have been experimenting with less vigorous rootstocks. The latter have the advantage that they can be netted to protect them from birds during fruiting. A few farms offer pick-your-own facilities for cherry picking.
REGION OF PRODUCTION:
SOUTH AND WEST ENGLAND, KENT, HEREFORD AND WORCESTER, ESSEX, OXFORDSHIRE.
‘One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste.’
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
Cox’s Orange Pippin
DESCRIPTION:
A LATE-SEASON DESSERT APPLE, DESCRIBED BY MORGAN & RICHARDS (1993) AS MEDIUM-SIZED (5-7CM DIAMETER) OF ROUND-CONICAL SHAPE, THE BASIN OF MEDIUM WIDTH AND DEPTH, SLIGHTLY RIBBED, WITH RUSSET USUALLY PRESENT; THE EYE SMALL AND HALF-OPEN, THE SEPALS MEDIUM TO LONG AND NARROW; THE CAVITY MEDIUM BROAD, QUITE DEEP, WITH A LITTLE RUSSET; THE STALK OF MEDIUM LENGTH, AND QUITE THIN; THE COLOUR OF THE SKIN CHARACTERISTICALLY DISPLAYING AN ORANGE RED FLUSH WITH RED STRIPES OVER GREENISH YELLOW TURNING TO GOLD, WITH A LITTLE RUSSETING AS DOTS AND PATCHES; WHEN PERFECTLY RIPE, DELICIOUSLY SWEET AND ENTICING WITH RICH INTENSE AROMATIC FLAVOUR; DEEP CREAM FLESH; SPICY, HONEYED, NUTTY, PEAR-LIKE, BUT WITH A SUBTLE BLEND OF GREAT COMPLEXITY.
HISTORY:
The British have concentrated on the development of a uniquely wide spectrum of flavours and qualities in apple varieties; some of the finest are known as pippins. The word originally denoted an apple raised from seed as opposed to multiplied by scions. Morgan & Richards (1993) remark, ‘in time the term “pippin” came to be synonymous with fine-flavoured late-keeping English varieties’. From Tudor times, pippins of various types have been popular and commercially important. At first the Golden Pippin was esteemed for making jellies and tarts. Then, the Ribston Pippin (Yorkshire), the Wyken Pippin (Warwickshire) and the Sturmer Pippin (Suffolk) arose, which remained important through the nineteenth century.
The Cox’s Orange Pippin was raised by Richard Cox in Buckinghamshire. It is believed to have been grown from a pip of a Ribston Pippin. Commercialization took place in the 1860s in the neighbouring county of Hertford and it was widely planted in southern England over the next 30 years. Roach (1985) illustrates an orchard of Cox’s Orange Pippin on dwarfing rootstocks in 1865. Today, it is the most important British dessert apple. Several clones are grown, including the Queen Cox. As well as being valued for its fruit, the Cox, crossed with other varieties, was the source of various late-season dessert apples, including Ellison’s Orange, Epicure, Fortune and Laxton’s Superb, several of which are still grown on a small scale.
Other notable varieties classed as late-season dessert types have complex aromatic flavours - sometimes reflected in their names, such as Cornish Gilliflower and Pitmaston Pine Apple (whose honeyed flavour is considered reminiscent of that fruit). These, and many others, were greatly enjoyed by Victorian and Edwardian connoisseurs when fine-flavoured dessert apples were much appreciated by the rich. That wealth of varieties has since reduced as a consequence of the modern emphasis on ease of growth and handling, and the uniform and attractive appearance demanded by supermarkets. However, a renewal of interest in rarities has been prompted by enthusiasts.
Many of these apples are now much grown abroad, including the Cox and the Sturmer. Controlled-atmosphere storage, very important to Cox’s and some other late-season apples,