Category: food

Fruit: the good, the bad and the ugly

Posted on by andy.winfield

By Helen Roberts

 
 
Autumn is my favourite season. I love the colours, cooling temperatures and crispness of the air in the morning. One of the things I like most, however, is harvesting autumn fruit to use in cooking, baking and jams. So far, this autumn I have picked bucketfuls of blackberries, autumn raspberries, damsons, plums, apples, pears, quince, crabapples, rosehips and sloes. (more…)

Raising the ‘green’ roof

Posted on by andy.winfield

By Helen Roberts

 
We currently have a real shortage of housing in the UK and the estate agency Savills has estimated that there will be a shortfall of 160,000 homes in the next five years unless local authorities act. With this in mind, I started thinking of the building industry and how sustain­­able building design has become increasingly important over the last few decades. Not only does the industry consider the sustainability of the materials themselves, but designs aim to reduce consumption of non-renewable resources and minimize waste during and after the life of the building, while creating a healthy and comfortable environment for the occupants. (more…)

The strawberry timebomb: how basic plant biology can help you store your produce

Posted on by andy.winfield
Two days ago I purchased an alarmingly large number of strawberries. I couldn’t help myself. Grown in Cheddar, these sweet little ripe morsels are a welcome break from the onslaught of last year’s apples and a plethora of citrus. When you try to eat seasonally and with reduced transportation miles, you appreciate the appearance of new season fruit that much more. (more…)

An apple a day

Posted on by andy.winfield

by Helen Roberts

Name three things Somerset is famous for and most people will say cider, Cheddar cheese and the Glastonbury Festival. While I could certainly talk at length about cider and its versatility (particularly having enjoyed a lovely mug of mulled cider recently at bonfire night), it is where cider begins – the humble apple – that is the subject of today’s post. I live near Wells, in the heart of Somerset, and the trees in the apple orchards are positively dripping with fruit at the moment, a welcome sight for orchard growers who had a dismal season in 2012. It was National Apple Day on the 21st of October, and many places around the UK have been hosting events to celebrate England’s national fruit. Humans and the common apple have a long history together in terms of its cultivation and it is a familiar fruit throughout the world. Essentially, the richness of this sweet little fruit lies in its ordinariness. (more…)