Our herb shelves are blooming with a wide variety of UK aromatics at the moment. You’ll be spoilt for choice. Our biggest range is coming from Pam at Strawberry Fields who established new beds on her farm in the Lincolnshire Fens this Spring. Depth and complexity is brought to our meals with Oregano, Lovage, Tarragon, Sage and Thyme. Whilst we stock most of these in dried form all year round, it’s the freshly picked leaves that really burst with flavour. Pam has just added Peppermint to the range, along with the slightly sweeter Spearmint. Staff favourite, Basil, as we all know, pairs perfectly chopped up with our Isle of Wight tomatoes or makes a cracking pesto. We’re also stocking locally picked purple and green basil from just down the road at Kindling Market Garden.
Parsley is abundant right now, if you really want to look like you know what you’re doing with fresh herbs, look up a recipe for chimichurri. This popular South American condiment is packed full of parsley, but some variations call for the addition of coriander or oregano too. It could also be chopped up into a salsa verde, the Mexican version with more of a kick. Our parsley hasn’t travelled that far though, with local options coming from Kindling in Stockport, Lyncroft in Ormskirk, as well as Strawberry Fields in Lincolnshire.
