This summer seems to be flying by far too quickly, however August is by far the best summer month for UK produce as it brings a whole new crop of heat-loving fresh produce. This month we have a large array of produce arriving directly from our farms and even more from other growers across the UK.
Our Farms are very busy again this month, our outdoor vegetable production covers over 100 acres. Our farms specialise in brassica production, therefore this month you will see a wide variety of brassicas available including Black Cabbage, Red & White Cabbages, Purple Sprouting Broccoli and Romanesco to name but a few. Our farms are also harvesting plenty of vegetables this month, including Courgettes (green & yellow), Marrows, Beetroot, Celeriac, Kohl Rabi, leeks, squash and sweetcorn. There are also plenty of baby vegetables being harvested including, baby carrots, baby turnip, baby leek, baby fennel, baby beet and baby courgette.
At our farm, our chillies are grown under protection in our green houses on the very fertile sandy soil to replicate their more traditional growing climate. The pungency (spiciness) of chillies is recorded in Scoville Head Units (SHU) on the Scoville scale, the higher the score, the hotter the chilli! This month we will see a wide range of chillies being harvested including Padron (500 to 2,500 SHU), Fresno (2,500–10,000 SHU), Birds Eye (50,000 to 100,000 SHU), Serenade (50 000 to 80 000 SHU), Scotch Bonnet (100,000 to 350,000 SHU) and the super spicy Naga chillies (1 million to 1.5 million SHU).
August is an exciting month for English Fruit, we will begin to see more English fruit being harvested at our farms and by local growers. This month we are looking forward to welcoming bittersweet and desert apples from our orchards, as well as our damsons. Their deep purple colour and perfect blend of fruitiness and tartness make them perfect for jams, gins, crumbles and chutneys. In the middle of last month, we welcomed Herman Plums, and towards the end of the month we saw the first trays of Opal Plums arrive, we are delighted to see the start of this year’s Plum Season finally.
Until recently English plums have been underestimated due to imported plums flooding the market. English plums are becoming increasingly popular due to their flavour. English Plums tend to be tastier as they can be picked closer to full ripeness which means the full flavour has been allowed to develop. Opal Plums are a mix between a plum and a gage, the delicious sweetness of the gage family, and the larger dimensions of a plum. Following on from Opal Plums we will then see the most popular variety of plum, the Victoria plum. Victorias are one of the oldest species which is suitable for cooking or eating. We will also be harvesting Jubileum Plums, these are essentially improved versions of the well-loved Victoria Plum. It excels as a culinary plum, but it is arguably superior for eating fresh. Next month we will begin to harvest Marjorie’s Seedling plums, these are blue fruits are excellent for culinary purposes, and good for eating fresh when fully ripe.
Next month we will still see an abundance of fresh produce being harvested from our farms and by local growers. Please keep your eyes on our social medias to be the first to know about the UK Fresh Produce we have in stock. For further information please contact the sales office or your account manager.
Login 
Register FREE! 
