The first of our hedgerow harvests is always a marker that midsummer is here. It may be raining as I write this email but the first plums of the year have been harvested – as well as selling the plums fresh for you to eat, we are making Plum Brandy, Drinking Vinegar and Mirabelle Jam. Mirabelles are a key part of the ecology of our hedgerows – they are the first trees to flower in the spring and provide a vital source of nectar for our honey bees as they first emerge from the hives. The very early flowering does mean that they are perennially prone to frost damage – you may remember that there was night after night of hard frost during April and we were unsure how these little plums would fare. We needn’t have worried however as there appears to be a bumper crop – we have the red Mirabelle this week and hope to have plenty of the yellow variety next week.As those of you who called in for breakfast last Sunday may have noticed, the timing couldn’t be better as we finished the very last of our jams and marmalade’s and had nothing to serve with our more-ish sourdough croissants! From tomorrow, we will have fresh Mirabelle Jam and will also be serving the Mirabelles enclosed in the delicious flakey pastry of our Galette.It is also peak growing time in the glasshouses and we have just harvested beautiful, shiny purple aubergines for sale in the shop and for the menu in the restaurant where we will prepare aubergine dishes including Baba Ghanoush and Nasu Dengaku.From Cornwall this week we will have more Cuttlefish, Monkfish, Lemon Soles, Lobsters and Scallops.We look forward to greeting you over the coming days.
