A couple of months ago, Head chef, Tom Milby, went to meet one of our key local
suppliers – Pete Lawrence of Canara Farm
Sourcing good organic vegetables isn’t impossible, but
sourcing them locally and in sufficient quantity for our needs can be challenging.
Fortunately for us, we have Pete Lawrence right on our doorstep growing
amazing veg in his poly tunnels at Canara Farm on the wonderfully
fertile land at Mylor Downs.
Pete is really enthusiastic about vegetables of all types
and the way they are produced. ‘Farm organically or not at all’ is Pete’s
mantra and the tender, wonderfully flavoured baby leaves he produces are
testimony to the care he takes.
Grown under the name ‘Lizard Leaves’, Pete grows the most
wonderful organic gourmet baby leaves, full of vibrancy, tenderness and
flavour. There’s a huge range too, include green and red incised batavia, green
butterhead lettuce, red and green mizuna, Russian kale, tatsoi, purple pak
choi, ruby and green frills, land cress, and red and yellow chard. Everything
is handpicked and delivered from field to kitchen within hours.
There are around 14 acres of prime organic market garden at
Canara Farm with several huge poly tunnels where Pete grows a range of
specialist vegetables, herbs and a few fruits alongside the salad leaves.
When I visited back in June, he was just getting going with
an amazing range of heirloom and artisan tomatoes with wonderful names such as Black
Cherry, Green Sausage and Hawaiian Currant!
He also produces baby carrots, turnips and beetroots of
various shapes and colours; a plethora of peas and beans from purple mange tout
to striped French beans; edible flowers like marigolds, nasturtiums, borage
and, of course, the wonderfully versatile courgette flower; a range of basils –
Thai, Greek, purple and lemon; and many more colourful varieties chosen
specifically for flavour, texture and maximum aesthetic appeal. When I was
there he was just sampling some delicious radishes of all shapes, sizes and
colours – delicious!
As Pete says, the thinking behind Canara is local, organic,
specialist produce of the type that previously had to be imported from the
Continent. But not any more. Now, we have these fantastic fresh vegetables
right on our doorstep giving me so much more to work with and the opportunity
to produce wonderful vegetable dishes and salads for our menus.
