They say you can’t reinvent the wheel, but in recent years UK growers have at least taken the wheel, put it in a new place and adapted it for the needs of the 21st century consumer.
Through a combination of the longer-term fears for the impact of climate change, the multiples’ demand for something different and the potential to reduce imports, the country’s fresh produce repertoire is widening with products from the novel to the exotic.
Some of these lines have been crops that past generations might have viewed as commonplace, even if their availability was extremely limited. The walled Victorian gardens contained fruit such as peaches, nectarines and apricots, considered a luxury at the time. Melons were grown in hot boxes in time for Christmas and there is even evidence that Queen Victoria expected to be able to eat English strawberries throughout the year.
Fast forward to the present, and Marks & Spencer reintroduced this fruit as well as apricots and peaches in a selected number of its stores last autumn. “We have had an active programme of increasing quantities of British produce for over five years now,” explains Hugh Mowat, produce technical manager for the retailer. “The media attention often goes to the exotic products that have never been grown in the UK before, and M&S has had plenty of successes, including melons, mangetout and Tenderstem broccoli.
“However, simply extending the season of existing British-grown crops should not be overlooked as it potentially offers more opportunity for making a difference in terms of reducing tonnes of imports.”
In future, Mowat points out, there will inevitably be significant rises in freight costs in line with the global price of oil. “The only unknown is how quickly these changes will arrive and by how much. Therefore, pushing for more British crops has the benefit of reduced costs. As with everything, we support a measured approach so that we can undertake sensible trials of new ideas and make steady progress, but there will be a danger in this area of jumping on a bandwagon without full consideration of the risks and fingers getting burnt.”
Not that such concerns seem to have put off producers, with apricots even reaching niche market status in less than a decade and now regularly being sold in supermarkets between mid-July and late August.
Fruit tree specialist Will Sibley originally selected nine cultivars from the Rhone Valley which were also planted in Kent and Cambridgeshire. Four of these - Tomcot, Perle Cot, Flavourcot and Bergecot - have been a success, with good colour and Brix levels, although skin finish is not as clean. These have been followed by others such as Larclyd, Larqueen, Lilly Cot, Mangocot and Petite Muscat, which could lengthen the UK season and have caught the attention of Waitrose.
British-grown blueberries are no longer a novelty, although for several generations production in Dorset on acidic soil was virtually confined to the expertise of the Trehane family. But new growing techniques and strong consumer demand has led to a boom, with fruit now grown across the country.
Plant enthusiast Clive Simms believes there is the potential for cranberries, lingonberries and bilberries grown on the Yorkshire moors, while Feli Fernandez, who has completed a Nuffield Scholarship sponsored by the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers, believes the future has already arrived via the United States. Black raspberries - smaller than the conventional red fruit - are increasing in popularity. She also hinted that traditional English fruit such as quince, medlars and elderberries could make a comeback.
Today, the UK has a flourishing viticulture industry but it is often forgotten that dessert grapes were once grown under glass in the Lea Valley, a fact still remembered by international variety names such as Waltham Cross.
In Guernsey, tomato nurseries are still called vineries, and during the 1970s some of these structures briefly took on a new role growing kiwifruit, which was exported to the UK. Last year, Worldwide Fruit took up the challenge with trials now taking place in Kent to assess whether it would eventually be possible to grow the vines in the open.
While fruit occupies the glamour position, both vegetables and salads have also made headway. It was not that long ago when the sole suppliers of white and red chicory were the Netherlands and Belgium, but they are now also firmly established on this side of the Channel.
Chinese vegetables like pak choi have been added to our list of brassicas, followed by white and purple asparagus, as well as tiger-striped and brown tomatoes. Root crops have also caught the imagination with the arrival of different coloured carrots, while Barfoots of Botley is exploring the opportunity for sweet potatoes.
One of the most remarkable developments has been chillies. Asda, it has been reported, has been looking into producing a totally British-grown curry. Tozer Seeds started selections in Surrey in 1997 and saw interest rocket when HRI funded trials at Stockbridge.
“Some varieties proved relatively easy to grow in a season which lasted from June to October,” recalls James Hatherill, Tozer’s European sales director. “Tesco was one of the driving forces for home-grown chillies and several producers began to specialise. Since then, demand for more types beyond Scotch Bonnet and Mexican Jalapeno has really taken off. There is still a long way to go, but Tozer has several more in the pipeline.”
While climate change may arrive far quicker than the experts predict, it may still be a long time before citrus appears, even if miniature lemon and easy-peeler trees are part of the stock trade at UK garden centres. There have already been reports of enthusiastic gardeners outside Kew Gardens or the Eden Project raising avocados and even peeling their own bananas.
So anything is possible. Even in the 1970s the Central Bureau of Dutch Auctions sent a marketing team across Asia, travelling through wholesale markets and nurseries to find new tastes and shapes. Incredibly even then it came back with a list of more than 300 potential “new” vegetables that might have a future extending the Netherlands’ horticulture range.
According to Cornish-based Dr John Samuels, one research route could be through the Solanaceae plant family, which has already provided the world with potatoes, tomatoes, aubergines and capsicum. “The species numbers 2,300 but only 1.5 per cent is internationally cultivated for food and are suitable for cultivation in the UK,” he believes.
And it may not be a flight of fancy to imagine pineapples coming up over the horizon again. After all, records show there was a Dutchman supplying plants to the UK as far back as 1685, to meet the craze for the new fruit. Victorians then took this a stage further using regulated heat from steam boilers.
So in the years ahead, there is likely to be much more to come as the gap between novelties and commercial production continues to narrow. But inevitably, success will depend on the reality of producers making a profit, and not being swamped by cheaper imported alternatives.
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