Harvest Time: Leeks

It seems that there could somehow be nothing more British than the potato. The somewhat comically named "British Potato Council" markets the tuber as though it were as synonymous with britishness as Edward Elgar and substandard rail services. So much so that it is easy to forget our school history lessons, when we learned of the potato's first brave, diet-diversifying voyages across the Atlantic in the 15th and 16th centuries. In fact the potato only really attained its current level of popularity in Europe during the 19th century.

So what was everyone eating before that? The answer is quite simple: Mostly leeks. While still a popular vegetable, the leek is generally considered a little unusual now, mainly thanks to its unique piquant flavour. The leek was the Anglo-Saxon vegetable par excellence and dominated vegetable consumption for hundreds of years before the potato was even a twinkle in Francis Drake's eye, and yet now there is no "British Leek Council", nor bus-stop poster campaigns promoting the poor leek.



But we still love leeks, and have been hand picking them this very morning. The wet spell is over and leek-picking conditions couldn't be more perfect. Leeks are simply pulled out of the ground, sometimes with the assistance of a garden fork, and the roots, dry leaf ends and damaged outside leaves are trimmed and remove with a shrewd eye and a sharp knife right there in the field. They're then bundled into nets and sent off for sale as soon as possible, all by a small, skilled team.