Katherine MacAlister on the local farms, pubs and restaurants offering up those delicious spears

Asparagus news first started flooding in as early as February when Carl Isham, head chef at the Turl Street Kitchen, contacted us to say he had just paid £230 in a bidding auction for the first bunch of British asparagus, albeit for charity.

He served it with a Dover sole, with capers and a lemon butter and caper sauce, and customers paid an extra £5 for two spears of asparagus each, which was then also donated to the hospice.

Now that the asparagus season is in full swing, Carl is serving it at the Oxford restaurant with a wild garlic pesto and smoked salmon, and says it’s “flying out of the door. It always does though”.

The head chef is now just waiting for Medley Manor Farm’s asparagus crop — their main local asparagus supplier — to come into its own, and then he’s away.

The Thatch and The Fishes pubs were following closely behind in the asparagus race, staff descending on Barfoots Farm in Hampshire at the beginning of the month to pick asparagus to their hearts’ content, which they served that weekend on both pub menus.

Hamish Stoddard, Peach Pubs co-founder, said: “We are proud to be one of the first people serving asparagus this year. With the asparagus season just beginning, we are lucky to have got our hands on some of the very first British spears!”

As a result, the two pubs have launched a new dish called Dip Your Own — Barfoots Farm English Asparagus dipped into its classic garnish: Hollandaise, Egg and Parmesan.

Hamish continues: “The reason we love sourcing our asparagus from Barfoots is because they do things properly and don’t take short cuts. This means that they respect the environment, the community and reduce their carbon footprint.”

Wykham Park Farm in Banbury then got in touch to tell us about their massive asparagus growing programme currently under way.

Elizabeth Colegrave, farm owner, said: “We already have 40 acres of asparagus but need more to meet the demand.

“So currently every waking hour is dominated by the planting of 250,000 asparagus crowns, by hand, which is not a job not for the faint hearted! We are planting one-year-old male crowns from which we can take our first short harvest next year. Once established, these new beds should last anywhere between 12-15 years.

“These new crowns will take us up to a total of approximately 50 acres of asparagus. We have a great team of foreign pickers who arrive just for the asparagus season, before returning home to continue their studies. Our award for longstanding service has to go to Kalin, from Bulgaria, a Master of Wine; he is in his 12th season here at Wykham.

“We sell approximately 20 per cent of our asparagus through the farm shop and locally but the majority is sold through our cooperative grower’s group, based near Pershore. From there our asparagus makes it on to the shelves of Waitrose and Lidl.”

And with Medley Manor Farm in Binsey opening soon, with its asparagus available from late April/early May, for approximately six weeks, soon we can all revel in it.

Details:
Turl Street Kitchen, 16-17 Turl Street, Oxford, OX1 3DH l Medley Manor Farm, Binsey Lane, Binsey, Oxford, OX2 0NJ. Tel: 01865 241251.

Wykham Park Farm Shop, Banbury, OX16 9UP. Tel: 01295 262235 or visit wykhampark.co.uk

The Thatch, 29-30 High Street, Thame, OX9 2AA. Tel: 01844 214340.

The Fishes, North Hinksey Village, Oxford, OX2 ONA. Tel: 01865 249796.