This article was published on 23rd August 2019 and will only be current for a short period of time.

The season moves on and we now have the first new season apples and plums on sale in the farm shop.  Locally grown on New Creation Farm at Nether Heyford, Northamptonshire.

This year they have a bumper crop of Victoria plums, that taste as good as they look.

Victoria is by far the most popular plum variety in the UK, dating from the Victorian era, and well-known for heavy crops of very attractive plum-coloured fruit.
Victoria really excels as a culinary plum. It cooks to a distinctive pink/orange puree which makes a very good jam and a good-flavoured filling for pies and crumbles. The stone is semi-clinging, and fairly easy to remove from the flesh. The flavour has a good sweet/sharp balance, and there is often a note of almond in the background.

The apple season starts with Discovery a perennial favourite and Bramley the staple cooking apple. Other dessert apples for the Bank Holiday weekend include the new varieties Estivale and Robin.

This week we also have our own potatoes back on sale at the farm shop, grown on our farm at Easenhall, less than 2 miles from the shop.

Our first variety is Wilja, a very versatile potato, long and oval in shape with a rough yellow skin and light yellow flesh. Wilja is a waxy potato, suitable for boiling, roasting, chipping, baking and mashing and at £6 for a 25kg bag you can’t go far wrong.

Another return this week, pickling onions.  For the ardent pickler a 5kg net is on sale at £5.50 along with the necessary spiced vinegar to make the perfect pickled onion.