Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2007 | Page 98

life FOOD & DRINK From pasture to plate By: Mark Young - The St Helens Restaurant [email protected] Heading into the autumn is an exciting time for those of us that cook for a living. We find ourselves inundated with some of the best fruit and vegetables of the year. The lamb starts to take on a maturity of flavour and the promise of flavoursome game begins with the first partridges. It is also a time of year when we seem to have the most visits from our generous locals. They pop into the restaurant with baskets groaning with home grown produce, most of which is of the fruit variety. Apples, plums, damsons and quinces keep us busy with crumbles, jellies, pies and chutneys. Sometimes I struggle to keep up with the various arrivals and I ask myself – just how many apples can one person deal with? I found the answer to this when I visited Sharon and Joe of Sharon Orchard. I am sure you know who I mean, if you have been to Chale show, farmers markets, Old Gaffers or Farmer Jacks. You 98 would have seen one of their green bottles of IOW apple juice. There’s a chance you may have seen Sharon or Joe themselves busily explaining the difference between Discovery or Spartan to an ever growing queues of customers who demand local food. Mark: how long have you had th e orchard? Joe: We bought the 10-acre site in 1995. Originally just as a hobby it was once part of Rosemary Vineyard. We had to clear it before planting our first 1200 trees. Sharon: In our second year we planted a further 1800 and as the years have passed we have grown to over 4000. Mark: How many types of apple do you grow? Joe: We grow over a dozen different types of apple but only press 10 into juice. Sharon: The others we sell through the markets as Island Life - www.isleofwight.net