Passion behind perfect farm produce
THERE’S no shortage of passion at Daylesford Organic Farm. From Richard Smith in the fields to John Longman in the creamery, Eric Duhamel in the bakery and Jez Taylor in the market garden; the abiding desire to produce real food is at the heart of everything they do.
Over at the farm‘s cookery school, head tutor Vladimir Niza shares the love.
“We all have the same passion for food and the same vision,” he said.
“I am incredibly privileged: no other cookery school in the world is located in the middle of a working farm, surrounded by artisan food producers.
“When I’m cooking I know about the effort and love that has been put into all the ingredients that I’m using.”
This is high praise indeed from a man who has cooked at The Ritz in Lisbon and Paris and worked as a developmental chef for Raymond Blanc at Les Manoir Aux Quat’ Saisons.
And he’s not alone in admiring the work of those around him. Over the past three years the farm has won more than 60 national and international accolades for its food, while its farmshop cafe has been mentioned in the Michelin Bib Gourmand two years running.
But at the same time there are some who regard Daylesford as being almost too good to be true, with commentators referring to its farmshop as the ‘Harvey Nicks of the Cotswolds’ and drawing attention to the high levels of investment from its owner, the industrialist Sir Anthony Bamford and his wife Carole.
Daylesford’s answer to the detractors is to be open and transparent about the food produced on its 2,250 acres on the Gloucestershire/Oxfordshire border and to actively invite people on to the farm to judge for themselves.
In the meantime, those who work there get on with producing food naturally and sustainably, without artificial additives, fertilisers, growth promoters or herbicides.
Richard has been at the farm seven years and is especially proud of the progress that’s being made in breeding British Friesian cows capable of producing satisfactory yields of milk, solely from Daylesford’s organic pastureland, without the need for high-protein supplements and cereals.
“Cows are ruminant animals,” said the senior farm manager. “Our ultimate aim is to breed a cow that will do well from forage-based diets. We are seven years into our breeding programme – in another two or three years we hope to be self-sufficient.”
He’s also excited at the prospect of introducing sainfoin, known in France as holy hay, to the crops grown at Daylesford.
“I’ve discovered that at the beginning of the 19th century, 25 per cent of the Cotswolds was covered in sainfoin. The reason for this was to produce energy for the heavy horses. I think the potential for this crop is very exciting,” he said.
Richard hopes this new innovation will be as successful as the farm’s famous turquoise-coloured eggs, produced by Daylesford’s blue leg bar chickens. The many years of work spent developing this hybrid hen were rewarded in 2011 with two gold stars in the Great Taste Awards.
Milk from the cows goes to Daylesford’s creamery, where it is pasteurised and used for a variety of products, including its multi award-winning cheeses.
For head cheese-maker John, who comes from a long line of Somerset farmers, one of the joys of his job is the way in which he is encouraged to experiment to find delicious new products.
“I love to try different things,” said John, whose range includes traditional English cheeses such as Cheddars and double Gloucesters, blue cheeses and a few varieties unique to Daylesford such as Adelstrop, a rind-washed cheese named after the nearby village.
“I have been making cheese for most of my life but there’s always something new.”
John’s passion for cheese is matched by Eric’s enthusiasm for bread.
The Paris-born baker studied his craft at the Ecole Francaise de Boulangerie et de Patisserie d’Aurillac and believes the secret of good loaves lies with good ingredients and plenty of time.
“Baking is an art, an ancient craft,” he says.
“We make sourdough bread from leaven that’s produced in the mid-afternoon and ferments until around 10am the next day.”
Other products include croissants, which again are given a long fermentation time.
“We make our croissants with butter using a special recipe we designed here,” he said. “They ferment for more than 24 hours and this develops the quality and flavour.”
Over in the 20-acre market garden, Jez says producing sufficient organic fruit and vegetables for farm shop customers, its café and for The Plough at Kingham is his “dream job”.
“We grow everything but we don’t try and satisfy an all year round requirement,” said Jez, who comes from Evesham.
“We grow seasonal crops, although we are able to grow salad leaves all year around using polytunnels.
“Essentially, what we are about is freshness – what we grow is harvested and with our customers within a few hours and this is one of the prime reasons how we can make the enterprise profitable.”
Some 14 people currently work on Daylesford Organic Farm and more are employed in its shops, including two in London. In addition the company successfully sells its products through the online supermarket Ocado.
While acknowledging the huge investment that has gone into the farm, spokeswoman Camilla Wilson said each site is profitable in its own right.
“Daylesford Farms is one of the most sustainable farms in the UK,” she says.
“We are passionate about organic farming: we believe that it is better for us, our animals, the environment and, of course, always tastes better and we welcome people here to judge this for themselves.”
If you require a high quality printout of this article, just click on the printer symbol next to ’Share and enjoy’, and we will do the rest.
Get the best website builder available anywhere –SBI! Click here for more information
Return from farm to Home Page
If you want to increase your site popularity and gain thousands of visitors – check out these sites THEY ARE FREE. Spanishchef more than doubled its ‘New Visitors’ last month simply by signing up to these sites:
Follow spanishchef.net on TWITTER