Growing our own food is becoming a popular pastime and for several very good reasons. Most of us are aware that we should be eating more fresh produce and there is no better way to ensure you get those quality veggies than by growing your own. Prices are rising on a daily basis so food from your own garden would help out the family budget. If you are working in the garden you don’t need to go to the gym. More money saved!
Garden Feast is an inspiring volume by Melissa King. She is a passionate gardener, TV presenter and writer with a degree in horticulture. The delicious recipes come from Heronswood Cafe in Victoria, Australia and offer lovely ideas for using the freshest of ingredients that have travelled less than 50 yards (45.72 metres) to reach your kitchen.
Melissa has written Garden Feast with, well, gardens in mind and the bias is towards those with space to cultivate, but anyone with a local farmers’ market or pick your own farm would enjoy this book. It’ll give you ideas for those seasonal gluts so you can make the best of fruit and veg when it’s at its cheapest.
Space to grow food doesn’t mean that you need acres of walled and romantic kitchen garden. There are plenty of tips in Garden Feast for those of us who only have a small area with some tubs. Think of the money you could save if you didn’t have to buy any more pricey bunches of herbs. How about a few leaves of cut-and-come-again lettuce? You could grow that on the balcony of a 6th floor flat.
There is a wealth of gardening information relevant to each plant, tree or root. You’ll learn about growing and harvesting as well as cooking. The important consideration when growing your own produce is to select what will grow well on your particular patch and to choose those things that you and your family will enjoy eating. Melissa provides you with everything you need to make a success of your vegetable garden.
The recipes are lovely and there are several for each fruit or vegetable. There are preserves, tarts, salads and bakes. They are tempting and designed to show off the depth of flavour that you will find with produce that has never seen the inside of a chilled lorry or supermarket.
Garden Feast is an ideal book for anyone thinking of growing their own produce. Don’t wait till next spring, start planning and get the wellies out.
Garden Feast
Author: Melissa King
Published by: Apple Press
Price: £16.99
ISBN 978-1-84543-253-9
Cookbook review by Chrissie Walker © 2018