April 10, 2014 9.57 am This story is over 119 months old

Making the most of Lincolnshire’s crops

Fruit and veg: Sam Pidoux explains how you can unknowingly eat your recommend fruit and vegetables in Lincolnshire.

Last week in the news, we heard that a University College London team concluded that seven or more portions of fruit and veg was healthier than the government’s recommendation of five portions.

I like fruit and veg and I often eat my five portions on a daily basis, but some days it can be challenging to have the variety that is recommended. Perhaps like a lot of people, I can be a bit fussy about which fruit and veg I eat. Some days I don’t feel like eating very much at all.

I don’t love every type of fruit and vegetable and often stick to the same varieties and types. It’s easier a lot of the time when shopping to put what you know tastes nice and what you can incorporate into meals or have as a healthy snack.

Being slightly fussy about fruit more so that vegetables, I tend to eat fruit that is not always in season, and because of my fussiness I pay the price for it. Over the past six months I have tallied up what I have spent on fruit alone and it shocked me that I was spending about £30 a month.

Living in Lincolnshire should be a real privilege, because one of the best things about this county is that we live amongst some fantastic local producers, and that should be celebrated.

I might not be able to change my picky tastes on fruit, but I knew that I could eat more seasonable vegetables, and ones that are grown right here in this county. I am passionate about great Lincolnshire food, but I realised as much as I championed some of the great produce that this country produces, I was not necessarily eating as much as I could.

In order to change this and become a more seasoned vegetable eater I subscribed to Woodlands Organic Farm’s vegetable box (other providers are also available, depending where you live). Every other week I am supplied with some very tasty vegetables that ordinarily I would not buy. I am able to select what I really don’t like, but I am willing to try most vegetables at least once.

I love the fact that I am now not only eating produce that was dug up from the ground a matter of hours ago. I have unknowingly encouraged myself to eat more vegetables – this should please the researchers in London.

Sam's tasty veg fritata.

Sam’s tasty veg fritata.

I am also incorporating more vegetables into all my meals and have often gone without meat or fish because I have made tasty and interesting meals with humble ingredients. You can check out a recipe for a vegetable frittata on my blog here.

Andrew Dennis owns Woodlands Organic Farm in Kirton. In an interview for Siren FM’s Food for Thought programme, Andrew explained about how fertile the soil is in Lincolnshire to grow almost anything.

He said: “Lincolnshire is blessed with this wonderful soil and it is full of natural deposits and you can grow almost anything here.

“We grow a full range of organic and biodynamic vegetables at the farm. The veg we grow ranges from boridge for Pimms through to beans. We have a full range of roots, leaves and salads and fruit. We have an astonishing range.”

With great farm shops and farms around us here in Lincolnshire, perhaps you could visit one and see what interesting meals you can come up that might just please those researchers in London!

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Sam Pidoux is a multi-award winning journalist and part-time lecturer at the University of Lincoln. Her passion for baking was nurtured by her grandma and since being diagnosed with a wheat intolerance in 2007, Sam loves experimenting in the kitchen and creating delicious gluten-free savoury dishes and cakes.