At my grandmother's table in France, the salad was often dressed with walnut oil. We'd eat it with a strip of ripe cheese after the main course, before the fruit.
These days I only have to sniff an open bottle and I am there again, eating lunch in her garden. But I am also reminded of the French passion for their "national nut". Nothing gets between the French and their walnuts. Plantations are fenced and protected. Any grey squirrel contemplating crossing the French border will find itself staring down the barrels of a thousand shotguns.
Studies carried out by scientists have shown that eating walnuts helps to improve our blood-lipid ratio and lower cholesterol. The French seem always to have known this – they eat a lot of butter yet have better cardiovascular health than the British, and their walnut habit may well be a factor.
In Britain, walnut trees are at the mercy of squirrels, not people, and plantations of them are rare. It may be the case that everyone cracks an imported walnut or two at Christmas, yet I suspect there is a significant link between our general lack of diversity in farming and our poor nutritional health. It takes an enthusiast for rare breeds and diverse species to stimulate the English walnut industry. Roger Saul already grows spelt, an ancient wheat breed, on his Somerset farm, where he also stone grinds it in his own state-of-the-art mill to a fine, fruity flavoured flour that makes wonderful bread. He also breeds and rears rare White Park cattle and unusual Manx Loaghtan cross sheep.
Convinced that walnuts were once grown at his home, Sharpham Park (formerly part of Glastonbury Abbey), Roger has planted 300 walnut trees over about five acres. "We went through a wall of the house when carrying out restoration work, and found the remains of what was likely a monk's lunch, cemented into the wall," he says. "There were some chicken bones, scallop shells and pieces of walnut shell.
"Looking at the history of the place and its mixed economy, I am certain there must have been walnuts here," he adds.
Wanting to recreate the farm's varied past, Roger planted a mix of French "Franchette" trees, and some English trees which produce a noticeably more bulbous nut. Inside the shell there are other differences: French walnut kernels are covered with a buff-coloured membrane while there is a golden skin on the white inner flesh of the English nuts. When I tasted both in an improvised drying room on the farm, the good-sized English nuts had a milkier flesh and a mild, delicate flavour. At present some of the walnuts are sold in Roger's farm shop in Shepton Mallet; others are added to Sharpham's spelt biscuits.
Roger, who has plans to make walnut oil, says the main problem he faces is the damp. "Our wet autumns make it difficult to dry the nuts so we have designed a simple machine especially for the job," he explains, pointing to a heated wooden cabinet. But he is optimistic about his new venture. "We have harvested nearly 500 kilos in the past four years but that will become tons."
He has also planted 100 sweet chestnut trees. "I'd like to make chestnut flour one day," he adds. Chestnut flour is another interesting ingredient. You can use it to make biscuits and very good cakes (it is gluten free), or to make unusual pasta ribbons to eat with braised game or a robust sauce made with aubergines, fennel or artichoke.
Roger (incidentally, the founder of the leather bag label Mulberry) has only been farming for five years at Sharpham Park. He is a visionary farmer who has taken some unusual, forgotten foods, and invested heavily in their future. Returning these ancient, lost breeds to the British cooking vernacular will do us no harm, but grey squirrels should watch their backs. New passions for English-grown walnuts may see the squirrels themselves returned to their proper place in the food chain. Brunswick stew, anyone?
SHOPPING BASKET
- Sharpham Park Organic Farm Shop, Kilver Court, Kilver Street, Shepton Mallet, Somerset (01749 340416; www.sharphampark.com).
Fresh walnuts and chestnuts are available from October to December, depending how long supplies last. You can also buy fresh White Park beef, lamb, hogget (12-18-month-old sheep), locally reared Gloucester Old Spot pork and charcuterie that has been handmade on the premises, spelt flour, biscuits, bread and groats, vegetables from the garden, plus apple juice, honey and yogurts made on local farms. Many products, including the flour, are available online.
- The Chapel Bakery and Restaurant, High Street, Bruton, Somerset (01749 814070; www.atthechapel.co.uk). Baker Tom Hitchmough uses Sharpham Park flour to make some of the many breads sold in this lovely bakery.