Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Marcus Wareing explores new possibilities on his Sussex smallholding. One is to investigate unusual food flavours that he can use in his cooking. So, he pays a visit to Shoreham in West Sussex to meet up with Christian, a former chef who’s turned his hand to foraging for edible produce.

Along the banks of the River Adur, Marcus discovers a whole range of edible sea vegetables that he can incorporate into his food. Back at the farm, Marcus, along with gardener Anatoliy, farmer Stuart and his son Fred, finish installing the fencing in the paddock so he can get on with planting his remaining crab apple trees. With help from some heavy machinery, they get the job done in no time.

With food flavours still on his mind, Marcus experiments with his smoker again, this time making smoked chilli butter. Then he heads off to Rye to meet up with hop farmers Simon and Phil Wheeler to find out if growing hops is something he can bring to the smallholding.

After helping harvest the 15-foot vines and seeing them dried and prepared for the breweries, Marcus is excited by the huge potential hops could have in flavouring food. But there’s little time for him to think about this, as his two Mangalitsa pigs have escaped from their enclosure on the farm. It’s only after drafting in help from Stuart and Fred that they manage to round up the escapees. Finally, inspired by his foraging trip earlier, Marcus experiments with a new fish dish accompanied by samphire and shellfish.