Big British Food Map A week in Wales

Date Published:

20/05/2008

Four weeks into his British food journey, Andrew headed to Wales to experience the greatness of the mighty mushroom

Roughing it

Home for the next week is an old caravan (well stationary one) in the middle of a wood. I'm spending a week working on a mushroom farm, learning all about the mighty 'shroom. I've made a total mess in the caravan already, but this evening sat out on the porch with my guitar. Not a soul around.

Round the world on a bike

You meet all sorts at petrol stations, including this chap, Scott Richardson who's spending the summer cycling around the world. The odometer on his bike read 15,456 miles. The odometer in my car reads 1,359 miles so I've some way to go yet but I am covering a lot more distance than I thought I ever would. Glad I'm doing it in a nice warm car though. Spent the day working with Richard on the farm learning heaps about pigs and mushrooms. We also got through a fair amount of tea.

Mug shot

Spent the morning filling up bags with a mix of sawdust, wood chip, bran and a bit of gypsum. These are called fruiting blocks, and it's what the mushroom spores will grow on. The saucepans in the background are for pressure cookers, where the sawdust mix is heated to kill any other organisms in there, leaving it ripe for mushrooms.

They are the champions

Spent a day with Joy today, first learning about the spore transfer process and then later going toe-to-toe with some particularly huge weeds on her vegetable patch. The sun was shining but there was a bit of a breeze so it was a good day for digging and uprooting. We found a nest of field mice, so left that bit and weeded around it. In the evening I was in need of somewhere to watch the European cup final. I chanced the Telegraph Inn in Llangadog. Kick off had just started and everyone in there was supporting Man U, with the exception of the barman. During half time I had chicken curry and chips and a pint for a fiver. Needless to say the place went mental when United won. After the lads had stopped jumping around one turned to the jukebox and put on We are the Champions.

A shiitake shipment

Went over to see Gary Whitley of Maesyffin Mushrooms who's using Richard's production process to grow shiitake. He's also got a kitchen garden in which he's growing hops, potatoes, broccoli and herbs, all in something no bigger than half a tennis court. We brought a load of dried shiitake back for Richard to make extract from. Then we went up to feed the pigs the weeds I dug up yesterday, they love 'em.

Goodbye pigs

My last day with Richard and Joy and we drill some logs and impregnate them with mushroom spore. These take much longer to fruit than the woodchip blocks - up to two years - but the mushrooms off them are wild and intense. I've learnt a hell of a lot, they really are two great people. We feed the pigs for one last time and do some other chores around the farm and then it's time to say goodbye.
Watch Andrew feeding the pigs

The St John spread

I've sneaked back into London under cover of darkness for a belated birthday treat. Arrived late last night and had a weird jet lag thing having been feeding pigs on a Welsh hillside and then four hours later driving through Soho. London looks strange after a month in the countryside. Anyway we went to St John and Heston Blumenthal was there.

Last week Andrew was in Somerset.

Next he's headed to North Wales.

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