Events and News for Shute Fruit and Produce
Sunday 29 October 2023 Please park at the top of the field as track waterlogged due to recent rain. Open from 11 am – 4 pm with: Pumpkins: a range of colours and sizes now ready for picking Also pumpkin joke trail Squashes: Harlequin, Carnival and many other types now ready: tasty and colourful Sunflower: a variety of colours, who can resist their sunny smiles? Calendula, Nasturtiums and Cornflowers: edible flowers for salads and cake garnishes, with their vibrant colours can also be used as cut flowers Sloes: they are ripe and waiting for your gin Beetroot: tender, 4 colours, golf ball size and larger Courgettes etc: green, pale green and yellow, round or long ones Raspberries: Luscious berries for picking. Picking will be slow as rain has damaged many. There are still prickles and stinging nettles so dress appropriately Rainbow chard: colourful, versatile vegetable Charlotte Potatoes: with that new potato flavour even if some are now larger Please note we no longer grow strawberries. To keep plastic to a minimum please bring your own containers or bags (we will weigh them before you start). At the moment we do not charge an entrance fee, nor is there any need to book. In return we expect you to respect our crops as our livelihood and to pay for everything you or your children pick. We reserve the right to weigh any customer over the age of two! Although most days we can take payment by phone, debit or credit cards, the signal can be unreliable. Cash never needs a signal nor will it run out of batteries. The Pick Your Own is a working farm and for your own safety we ask you to keep away from farm machinery, tractors and tools. Please wear sturdy footwear. We have thistles, stinging nettles and prickly weeds which are great for our abundant wildlife but not so nice on exposed toes. Well behaved dogs are welcome, but not amongst the fruit and vegetables. Lori’s award winning jams, jellies, chutneys, pickles and elderflower cordial are always available
Recent news:
June 2023
Get your pickles out of a jam! Learn the secrets of perfectly set jam from an expert. Save money on food by making the most of your garden’s produce, foraged wild foods and seasonal gluts. Discover labour and time saving tips by investing in a skill for life. Celebrate with tasty, handmade gifts you are proud to share. All this is jam packed into a day in the kitchen with Lori at her acclaimed preserves making course, Preserving the Harvest. This is a hands on day in the kitchen learning to make jam, chutney, lemon curd and marmalade. It is a satisfying day, punctuated with morning coffee, ploughman’s lunch (with pickles galore), and finished with a golden hour cream tea and jam sampling session. It is a bargain at only £95 which includes a recipe book, all the ingredients and jars as well as your refreshments. All you need to bring is an apron. Places are limited and must be prebooked through info@shutefruit.co.uk or call 01626 777570 for more details. Ask Lori about a gift voucher for for someone special.
October 2021
Ask any Olympian sports person and they tell you winning gold is a marathon of hard work, persistence and continual striving for excellence. Lori Reich, of Shute Fruit and Produce agrees: she has been making preserves from her farm house kitchen for over 20 years transforming the bounty from her and her husband David’s farm on the banks of the Teign at Bishopsteignton.
“David grows it—and he is an excellent grower—I put it in a jar. We try not to let anything go to waste. Preserving is a way of making the farm’s bounty into gleaming jars of something special in their own right.” Says Lori.
“At the moment we have lovely runner beans—yes, this late in the year---ours are at their prime. We encourage our customers to pick now to fill their freezer for when fresh beans are not available, or at least, cost us more in terms of air miles if not price.
“When you are making preserves you can add extra ingredients to make the flavours really sing. My winning Beetroot Chutney takes the humble, earthy beetroot and with a good dose of horseradish, shakes up your taste buds. Summerfruit Jam, another gold medal winner, combines those perennial favourites of strawberries and raspberries, with redcurrants for a hint of tartness that adds its own dimensions.
“If you are looking for something really special for a cheeseboard, try my Medlar Butter. It is a spreadable fruit butter named for its texture, made of that forgotten fruit the medlar. Friends pass me their medlars if they have a glut. I make a point to thank them by putting their name on the jars. It tastes like a cross between apricots and dates, but spread on a cracker with some blue or goats’ cheese or even mature cheddar, makes magic on your palate.
“But the most surprising medals this year have been for my newest products: no added sugar preserves. Zusty Strawberry Jam and marmalade, named Marmalow, for people looking to reduce the sugar in their diets. I use Zusto sugar substitute which has no after taste and pushes the fruit flavours forward. Obviously, the judges at the World Marmalade competition agree. My Zusty jam is not just a gold winner, but is now a finalist for Champion product with Taste of the West, the largest regional food group in Britain.”
In the meantime, the Indian summer allows the farm to keep producing great tasting pick your own runner beans, fabulous sunflowers, sloes for making sloe gin and other crops until the end of October.
April 2021
Thank you to all who supported Lori’s Golden Hour Cream Teas during the month of March 2021. Lori was thrilled with the lovely comments about her fluffy scones delivered straight out of the oven and homemade clotted cream. But as the farm, food shows and markets start to pick up with the spring weather Golden Hour Cream Teas will no longer continue on a regular basis. Good news, however as she is now able to provide them for special orders and festive occasions. Please contact via email or phone about dates, ordering and prices.