Farm Gate
Norfolk’s well-drained sandy soil and (relatively) drier and warmer climate are well-suited to asparagus growing. If you drive through the county anytime from the end of April to mid-June, you can see fields striped with raised asparagus beds, the spears poking through. The asparagus is hand-picked and graded on-farm: grade 1 stands for tightly budded spears with no hint of seed and straight as ramrods. Within the grade, the asparagus is separated by width or thickness into jumbo, medium and sprue, although different growers have different specifications. Grade 2 more or less hoovers up the second quality and is useful for soups, sauces, adding to omelettes of soufflés.
Jonathan Cave cut every day between 8am and 2pm, and no one seems to mind if you go into the fields and get your asparagus bundled up on the spot, picked to the size you want. The rest of the time they sell from the farm, in the usual grades with a ‘kitchen’ grade for soups and sauces.