Peter Jones – We need him and his mates, 3 times a day #Producer Review
Stephen Wundke
29th August 2018
Wirral Watercress is exceptional, always has been, from the time I owned restaurants and we used to use it and I wanted to know why! So I went to see Peter Jones, the man who grows, amongst other things, Watercress from his farm at Childer Thornton, just outside Chester. Peter doesn’t spend a lot of time talking but when he does, you would do well to listen because he knows the food business better than most. He started by telling me that in your life you need a doctor, dentist, priest, solicitor and undertaker a few times in your life but you need a farmer three times a day and he is so right. We tend to eat 2-3 times, as a minimum, a day, in a lot of cases and at the base of that food sits the farmer. The producer, the one who makes things happen and our farmer is under threat as never before.
As I walked around Peter’s farm he talked about how this year had been tough with such a wet, cold winter and then such a dry hard summer but as a farmer you learn to be resilient and pragmatic. He talked about his fear that so few young people were coming in to farming and the lack of knowledge transfer that was happening, and how incredible skill sets were being lost as new generations look to do things other than farming and he talked about taste. Mostly he talked about taste and I loved hearing about it. His pride at producing watercress that simply tastes so much better than anything you can buy in a super market, the joy of tasting, which I did, the nectar that comes when you pick a courgette flower from its base. His constant battle to find a better tasting tomato, strawberry and edible flower and how not every experiment works as he chopped a new breed of tomato he had created, tasted it and threw it down in disgust – all pulp and no flavour was the verdict. For here was a man who does what he does because of passion and not money. A man who uses God given ingredients and tries to improve upon them and who just wants people to enjoy their taste as he does. He’s never going to be a multi-millionaire and that doesn’t matter but he is going to keep producing the best quality foods he can- that much was obvious and so admirable.
We started in the first of his green houses looking at the Watercress beds. Row after row of perfect watercress. Peter explained that at the height of summer he can cut and regrow in about a week and then as the sun dies down later in the year that recuperation time gets longer and longer until in November when the growing stops. As we walked, we tasted and that intense peppery flavour of the watercress just makes you feel good. You feel healthier as its going down. Its also a beautiful site to see this verdant carpet of shag pile Watercress stretching out in front of you. Peter and his small team cut everything by hand and they had just finished todays orders for local restaurants and pubs.
We then moved to Courgette flowers and he explained how he can control the feed more specifically in grow bags to ensure every plant receives the right nutrients to grow stronger and tastier flowers and the difference between boy and girl flowers. This was where I had the magic moment with the golden elixir, something very few will get to taste, this sweet, perfumed, intensely flavoured syrup that you lick from the stem of the plant. It was fabulous. Peter also told me there was a lady from the far east who buys the Courgette leaves, scrapes the underside barb off, cooks them and rolls them as some sort of speciality. Now that is making every bit count isnt it!
He showed me the edible flowers and the marvelous array of colours. This area was in high demand as more and more chefs start to understand the subtle flavours and superb life they can bring to a dish. He showed me his failed tomatoes and then we hit another highlight. Simply stunning white strawberries. They start off tasting like sweet strawberries and then finish with this perfumed, citrus flavour that I could imagine making the most incredible white chocolate cheesecake. They were heavenly. As I was tasting these Peter cut me some basil and said take these home, put them in a glass of water in the window and I guarantee within 2 days there will be roots growing off the end of them. I asked what should I do then. He replied, “I don’t care, I am still amazed to this day how things grow. From college to now I find it fascinating”. That is a love affair with what you do. We toured the borage plants and their lovely blue flowers, looked at some rocket and tasted the sweetest runner beans I have had; all the time I was conscious that I was with someone who was just in awe of nature. Yes, he was a moulder and a grower but here was a man who appreciated every aspect of his trade and had worked out how to compliment the amazing job that Mother Nature does.
It was an incredibly pleasant 90 minutes seeing the love and understanding and going right back to basics in the supply chain. Peter’s passion for food and taste is infectious and if nothing else comes out of this blog but for you to appreciate a man who is master of his trade then that will do but I know Peter Jones wants us all to just taste our food and just buy what we truly want to eat. He abhors waste and eating for the sake of eating. So next time you go to get something from the fridge or cupboard or buy something in the supermarket, think of Peter for a second and think – am I eating for taste or habit. And maybe, just maybe we can all start buying the foods that really mean something in our lives and not just sold to us by the greedy conglomerates.
To buy Peters watercress go to
Francis Thomas Greengrocers of Chester
Hughes of Llandudno
Michael McDonald – Knutsford
Fine Fruits of Pensby
Wirral Watercress
Wirral Watercress provides watercress and other speciality crops to restaurants and greengrocers across the North.
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