Lucy and Anthony Carroll’s farm in Northumberland
Artisanal growers may be small scale but their care for the land and their produce is making a big impact on how we eat and drink. Torri Mundell meets two nominees for the luxury home appliance manufacturer’s Respected by Gaggenau initiative which celebrates this new generation of producers
Lucy & Anthony Carroll
At Tiptoe Farm in Northumberland, Anthony Carroll is telling LUX about the ?awkward? pink fir apple potato. ?They grow vertically and have stems that can reach two metres tall. They?re so knobbly, they can?t be dug up with a modern potato harvester,? he says. They are, in short, more demanding than your average supermarket potato. ?But,? he points out, ?they have so much more to give.? Follow LUX on Instagram: luxthemagazine
Carroll and his wife Lucy used to farm more conventional potato varieties until in 2000 Carroll had, in his words, a ?light-bulb moment?. A supermarket retailer had approached him to produce a potato variety that would ?look great in a plastic bag?, but that tasted, by the retailer?s own admission, ?filthy?. Carroll not only refused the offer, but he also resolved to start growing some of the more flavourful potatoes that, after the two world wars, had been abandoned for inexpensive, high-yield varieties.
Today, the farm?s portfolio of heritage potatoes, including the Victorian-era spuds they brought back from near extinction, occupies most of the 28.5-hectare farm. Lucy ...