During the summer one of the finest lettuces you can buy is Little Gem.
This one was bought in Tescos.
I always buy produce from Shropshire farms whenever I can. Years ago I researched the company for a pitch (which we lost). I was so impressed with the company that the memory has stayed with me ever since.
The main farm is based in the Cambridgeshire fens. There is only one road which goes to the site (although I think there are tracks which can give access in an emergency if the road is blocked). You turn off the main road and drive for miles through bleak flat fields until an ENORMOUS complex of buildings appears before you.
Hundreds of people are employed here, mostly eastern Europeans who live in hostels on the site, so that it resembles a kibbutz. Locals are also employed but one said to me: “People round here don’t like working at G’s because it’s too easy. You come in here because there is always work, and the people are nice. But the wages are low and you never really get anywhere, so you can spend years here and have nothing at the end.”
The company is markedly paternalistic. As well as accommodation, there is a subsidized canteen, and a company shop that sells very low-price fresh vegetables. Like most family-owned companies there is a sense that everyone is “part of the family”.
I have a sort of memory that G’s first developed the Little Gem lettuce (although I can’t be certain of this). Quality standards are very high, and very rarely are there any complaints about the products. Once, however, a customer found a mummified mouse in a Little Gem lettuce. An enquiry investigated how this could have happened. The mouse crawled into the lettuce while it was growing in the field, and then suddenly died (I suppose even mice have heart attacks). The lettuce continued to grow, and dense layers of leaves closed around the mouse, so that it was completely encapsulated.
More: http://www.shropshires.com/gsmarketing/customers.asp
You’ll have to cut and paste this url: www.mintel.webbler.co.uk/download.php?id=215 -
2 comments:
Hi,
I just wanted to say that I found your blog completely by accident (searching for 'white samite') a couple of weeks ago and have been enjoying reading it ever since. I love the Englishness of it, the medievalism, and your lovely writing. I just wanted to say thank you.
Thanks Quatrefoil.
It's always nice to get feedback - it makes the effort worthwhile.
PS I try to keep the medievalism to a minimum.
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