At the end of school term, chef owner and former Great British Menu winner Chris Harrod from Michelin starred The Whitebrook, hosted an educational foraging tour around the grounds followed by a lunch for the year 3 class from Trellech Primary school

‘“This is the second foraging event and lunch that we’ve hosted’, says Chris “and we’ll continue to invite local primary schools on a regular basis. The aim is to help children understand where produce comes from, the wonderful variety that can be found in Monmouthshire and teaching them about sustainable and ethical practice. For example the importance of compost and how to make it.”

From 11am to 2pm the children were shown a wide variety of produce including rock samphire, sea spinach, sea aster, sea plantain, sea blight & mallow from the estuary. Then from the nearby woods and hedgerows the children were introduced to meadowsweet, wood sorrel, hop shoots, yarrow, wild pea, pine, girolle mushrooms. Chef talked through some of the produce before each course, encouraging the children to taste and smell, before seeing if they could detect the ingredient in the dish served. For example they recognised the citrus flavour of foraged lamb sorrel which was in their ice cream dessert. Chris gave the children an adult tasting menu and he was surprised at how much the children would try, even some of the more fussy eaters were keen to experiment! Some of the faces the children pulled when they tried nasturtium leaves were amusing as it is quite peppery. Surprisingly the mackerel was more popular than the cod. The pork main course went down very well with the children trying roast saddle suckling pig, braised shoulder, slow cooked crispy belly and a pig head croquette. No surprise the strawberry dessert was the most popular served with both lamb sorrel ice cream & wood sorrel garnish. Let me know if you’d like to see the full menu. The children left full and hopefully a little more knowledgeable and aware of the rich variety of Monmouthshire produce, taking home with them a homemade Welsh cake, a Whitebrook pen and signed menu. Their homework will be to draw their favourite foraged produce and write a few lines on why they enjoyed it.