Just like peas and carrots, Fruit ‘n Two Veg is a welcome favourite in Beaminster.
This wonderful greengrocer in Beaminster has become a second home to most of the locals in and around Beaminster, where a bright, smiling chap greets you the minute you walk through the door. If he’s not got his arms buried in piles of spuds, he’s holding a bunch of carrots or chatting about some fantastic recipe ideas for cobnuts, when they’re in season of course.
Naturally, we’re referring to Anthony, from Fruit ‘n Two Veg.
We popped into see him, to hear what’s on the shelves this week and why locality and seasonality are so critically important to him and the produce he sells.
It’s certainly fruit week, as we’re met with punnets of fresh strawberries, cherries, plums, peaches and nectarines. On top of that, Anthony tells us that runner beans and bobby beans have also just hit the shelves in all their greeny-goodness. But our attention is quickly drawn to the bulbous, crisp-white fennel bulbs which greet us as we enter the shop.
“I love to braise fennel down, but my favourite thing to do with fresh fennel bulb is to slice the fennel as finely as possible, and then mix it through with watercress and orange and a nice dressing into a fresh salad. It’s the perfect accompaniment with fish or a BBQ, or both,” he shares. And that’s what many of the locals who stop in for supplies at Fruit ‘n Two Veg enjoy. With his experience of working as a Chef for 18 years, Anthony is never short of recipe ideas!
We ask him about his suppliers and when Anthony is not visiting fruit and vegetable farms and markets himself picking up some of the freshest, seasonal produce for the store, he receives deliveries from local suppliers of the best produce around. “Angie still supplies a lot of the amazing produce for our shop – and she’s only 4 miles down the road!” One certainly cannot get more local (and fresher) than that.
But it’s what Anthony tells us about the importance of seasonality and locality that stays with us. “I always try and use the lowest amount of airmiles as I possibly can when sourcing produce. We live in such a beautiful place with so many amazing producers, and soon, in a few weeks, I’ll have all the apples from Elwell in Waytown. Last year, I had 10 varieties on sale here. The plums are about to come through, and in 2018, I had about 7 varieties of plums.” And he’s write. Apart from the impact we have on our environment, supporting surrounding business is critical to seeing them last. But there are scores of additional health benefits to buying local, and eating locally-produced food, too.
Anthony believes in eating within your own ecosystem and he explains what he means. “They say that the best thing to combat hay fever is to eat your own local honey. By doing that, you’re putting the local pollen back into your body which is the same pollen that effectively causes you to sneeze. And by eating local honey, your body is slowly building up the antibodies in your ecosystem to combat hay fever. That’s why locality is so important to me,” he explains.
And as we munch on the sweetest plums of the season, we completely understand, yet again, the importance of supporting local businesses like Anthony’s. Without them, things would be seriously, and utterly, amiss.
Visit Fruit ‘n Two Veg at 16 The Square, in the heart of the town, or call them on 01308 863085.
