Micro Herbs
Poking their tiny heads over the rim of their equally tiny flower pots, these fledgling herbs look as if they would have trouble feeding a mouse rather than a restaurant.
In fact, even though they are dwarfed by grower Grahame Dunling's hand as he picks them up between finger and thumb, they pack more of a punch than people realise.
They are micro herbs, the in-thing for the kitchen table because they are so rich in flavour. Raymond Blanc grows them for his restaurant Le Manoir Aux Quatre Saisons in Oxfordshire; Glynn Purnell uses them in his Michelin starred Purnell's Restaurant in Birmingham; Gordon Ramsay swears by them.
"I started growing them by trial and error," says Mr Dunling, 50, who farms 500 acres of arable land at Barford in Warwickshire. "I wanted to grow flavoursome foods again. A lot of foods seem to be really bland and horrible and don't seem to have any taste".
"We started to grow microherbs because they really do pack a punch for such a small plant. The aroma and flavour is so intense".
The secret of Mr Dunling's success is to cut the herbs at a stage known as cotelydon when just two leaves have formed as the seed germinates. He said: "I suppose it's a bit like bonsai in that you are manipulating the plant. We get between 60 to 110 seeds packed in a six inch by four inch tray and when they get to a certain height they stop growing because they are that close together. Normally you might plant them out then, but that is the time to harvest them because that is when they taste the best".
"It's expensive and very labour intensive and the market is not yet that big although it is huge in America. I started with a few trays of mustard and rocket earlier this year and was just growing them for myself - then in March we decided to do it commercially. Now we are supplying restaurants and one or two caterers and have just got some distributors in Scotland interested."
Mr Dunling also claims that a secret compost mix helps his herbs be head and slender shoulders above the rest. His herbs include everything from parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme to micro salad crops like rocket and mizuna leaf.
He said: "They do tend to be more expensive that supermarket varieties, but then they are a lot more tasty. A supermarket price will probably be about £1.80 for 100 gramme;; our price is more like £1.50 but you only get 50 grammes - but fantastic flavour".
Mr Dunling, who lives with his wife Helen and two children Louise, 22, and Matthew, 18, is the third generation of growers in his family. He said: "I have always grown things; my grandfather was a grower and so was my father and I had my own nursery up until 1990. Now I manage a 500 acre farm and we are going put 10 acres down to grow old fashioned sustainable veg".