GO BEYOND FOUR SEASONS

EARLY

MELON - SUN SWEET
Lombardy, Italy
May - Sep

Oscar’s Sun Sweet Melons are in – a rare variety that signals the start of summer. His early season crop is decidedly the most complex, too. Benefitting from slow growth over the cooler months, fruits have an extended period in which to ripen, drawing on the nutrients in the soil. The River Po once flowed through his land, leaving residues of mineral richness which takes Oscar’s melons to the next level.

Sun Sweet Melons are distinguishable from his Honeymoon variety – which will be arriving with us in just a weeks’ time – by a beautiful web-like scarring on the skin. Inside, they have a slightly softer consistency and are saturated with sweet juice, while Honeymoon are a little firmer, but equally sweet.

Every summer, the industry hotly anticipates Oscar’s Sun Sweet and Honeymoon Melons – a grower we’ve been working with since 2015 and whose name is synonymous with quality.

Slow growth, combined with considered cultivation methods – from thinning plants, to raising beds and even protecting them with sunscreen during the hottest time of the year – makes for some of the most exceptional produce we source. These melons have firm yet buttery flesh saturated with undiluted juice.

LATE

ARTICHOKE - MORETTO DI BRISIGHELLA
Emilia Romangna, Italy
May - May

May is the month for Moretto Artichokes – so much so that the town of Brisighella marks it each year with a dedicated festival. Silvano may be one of the newer growers in our network, but he’s been growing these for most of his life. His Moretto have distinctive violet-coloured heads that are triangular in shape, with a pointed tip. Flavour is green, mineral and herbaceous.

Grown only in the Brisighella valleys, Moretto Artichokes thrive in harsh, sun-beaten clay soils – their unique flavour impossible to replicate elsewhere. Once nearly lost to commercial farming, their revival began 25 years ago when a local Michelin-starred restaurant, Gigliole, brought them back into the spotlight.

Silvano's family have now been growing them for two generations. His father was a tenant grower, before acquiring his own land. Now nearing retirement age, he still tends today – harvesting by hand with the help of his daughter. He grows with no intervention at all – no irrigation, weeding or feeding – meaning their flavour is completely characteristic of the landscape and ecosystem.