A lovely lunch from the Sussex Produce Company

On Sunday we had vine tomatoes, olive ciabatta and slivers of preserved pork for lunch. The sun was shining through the windows and it could almost have been Tuscany, except that all the food was from Sussex, the preserved pork was bacon, and it was actually pretty chilly outside.

We bought the food from the Sussex Produce Company’s shop in Steyning.It's the first time I've been there and I was impressed. It's a feast for the eyes and (eventually) the stomach, yet not a great strain on the wallet. Ideal.

Vine tomatoes from the Sussex Produce Company

Vine tomatoes from the Sussex Produce Company

These tomatoes looked glorious and tasted pretty good too. They were tangy and juicy, if a little woolly around the edges. If I had been in Italy in the summertime, I’d have been disappointed. However, as I was in Sussex after a horribly long winter, I thought they were remarkably tasty.

Olive ciabatta from the Farretti Bakery

I’ve chewed my way through lots of sturdy artisan loaves recently and, as a result, I was a little disorientated by this bread at first. It was so light and springy, like a delicious cloud. The crust wasn’t hard, the flavour wasn’t sour, and the olives clearly weren’t grown in a local orchard. I loved it.

Rare-breed bacon from Garlic Wood Farm

Unsmoked back bacon from Garlic Wood Farm

Garlic Wood Farm has Tamworth and Gloucester Old Spot pigs which rootle in woods and meadows, feeding on acorns, wild garlic and other natural delights. As a result, this bacon was really meaty and flavoursome – proudly porky in fact.

Sussex credentials: The vine tomatoes and the back bacon are Sussex born and bred. The ciabatta is hand-made in Sussex.

Availability: From the Sussex Produce Company on Steyning High Street.