Debbie Hearn
A member of the Guild of Food Writers

My Writing

Big Little Fruit Campaign

In the summer of 2005, I started the Big Little Fruit Campaign to revive the fortunes of Britain's neglected culinary fruits.

Interacting with Newbury Weekly News readers and BBC Radio Berkshire listeners, I quickly tracked down myrobalans and bullaces in local hedgerows.

The campaign went national in June 2006, attracting more coverage and much correspondence with those who care for British fruits. It ended in 2008, when the tide had started to turn towards the fruits that thrive in British soils and climates.

Now, Cinderella fruits such as pick-your-own farm blackcurrants are more likely to be snapped up than to spoil on the bushes, and supermarkets systematically stock gooseberries, in season.

More people are planting fruit gardens, foraging for hedgerow fruits, and learning how to make the harvest from previously-ignored old trees into something delicious.

Commercial producers are diversifying and planting new stock, to maximise the fruity potential of their land.

Other campaigns, notably the National Trust's Food Glorious Food, and Conserving and Restoring Traditional Orchards in England Project, take forward the resurgence of interest in Britain's heritage of fruit.