Godney Aquaponics


Godney Aquaponics
In the village of Godney, with the beautiful back drop of the Glastonbury Tor, Melv and Sal are embarking on a new venture. Fed up with the poor quality of veg in the shops, they have the ambition to set up an aquaponics system to provide fresh vegetables and salad crops for the village, and with a little help from their hens a supply of fresh free range eggs too.


What is Aquaponics??


What is Aquaponics??
Aquaponics is a sustainable method of producing quality food with minimal external inputs. It is a system that combines conventional aquaculture (e.g. fish in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. Water from the aquaculture system is fed to the hydroponic system where the by-products are broken down and are utilised by the plants as nutrients, and the water is then re-circulated back to the aquaculture system.


Friday, 20 September 2019

Turning up the heat in the tunnel

We like a bit of heat and spice in our food and chillies play a significant part in our diet. This year we have grown two in particular:
Apache is reported to be an extra-hot variety with fiery pods, chocked full of spice, it is claimed to rival the likes of extra-hot Thai peppers, with a touch of sweetness behind the heat – perfect for use in salsas and spicy Asian cuisine. More like an extra-hot culinary chilli pepper that shows well, with better flavour than most ornamentals.


Well they certainly are fiery and behind the heat, the taste of these peppers is flavourful, but not overly unique. It has a bell pepper like fresh flavour with a sweetness that apparently grows the longer the apache pepper stays on the vine, so red apaches will be sweeter than green. certainly one to heat up a curry and it’s big spiciness is delicious for sauces!!

However, the best find has to be the hot lemon sweet chilli pepper which has an amazing taste. As a variety it is claimed to be a mildly hot, sweet citrus-like, lemon-flavoured pepper which is a popular seasoning pepper in Peru, where it is known as qillu uchu.


It has a taste that has a gentle heat, (but fiery with the seeds left in) but is so sweet it is a pleasure to bite into. The hint of citrus comes through once cooked and the warmth is a little 'softer' and not as intense as that offered by many of the smaller red chillies.


The hot lemon is a cone chilli pepper that is around 60mm long with some crinkling. In some ways it is quite unique in that behind the heat there is a lemon grass like flavour which makes it very fresh tasting yet quite pungent!



It is now chilli harvesting time and already we have 5kg in the freezer, ready for jams, jellies, curries, salsas and wine - lovely!!
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