Around 300 years have passed since Kea plums arose in a Tregothnan sea creek. What makes Kea Plums so special? Well, the entire world production is located in one valley of Cornwall located just off the Fal estuary. This ancient part of the estate was connected to the road network in 1938 but for hundreds of years had relied on the river to harvest and transport the plums. The variety and taste is truly unique. The season is usually from late August to late September but in 2007 is forecast to be the earliest ever. There are 4 known varieties, each one distinctive. The red kea plum is the earliest and is estimated available from 10th August to 24th August. Black Kea plums make up the main harvest from around 21st August. A few select restaurants will have access to the plums as well as fine food stockists. Tregothnan Kea plums have been prized for centuries in Cornwall. Tregothnan has been in the same family since 1335 and the Kea plums are thought to have been developed for a unique estuarine microclimate about 300 years later. Perhaps they spontaneously arose and were then cultivated for their special taste and quality. No one really knows. The management of the historic orchards is becoming a full time job for a member of the Tregothnan garden team as the rescue effort gathers pace. Orchards extend to over 20 acres along the waterfront. The plums are not picked in the conventional way but are gathered from a series of ‘shakes’. Four shakes are usually required to harvest the best plums, the first shake is discarded. The plums are both rare and exquisite. The trees that overhang the water are literally shaken into a boat and can then be sailed right up to the the Tregothnan woodyard despatch area for direct delivery to you. Jams, chutneys and dishes are created from the plums. They have until now not been made available beyond Cornwall except as preserves. Tregothnan are was honoured to present the plums to the Royal Warrant Holders meeting in London. Already they are being served at Jamie Olivers restaurant, Fifteen. The varieties of Kea Plum are excellent when stored frozen and the stones can then easily be removed for subsequent use. There are many local recipes for the plums. Permission may be granted in due course for a documentary to be made of the orchards as they are unique in the world and the quite peculiar orchard techniques have evolved over time. More care is invested in Tregothnan Kea Plums than in the worlds finest hand picked olives.

ROSKILLY’S CREATES HISTORIC
ICE CREAM FOR TREGOTHNAN

Roskilly’s – one of Cornwall’s leading makers of ice cream and fudge – has teamed up with Tregothnan Estate to create a brand new Ice cream.

The new Kea Plum and Vanilla ice cream uses fruit from the historic plum orchards on Tregothnan’s Cornish estate and has been combined with Roskilly’s organic milk and ice cream expertise to create the unique new flavour, which will be sold on the Estate. 

“The Kea Plum orchard is over 300 years old and is the only one of its kind in the world. We have worked hard over the years to bring the orchards back to life and we want to ensure its future is preserved. One way of doing that is to make sure the rare fruit produced is used wisely and now that the trees are producing more plums, we decided to expand into ice cream.

“Roskilly’s has a fine reputation and were the ideal choice to help us to develop and create Tregothnan’s unique ice cream”.

“We are very excited about the results. It has fantastic flavour and will not only be available from Tregothnan stockists but is also in demand from Tregothnan cream tea customers in London,” said Mrt Jones. “There is already interest in Tregothnan Kea Plum Ice Cream from Japan where there the Tregothnan Cream Teas are being launched this autumn”. The Tregothnan Kea Plum Ice Cream is available now at leading independent retailers in time for the Kea Plum Season in August.

Andy Phillips, commercial directorCommercial Manager for Roskilly’s adds: “We really enjoyed working on this project. Tregothnan are a very like minded company where quality and doing things well is paramount. It was also very exciting to create an ice cream with the Tregothnan Kea plum. The taste is totally unique and the fruit works wonderfully in ice cream. The result really is exquisite and we are delighted to have worked with Tregothnan.”

For more information on Roskilly’s and its range of products visit www.roskillys.co.uk or call 01326 280479.