Judith Hann shares her passion for herb growing and cookery
READ a few pages of the sumptuous new book from former BBC “Tomorrow’s World” presenter Judith Hann, and you’ll very soon realise you’re looking in on a love affair.
Behind the simple title “Herbs” is a beautifully illustrated book in which Judith shares her passion for growing and cooking with these fabulous flavours.
“It is indeed a love affair,” Judith tells me from her farmhouse home in the south Cotswolds. “My spirits lift when I come into my herb garden, which used to be an old pig yard.
“I use herbs every day in my cooking and I tour the garden to see which ones are ready to be cut back today or maybe put away and dried for the winter.”
Judith worked as a presenter on BBC “Tomorrow’s World” for 20 years, but it took a while for her love of cookery and growing herbs to be widely recognised.
“I didn’t learn to cook until I left college, but quickly became very keen,” Judith says. “My husband and I lived in west London for twenty-five years where we had a small garden with poor soil in the shade of a very big tree.
“Mediterranean herbs like sunshine and growing them was quite a challenge. So I used to go to the Indian shops to buy coriander and flat leaf parsley.”
Back in the Eighties, Judith was seen first and foremost as a science presenter. So she was amazed to get a call one day asking if she would like to present a new series, “The Taste Of Health”, in which eight celebrity chefs would cook healthier versions of favourite recipes.
“It was a time when government guidelines were coming out about reducing salt and fat intake. I’d written a simple science book looking at health issues and the head of department had read it.
“She’d also seen me on a holiday programme cooking in my holiday kitchen. I couldn’t believe the BBC was going to pay me to cook alongside my food heroes and heroines!
“I learned so much. The chefs knew about unusual herbs because they had specialist suppliers, so I got really interested and started growing them, too.”
Judith remodelled part of the garden at her parents’ house in the Cotswolds and created a new area for herbs. She experimented with varieties like sorrel and lovage, which now rank amongst her favourites.
In the early Nineties, she and her family looked for a house nearby, the essential criteria being space for her dream herb garden.
Eventually they found a small farm between Burford and Cirencester with decaying buildings. But she knew instantly that the sheltered walled area near the farmhouse would be perfect for a wide range of herbs. Now she has more than 150 varieties.
Like many, my own herb garden contains staples such as parsley, basil, sage, rosemary and thyme. But Judith advises growing more unusual varieties.
“Although I’d still plant some thyme and parsley if you don’t live near shops, because they’re an essential