Michelin chef discovers Angmering nursery’s recipe for success

World renowned chef Daniel Clifford during a visit to VHB West End Nursery in Angmering, last week.

Daniel Clifford, who rose to stardom with his triumph on BBC Two’s prime time television programme last year, was at the VHB West End Nursery site, in Roundstone Lane, last Wednesday, to discover how modern innovations, championed by the staff there, help keep ingredients he uses fresh.

Daniel, 39, who is the head chef at Midsummer House, in Cambridge, was given a tour around the 16-acre agricultural site to learn about VHB’s WOW Micro Leaf brand – a new form of packaging designed to extend the shelf life of fresh produce.

The chef praised the work of staff across both VHB sites in Angmering and Runcton, near Chichester.

He said: “It’s great to be able to come and visit British producers like VHB to see for myself how ingredients that I use every day are grown.

“As a chef, I think it’s really important to know where your ingredients come from and this visit has provided me with lots of inspiration for back in the kitchen!”

Ann Tenison, marketing manager for VHB, admitted it was an honour to be visited by the world-renowned chef.

She said: “We were delighted to welcome such an esteemed chef to our nursery and to be able to highlight the fantastic British grown herbs we produce for professional kitchens.”

Samples of the micro herbs are used to create some of Daniel’s most popular dishes.

They have also been sent to other top chefs up and down the country to use in their culinary creations.

In addition to growing micro herbs for professional kitchens, VHB is the largest producer of fresh herbs for the some of the country’s retail heavyweights.

It supplies food for the likes of Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.

Around 375 people are employed across the company’s two sites.