Posted on 10/05/2022 11:39:21 AM PDT by Red Badger
Oct. 5 (UPI) -- A British gardener earned a Guinness World Record for growing a 56.3-inch-long leek.
Derek Hulme, who grew his leek on his allotment in Stoke-on-Trent, entered his large vegetable in the CANNA U.K. National Giant Vegetable Championships in Malvern, Worcestershire, where its length was officially verified.
The vegetable earned Hulme the Guinness World Record for longest leek.
"Back in 2019 I and a few other giant veg growers were given a packet of 30 Bulgarian long leek seed in an attempt to grow the first ever world record for the world's longest leek," Hulme said in a news release from the Stoke-on-Trent local government.
"Due to the coronavirus pandemic, I was unable to take my leeks along to any shows but this year I entered the Malvern, CANNA U.K. National Giant Vegetable Championships and have finally officially won the Guinness World Record for the world's longest leek," he said.
I'm gonna call BS. You may have eaten them, but there's no way you actually enjoyed them. :)
And not Welsh either?
https://www.wales.com/about/culture/national-symbols-wales
The leek
Before there was the daffodil, there was the humble leek. This root vegetable is so well established as part of Welsh culture that wearing a leek to signify you come from Wales is noted as an ‘ancient tradition’ in William Shakespeare’s Henry V, first performed in the 16th century.
But why wear a leek? Legends claim that the 7th century king of Gwynedd, Cadwaladr, ordered his men to strap a leek to their armour to help easily distinguish them from the enemy in the heat of battle, a tale that perhaps inspired the Tudor royal household (who were of Welsh origin) to instruct their guards to wear leeks on St David’s Day, cementing the practice. Whatever the origins, we grow plenty of them and they taste lovely – especially in a Welsh cawl.
From Wiki:
“The origins of the name Vichyssoise are a subject of debate among culinary historians; one version of the story [clarification needed] is that Louis XV of France was afraid of being poisoned and had so many servants taste the potato leek soup that, by the time he tried it, the soup was cold, and since he enjoyed it that way it became a cold soup. Julia Child called it “an American invention”, whereas others observe that “the origin of the soup is questionable in whether it’s genuinely French or an American creation”.
At my age I take a much longer leak than that.
We called them wild onions up north.
They are called Ramps in WV I guess.
Dont know if they are the same as those in the UK or not.
Take a leek....
Oh wow...did I misread that headline.
Leeks are an old-world vegetable and have kind of gone out of vogue, like rutabagas and turnips. I don’t have a lot of use for them, but they are good in soups.
But no girth.
Mines got girth.
[Better go take my leek...]
Or chicken soup with leeks, traditionally known in Scotland as "cock-a-leekie." LOL
That farmer is going to need a very good-sized cock to go with his champion long leek!
I leak longer than that.
Look, a leek!
Say, that reminds me, I have to go...
I REP resent that remark!
It is like calling turnips, broccoli and kale the same thing.
They are not.
So we’ve reached peak leek?
And either those are tall Hobbits or that onion is no where near 4' 8.3" (1.43m)!
Here's an article about the symbols:
Leek, Thistle, Shamrock and Rose: Symbols of the UK and the Elizabeth Tower
Save it for an epic Robert Burns dinner.
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