Did you know that more carp are farmed for the table world wide than any other fish?  Perhaps not here in the UK although in the middle ages carp were reared in ponds by monks to satisfy their needs for fresh fish when they lived a long distance from the sea.  It is in Asia where most of the carp is farmed today although in central and eastern Europe carp is farmed for the table. 

Good!  Carp are omnivorous and forage around the bottom of the pond in search for food.  This can taint the flesh with a muddy taste, however by purging the carp in clean water (such as spring water) for a few days any traces of muddiness disappears.  When River Cottage came to film our carp farm, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall  took some of our organic carp and presented it to a taste panel at River Cottage.  The picture left shows the score the invited guests gave to our carp.  They all gave it a resounding ‘thumbs up’.

In recent years organic trout and salmon have proved increasingly popular with consumers wanting a fish which has been farmed as sustainably as possible.  The diets which these fish are fed are the most sustainable commercial feeds available today.  However, even these feeds are still dependent on fish meal caught from the wild.  

In contrast, carp which are omnivorous, eat both plant and animal matter much of which can be relatively easily cultured in the pond where they are reared.  The species therefore aligns itself very well with organic principles where wastes such as cow manure can be used to fertilise the pond to stimulate feed production.  Moreover unlike trout or salmon farming, carp do not need huge quantities of fresh water and consequently do not pose a significant pollution risk. 

We have been farming carp at Upper Hayne to the Soil Association’s  organic standard since the summer of 2006.  We sold our first organic carp in 2008/2009 to local restaurants, El Vino wine bars in the City of London and numerous mail order equiries.  Trials with smoking have proved successful and we plan to smoke some carp for Christmas / New Year 2010 / 2011.  Please email us for details.