It’s Wimbledon time, and while players throw themselves around the court, the thousands of tennis fans watching them will be achieving some equally impressive gastronomic statistics.
Wimbledon coincides perfectly with British strawberry season and the two certainly make a brilliant match. In an average year, visitors to the Championships put away more than 38.4 tons of them – that’s about 1.92 million strawberries served in over 190,000 portions. If you laid the berries end to end, they’d stretch almost 37 miles, right back to the farm that supplies them.
For the last 25 years, responsibility for providing all this fruit has fallen to Hugh Lowe Farms in Kent. Teams of pickers harvest strawberries by hand at dawn each day before the fruit is delivered that same morning to be enjoyed at optimum ripeness and freshness when the gates open at 11am.
Some of those strawberries will end up in the drink most intimately connected with Wimbledon – indeed it’s an official partner of the event: Pimm’s. Although several versions of this famous fruit cup exist, it’s the classic, gin-based No.1 Cup that is served at the Championships.
Based on previous years, almost 300,000 glasses of Pimm’s are likely to be poured during the tournament. Mixed with lemonade then garnished with strawberries, apple, cucumber and mint, it’s the perfect refreshment for a day at the tennis – so long as you’re not playing, obviously.
While fans in the cheap seats slurp on their Pimm’s, debenture holders and corporate guests in the club’s fine dining restaurants and bars are more likely to be sipping Champagne. The majority of that fizz will be Lanson, official Champagne of the Championships since 2001.
Expect around 25,000 bottles, or roughly 150,000 glasses of Champagne to be poured at this year’s Wimbledon. Of course, it helps that Champagne goes so beautifully with all those strawberries.
Another perfect match for the cleansing cut of Champagne is salmon. Whether poached or smoked, this popular fish will be making an appearance on the tournament’s elegant lunch menus, seafood bar and afternoon tea spreads. In total, tennis fans are set to tuck into about 12,000kg of salmon over the two-week tournament.
While the fresh salmon comes from Loch Duart on the remote northwest coast of Scotland, Wimbledon’s smoked salmon requirements are met by the Severn & Wye Smokery in Gloucestershire. The centre court crowd are in safe hands: this same producer carries a Royal Warrant from the Queen.
Whether you’re watching on the sofa at home or courtside, Wimbledon is the perfect excuse for afternoon tea. At the 2019 tournament, visitors tucked into a waistband stretching 65,850 scones, washed down with more than 300,000 cups of tea.
Can’t make it to SW19 this year? Treat yourself to a slice of the experience by ordering an official Wimbledon At Home afternoon tea or picnic lunch. The afternoon tea scones – one fruit, one plain – are made by Montmartre Patisserie in Berkshire, another Royal Warrant Holder to the Queen. Perhaps Her Majesty will be tucking onto those very same scones while following the Centre Court action on television. Click here for website.
