Liquid Gold in Essex

On an Essex farm overlooking the North Sea, manager Sam Hart has brought a taste of Austria to the UK. Seven years ago, in an effort to diversify his arable farm’s income stream, Sam grew a pumpkin patch on his land for Halloween, inviting the public to come and pick their own.

But once Halloween had come and gone Sam was left with tons of leftover pumpkin, with little market value. Wanting a way to increase profit and reduce waste he did a little research and discovered pumpkin seed oil – a delicacy associated with the Austrian region of Styria.

So Sam got to work. After an initial labour intensive hiccup and some cleverly adapted farm machinery, he sourced the right pumpkin variety to make the oil – lovingly referred to as ‘green gold’ in central-Europe. Sam travelled to Austria to see how it was made, learning at the same time the product’s cultural significance.

Now, Sam is one of the UK’s only producers of pumpkin seed products, including the oil, snacking seeds, protein powder and a business selling his produce direct to bakeries.

Presented and produced by Theo Whyte.