How does our garden grow?

If something edible is being grown at Biltmore, chances are you’ll find that Eli Herman had a hand in it. Now serving as the estate’s Field to Table Production Garden Manager, Eli has spent more than 30 years coaxing a variety of produce to flourish in the fields of Biltmore.

For events such as our Taste of Biltmore celebration each September, Eli plans well in advance to bring in a bountiful harvest. In addition to the microgreens and lettuces that grow year-round in the greenhouse, the Production Garden offers a seasonal wealth of delicious fruits, vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers to grace the plates of estate restaurants as well as taking center stage in culinary demos.

“Our fruits and vegetables taste as good as they look,” said Eli, “and nothing beats the taste of something that was grown right here and only traveled across the estate to your table!”

This season was particularly favorable for both acorn squash and fingerling potatoes, both of which will find their way onto estate menus this fall. Eli is particularly pleased with this year’s potato crop, and he has special plans for the tasty tubers.

“We planted three different types of fingerling potatoes this spring,” Eli said. “Russian Bananas, which are a yellow-fleshed, banana-shaped potato, red-skinned Papa Chacos, and Magic Molly, which is a round, blue potato. They all came in well and I’m saving some of them for our special Taste of Biltmore events with Chef Vivian Howard of the PBS series A Chef’s Life.”

To sample the bounty of the Production Garden, look for estate-grown ingredients on our menus any time, or join us for special Taste of Biltmore events throughout the month of September.