Spring

Along with wood sorrel, wild garlic has been at the forefront of the renaissance in wild foods in recent years. It isn’t hard to work out why: it is easy to find, delicious, and fairly straightforward to identify. In most areas of the UK, there is absolutely no need for anyone who lives anywhere near a park, woodland or shady riverbank to spend a single penny on spring onions between February and July.

Prior to flowering, lesser celandine is one of the milder spring leaves, so good for bulking out salads of more pungent leaves like hairy bitter-cress and ramsons…

Cow parsley is the predominant roadside plant from March through to June, when its delicate, nodding white flowers adorn nearly every rural roadside in the country – hence the old name of Queen Anne’s Lace.

These delicate and beautiful little “weeds” (gardeners loathe them) are a very tasty addition to any salad, though they lose their charm when cooked. They have overtones of rocket and watercress and come in lovely little garnish sized rosettes…

Even if it wasn’t edible sea kale would still be my favourite plant. Its alien-looking purple shoots, sculpturesque leaves and clouds of nodding flowers are works of high art to intoxicate the senses and marvel the mind. As luck would have it, it also happens to be absolutely delicious, providing some sort of food for most of the year.