In Season Now

A very distinctive and tasty seaweed – up to 2m long yellowy brown spaghetti-like fronds, dividing near the base, growing from small, button-like holdfasts.

This is a wonderful seaweed that is quite easy to find in the right habitat…

Sea lettuce is pleasant if unspectacular fresh, becoming truly delicious when dried – with a rich deep flavour…

These little tendrils of joy delight me with their quiet insidious clamberings over the less subtle denizens of the hedgerow. Suck the flowers for a tiny, yet hugely rewarding sweet nectar hit, then chew to enjoy generous pea flavours. The delicate leaves and tendrils from the end of the stems make excellent garnishes, in the vein of “microherbs” so popular with chefs nowadays. Only these are nicer. And free.

This adorable, delicate little flower clings tenaciously to sea cliffs, upper reaches of shingle beaches and the foreshore. The tips of the foliage have a unique flavour, though with a somewhat bitter aftertaste in summer. The flowers have a delicious hit of sweet nectar followed by an extraordinary fresh “mouth feel”…