Monthly Archives: April 2007

Garlic from the hedgerow

By Nick Saltmarsh | Published: April 27, 2007

Hedge Garlic (Alliara petiola) is one of the earliest fresh spring greens of the hedgerow, its bright green garlicky leaves appearing from February and at their best as the plant flowers in April and May. Otherwise known as garlic mustard or Jack-by-the-hedge, it has a more delicate, but nonetheless distinctly oniony, aroma and flavour than [...]

Posted in food from the wild, food in season | Tagged Suffolk, wildfood | 5 Comments

Know your crops

By Nick Saltmarsh | Published: April 27, 2007

An essential field guide for anyone who wants to know about arable crops: their identification, cultivation, history and uses.

Posted in food from the farm, food in the UK | Tagged British, crops, food from the farm, identification, oil | 1 Comment

St George’s mushrooms, a sublime taste of Spring

By Nick Saltmarsh | Published: April 23, 2007

Less well known than ceps or morels, St George’s are amongst the finest wild mushrooms, with a firm texture, appealing mealy smell and distinctive flavour.

Posted in features, food from the wild, food in season | Tagged fruit, fungi, identification, london, mushrooms, oil, Suffolk, weekendherbblogging, wildfood | 17 Comments

Food in season in 1861

By Nick Saltmarsh | Published: April 21, 2007

What was in season 146 years ago? Here’s Mrs Beeton’s list of Things in Season in April

Posted in food in season | Tagged apples, British, fish, food in season, fruit, meat, number | 7 Comments

Milk – what does it cost and where is it from?

By Nick Saltmarsh | Published: April 19, 2007

Check prices now Check today’s price of milk in Tesco / Asda / Sainsburys / Waitrose – Ocado with mySupermarket.co.uk The Rising Price of Milk Two weeks ago, Tesco was widely praised in the media for announcing two initiatives: To increase the price UK dairy farmers receive for milk, while not raising the price of [...]

Posted in food from the farm, food in the shops | Tagged dairy, england, food in the shops, identification, milk, provenance, Suffolk, supermarkets | 7 Comments

Alexanders: a forgotten vegetable

By Nick Saltmarsh | Published: April 15, 2007

One of England’s forgotten vegetables, Alexanders are at their most magnificent in April, their stately stems thick and tall on verges and grassy banks. Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum) love the coast and often grow within a few miles of the sea, though isolated patches thrive even far inland. Cut and steam the stems and buds, ideally just before the flowers have opened, for an absolutely distinctive, even peculiar, vegetable, a little like celery or parsley.

Posted in food from the wild | Tagged england, oil, Suffolk, vegetables, weekendherbblogging, wildfood | 30 Comments

Rapeseed, a golden oil from yellow fields

By Nick Saltmarsh | Published: April 12, 2007

The intense gold of cold-pressed rapeseed oil (otherwise known as canola oil) reflects the yellowing spring fields of oilseed rape. A few farmers are now producing distinctive cold-pressed rapeseed oil, with clear provenance, from their oilseed crops, but the oil itself deserves more attention.

Posted in food in the UK | Tagged British, crops, fish, fruit, oil, provenance, rapeseed, Suffolk | 9 Comments

UK Food Blog Search

By Nick Saltmarsh | Published: April 10, 2007

Recommended searches: London restaurant, local food, broad beans, July recipes, blog news Add UK Food Blogs Search to your Google homepage 6th September 2007 Update For a bigger, better and more freshly maintained search, try the Food Search at food.feedreel.co.uk, searching more than just blogs but with a refinement to narrow any search to UK [...]

Posted in food on the web | Tagged food on the web, london | 2 Comments

What is seasonal food?

By Nick Saltmarsh | Published: April 10, 2007

Sometimes the simplest words turn out to hide concepts of thorny complexity. Putting together my seasonal food cloud for April, I struggled with the question of whether to include Mediterranean oranges. Oranges are one of the joys of winter and early spring, especially the peculiarly sharp sweetness of Sicilian blood oranges. But should they really [...]

Posted in food in season | Tagged apples, england, food in season, Suffolk | 1 Comment

The yellowing countryside

By Nick Saltmarsh | Published: April 5, 2007

No crop dominates the British arable landscape quite like rapeseed (Brassica napus, also known as oilseed rape, the edible variety as canola). From the very beginning of April, previously mundane green fields of this member of the cabbage and turnip family suddenly erupt into luminous flower. Across lowland England, great swathes of countryside are painted [...]