Spring’s natural bounty

As we get into the full swing of spring, now is the time to wake up your taste buds and liven up your senses!

This time of year is always associated with asparagus, to many it’s the highlight of the food calendar. With a short eight week season, it really is worth waiting for the local crop and then to ‘feast’ while you can. It is so quick and easy to prepare, just lightly steam and serve with butter or hollandaise sauce. 
Soon to appear in the farm shops and greengrocers, after the Jersey Royals have finished will be our local new potatoes from around East Anglia. Don’t be tempted to store too many of these. Handy tip – they are freshly dug if you can easily scrape the skins off. At the butchers or direct from the farm gate, you should soon find new season spring lamb, a delicate, pale tender meat, delicious with mint sauce, with leaves plucked from the garden.
Crab is now once again in season. There are around 4,500 different species of crab in the world, but you can’t beat a fresh Cromer Crab. This Norfolk delicacy is prized by food lovers for its sweet, tender flavour with a high proportion of white meat to dark. Serve with some new season watercress to give a contrasting peppery flavour.

If you love your food and want to buy local, remember we are approaching the ‘show season’; our county agricultural shows have some wonderfully stocked food halls that are well worth a visit.

Sally Bendall co-owns Hollow Trees Farm Shop as well as finding time to chair FARMA, the National Farmers’ Retail and Markets Association.
Hollow Tree Farm Shop, A1141 Semer, Suffolk IP7 6HX
T: 01449 741247  W: hollowtrees.co.uk