Seasonal eating in May

I moved to Luton last week, and I was pleased to discover a little grocer round the corner. I popped in to pick up some vegetables the other day, and had the strange experience of a shopkeeper apologising for his prices – I was considering the red peppers, and they were noticeably overpriced. “The Spanish and Israeli seasons are ending”, the grocer explained, “but we haven’t had the warmth yet to see the English season in. Give it a few weeks and the prices will start coming down again.”

An interesting little insight into the global scope of my evening ratatouille.

Anyway, it’s May, and it’s a quiet month for seasonal food. We don’t notice it much now, but this was a hungry time of year in the ages before our modern food logistics. It’s a switchover period, where winter vegetables such as parsnips and carrots are reaching the end of their cold-storage capacity, but the summer vegetables need another six weeks, like the aforementioned peppers.

New potatoes are on the way, along with asparagus. Radishes are plentiful, if you can think of something to do with them. I’ve been enjoying watercress recently, and if you’re in any doubt about the economics of seasonal food, go and hunt out spring greens and see how much you get for your pound.

Outdoor reared lamb, the best kind, is best in May. I usually forget about lamb, since they didn’t have sheep where I grew up, but a friend cooked up some lamb chops at the weekend and reminded my just how special it can be.