Vegetables

Good cauliflowers and greens should be in glut. The winter and early spring varieties of cabbage are now looking a little ropy, but are soon replaced by the big-hearted, green, round Primo. British grown peas should appear toward the end of the month; the first and sweetest broad beans a little earlier.

The English asparagus ‘open’ season starts on 1 May and, if we are lucky, will last through until the end of June. The special finesse of flavour compared with that of imports is apparently due to the slower growth rate in our climate. Now is the peak season for English cucumbers and spring onions. The first lot of outdoor-grown Jersey Royal new potatoes is usually brought over at the very beginning of May, with the official launch of the season a week or two later, and the first outdoor Jersey tomatoes are due, with about twice the flavour of the English hot-house varieties.