Vegetables

Make the best of the unbeatable English asparagus; it’s sometimes over by the third week of the month. New potatoes are best bought only in quantities to be cooked as soon as possible: in just a couple of days they lose half their flavour and begin to go soft. Stick with the Jersey Royals as long as they hold out, although some of the British-grown varieties that follow are also impressive.

English courgettes, mange-touts and broad beans should be plentiful by the end of the month. Pick-your-own farmers generally throw open their pea fields in the middle of June.