Vegetables

In good years, with wet springs and warm, dryish summers, all the produce in New Covent Garden will be looking lovely. But if June and July were wet, followed by a hot, humid August rounded off with more rain, we will have what the trade calls a ‘glutty period’: produce coming in early, thick and fast, but with no staying power. Some years conditions are such that less hardy items are unsaleably rotten after a few hours in the wholesale market, let alone a day or two in the shops.

Although winter root vegetables, Brussels sprouts and leeks start to make more frequent appearances, most will tighten up only after a snap of cold. Cauliflower should be good and the Isle of Wight is now putting out some superb sweetcorn.