Seasonal Treats - January to June
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What's in Season?
January
It's cold and chilly outside - so warm yourself up with some hearty
home-made soups, casseroles and stews. Use local hardy root vegetables, such as swede and parsnips, combined with potatoes and leeks. Visit one of our excellent farm shops to pick them up. Look out also for game - hare and vension, or cockles and mussels from the coast.
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February
Love is in the air, with Valentine's Day. Why not cook up a meal at home using local food and drink? Start off with the aphrodisiac favourite - oysters. Then visit one of our butchers to purchase some pork, the region's prime meat. Combine this with some potato mash mixed with mustard - for a truly steamy meal. End with something fruity - the region famed for its produce.
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March
The days are getting longer and hopefully the weather better too... look out for locally grown vegetables such as purple sprouting broccoli, spring onions and cauliflower at our markets, farm shops and road side stalls. Fruit includes delicious early ‘forced' rhubarb. Whilst on the coast, pick up mussels and oysters for a seafood smorgasbord at home.
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April
Spring is in the air - and it brings a host of new flavours to enjoy. Tender joints and cuts of lamb are great for an Easter roast - maybe sprinkled with sprigs of aromatic rosemary. Look out also for spinach and watercress. Enjoy a pot of locally caught cockles at the fishing town of
Leigh-on-Sea - with salt, pepper and vinegar by the side.
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May
A great English delicacy - the East of England is one of the main areas for the cultivation of asparagus. Buy the sweet and tender spears from the end of April to June. Enjoy them lightly steamed or boiled and covered in butter. On the coast, you can also pick ‘the asparagus of the sea' - the samphire, with its crisp texture and salty flavour.
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June
Get out in the fresh air at our pick-your-own farms - with gooseberries, raspberries and strawberries galore. The Fens are home to some of the most fertile land in Britain. Here broad beans, broccoli, carrots, new potatoes, peas and turnips are cultivated. On the coast, head to seaside Cromer for delicious succulent and fleshy crabs.
