Farmers’ Market

This month's Farmers’ Market sees the arrival of the first of the summer’s naturally grown British strawberries. Whilst the supermarkets have sold polytunnel-grown British strawberries for some months now; the unusually warm weather back in April has pushed the true season (which, according to farmer Tom Maynard normally begins mid-June) back a little earlier; making for lush, ripe and flavoursome berries at the start of June. Tom will also have rhubarb on sale, the particular variety of which, he tells me, is called 'Timperly Early'. Although this specific type can continue to crop throughout the season, the commercial rhubarb sold late into the year (or "school dinner rhubarb" as Tom refers to it) can "become rather stringy ". At this time however, before the dry period over the summer, the vegetable retains its rich, pink colour, and is perfect, I'm told, made into Fool or cooked with ginger, for a myriad of reported health benefits.

Also appearing at this month’s market, is the fresh asparagus sold by Birchden farm, which will appear on a stall alongside homemade Hollandaise sauce; the perfect accompaniment to this mouth-watering seasonal vegetable. I asked Steven Birchden how people should best take advantage of the short period of time in which fresh asparagus is available. "It's incredibly versatile", he tells me. "Boil, steam, barbeque, stir-fry or even microwave it." We would propose, given the limited time, that one should test all the above methods; eating little else over the next few months; bar of course, the odd bowl of plump and delectable British strawberries. Perfect. RL