Hairy bittercress ✦

Cardamine hirsute (cressonnette)

What it is

Ripe bittercress pods sit under tension and fling their seeds a metre or more at a touch, which is how the plant reaches every nursery pot and gravel path in the country. It is a winter annual, holding a green rosette through the cold months when nothing else sharp is growing outdoors.

In the kitchen

Pull the whole rosette and cut it off at the root — it is served as one piece, not leaf by leaf. Use it raw and scattered like a herb; a warm plate alone is enough to blunt the wasabi edge.

Goes with

Egg Scallop Butter Radish Trout Potato

In season alongside

Ramps Spring onion Watercress Wild garlic Celery Celtuce

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