Samphire

Salicorne

What it is

A vegetable that grows with its feet in the tide, harvested from salt marshes where nothing else deigns to live. Once pickled by coastal families as the “poor man’s asparagus”, it now garnishes fish at starred tables — the sea pre-salts it better than any cook could.

In the kitchen

Never add salt. Blanch thirty seconds, refresh, toss in butter at the last moment — it should crunch like a green wave.

Goes with

Butter Lemon Cod Salmon Oyster

Also used with

Salt marsh lamb Belon flat oyster Buck’s-horn plantain Cockle Halibut Meagre

In season alongside

Celery Purslane Agretti Sweetfish (ayu) Bell pepper Bitter melon

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