Scurvy grass ✦

Cranson officinal

What it is

English ships carried it salted by the barrel and English taverns sold scurvy-grass ale as a spring tonic — not because the leaf is unusually rich in vitamin C, but because it is unmistakable and standing on the coast in every month of the year. Cochlearia is simply cochlear, the spoon its leaves copy.

In the kitchen

Treat it as wasabi, not as salad: chop at the last second, because the mustard oils peak about a minute after the cell walls break and are gone within five. With oysters or raw scallop it also does the work of the salt.

Goes with

Scallop Oyster Beef Cream Potato Apple

In season alongside

Buck’s-horn plantain Chives Cilantro / Coriander Cockle Garlic scape Hairy bittercress

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