Sea aster ✦

Aster maritime

What it is

Salt-marsh gatherers on the Channel coast call it oreille de cochon, pig's ear, for the shape of the fleshy leaf, and cut it from March to June, before the salicornia season opens. It grows in the lower marsh where the tide covers it twice a day, yet it holds far less salt than the samphire beside it.

In the kitchen

Wilt it in butter for 60 seconds and add no salt at all, since it brings roughly the seasoning a dish needs on its own. Taste one raw leaf first: marsh salinity shifts with the tide and the week.

Goes with

Butter Lemon Cod Scallop Cream Shallot Olive oil

In season alongside

Salt marsh lamb Japanese abalone Broccoli Buck’s-horn plantain Caper berries Chickweed

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