I say unusual but yet also delicious, much like asparagus I love to serve it with poached fish or on it’s own with hollandaise sauce or simply buttered with cracked black pepper. It does not take long to cook and is best left slightly crunchy.

Little preparation is needed, wash well and cut into desired size. Blanch in rapidly boiling salted water until just cooked. Try to pick the young shoots, which come off the main stem, usually before the end of June when the plants become overgrown. I use hogweed from mid May until mid June when it is at its best.

Also known as cowslip it is a common herb found throughout the British Isles in hedgerows, roadsides, woodland and grassy places, flowering from June until October.