Samphire

[Graye]

I just noticed reference to samphire on another thread and it reminded me of something I wanted to ask.

Last year there was a pile of samphire for sale in our local fishmongers in Whitby. It looked lovely so I rushed home, looked up to see how to cook it, dashed back into town to buys some and discovered it had all gone. I think it must have been very shortly before we came back to France, so probably May.

Can anyone give me a clue what it tastes like? And the best way to cook it? Any likelihood of finding any up on the NE coast around this area? When is it best to pick?

[pumpy]

Hi Graye, it's very difficult to describe the taste of samphire. Here,in Norfolk,we blanch,then pickle it (store for a couple of weeks),then eat it straight off the stalk........real good "finger food". You'll find it growing in salt marhes,by the coast.The prime time for harvesting,round here, is July ish. Don't forget to take a sharp knife for cropping, so as to leave the roots behind.

[lsm1066]

Same here pumpy, except that I don't blanch it first. Just put it in a big pot, cover it with water, drop in half a cup of vinegar, bring it to the boil, stick the lid on, take it off the heat and leave it to cool. Once it's drained, it usually lasts about 10 minutes!

Posh chefs call it sam-fire. Took me ages to work out that they were talking about samfur :) You can cook it differently but I've only ever had it pickled.

Lynne

[gdb]

I've eaten Rock Samphire - I think that that is what it's called - and it tastes like a moutful of sea-water with fibre added for good measure.

But I think the Norfolk stuff is (much) better than that.