Sow seakale now:Seakale makes superb eating when its young shoots are blanched in spring; they come out in a lovely creamy, ivory shade and the flavour is somewhere between hazelnuts and asparagus, with the faintest hint of broccoli thrown in.
Delicious and rather exotic as it is, I've never seen seakale in an Irish restaurant, or even in a garden centre - until I came across some fine plants at Mackey's in Sandycove.
This is a plant that needs very well drained, ideally sandy soil and a great deal of organic matter. I dug each of my plants a small pit and filled each hole with a barrowload of very well rotted manure. Putting the soil back in produced a mound above each nutrient-rich pit and I planted the seakale into this in order to maximise drainage. You can then remove all the buds that emerge from the "crown" or woody base; the more laissez-faire school suggests you remove any flowering shoots.
Then, when the leaves wither in late autumn, you remove them and place an inverted bucket, bin or a pottery seakale pot over each plant. This excludes light and blanches the new growth so that it becomes creamy coloured rather than green. You can also grow it from seed, sowing now in pots and planting out in the autumn. Thomson & Morgan offer a good variety called Lilly White. Now is your chance. Tom Doorley
Limey grub A-Z
The Taste of Britain is a remarkably comprehensive dictionary of British food - it even covers the drinks Tizer and Vimto. If you want to know about fidget pie, the d'Arcy Spice apple, Cumnock tart, fat rascals or even Dorset knobs, this is the book for you. Handsomely cloth-bound and with an introduction by Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall, it normally sells for over €30 but is currently on special offer at Waterstone's for a remarkable €14.99.
The Taste of Britain by Laura Mason and Catherine Brown is published by Harper Press. Tom Doorley