THE HUNGRY GAP
Even after the hopeful signs of spring emerging, such as blossom on the trees and fresh green blades of grass piercing the soil, it will be some time before there is a sure supply of edible greens. Cultivated vegetables such as cabbage and kale, beetroots and turnips have only just been planted. Craving the vital vitamin C that is in greens, medieval people turned to wild plants for their needs.
Fresh April Salad
Collect some young leaves of: dandelion, sorrel, jack-by-the-hedge, chickweed and hairy bitter cress. Rinse if necessary, pat dry and tear into a bowl. Dress with a mixture of walnut paste, dijon mustard, a little wine vinegar or lemon juice, a little honey and some vegetable oil. Use a small whisk to emulsify and add salt and pepper to taste. If I am picking from my own garden and can be sure they are clean, I often do not wash leaves as it can make them have less flavour.
The use of bitter herbs was thought to be a healthy option. In Northern Europe where the winters last longer, chicory and raddichio are sliced thinly with home-made mayonnaise to accompany a hearty stew. These bitter leaves go well with slivers of orange or pink grapefruit, or crisp apples from the store. After a long winter of eating cooked parnips and carrots, the appetite longs for something crunchy.
In the monastery garden, root vegetables tended to be grown for the leaves, shorn off for meals, while the root itself was left in the ground to come to in a couple of weeks when it had grown new leaves. This kind of subsistence eating characterised the food of the poor. It was a way to eak out the produce of each ctop.