Marsh Samphire

The tasty and obviously salty sea vegetable, samphire (pronounced ‘sam-fur’) is growing in abundance now and until early September. Along regional salt marshes, there will be patches of luminous green upright stalks, some bushy some spikey, depending on when and where you find it.

Samphire or glasswort as it’s also known was used in the past for making glassware. It was the high quantity of sodium carbonate from the ashes of the dried then burnt succulent that went into the glass making processes.

Every year, there will be new discussions about how it should be harvested; do you snip it or pull it by the roots? Invariably, when it is sold in fishmongers, the roots are in tact. I understand that to continue the growth of this wild coastal delicacy you should harvest it with some scissors, leaving the root for re-growth.

I've been picking and eating samphire for years. The annual trip to our favourite North Norfolk coastal campsite makes harvesting it a ritual and it's a perfect starter for our evening meals. Simply wash it, bring it back to the boil then drench with unsalted butter, a squeeze of lemon juice and cover with freshly ground black pepper. Delicious, especially eaten in the open air.