Rock Samphire

Crithmum maritimum

So I'm relatively new to this one, on first impressions it smells like neoprene and once cooked, it tastes like neoprene. I may as well go chew on an old wetsuit?! 

So it got me thinking, why on earth is this become so trendy? 

I know it was popular in the Victorian age, pickled and paired with quails eggs but now you see it as a flavouring for gin, used in expensive restaurants as a gourmet garnish for fish dishes and the like.

So I went out and picked about a kilo of it (apparently £56 it can sell for p/kg!!!!) It was extremely abundant in the area in case you are wondering, I didn't just completely obliterate it, there was more than plenty left.

I am planning to infuse some gin, pickle some and infuse some vodka too in the hopes that by the summer it will become a good conversation piece at a family barbecue. Cheaper than the curio brand seems to charge anyway. I'm not knocking them, I'm just not into paying that much for novelty gin that may or may not taste like wetsuits.

30x the Vitamin C content of an orange too, it can't be all bad....