Eating with the Devon Seasons

Devon grows and catches some of the best food in Britain, but the pleasure of cooking it at home comes from working with the calendar rather than against it. The mild, damp climate and the long coastline mean something is always at its peak: wild garlic in the lanes in April, strawberries in June, mussels from the estuaries once the months have an R in them, parsnips sweetened by the first hard frost.

Cooking this way is not about self-denial. Produce picked in season tastes stronger, costs less and needs very little doing to it. A bunch of local asparagus needs only butter, salt and a squeeze of lemon. The trick is to buy a little more than you need when something is plentiful, then preserve it for the weeks when it isn't.

Where to Shop Through the Year

Devon is well served by farmers' markets, farm shops, village honesty boxes and independent fishmongers. Markets in towns such as Tavistock, Totnes, Exeter, Barnstaple, Okehampton, Kingsbridge and South Molton run on monthly or weekly cycles, so check the local noticeboard before setting out.

• Arrive early — the best fish and the last of the season's asparagus go in the first hour.
• Take cash as well as a card, your own bags, and a cool bag for fish, cheese and cream.
• Ask the grower what is at its best this week. Stallholders are usually delighted to talk and will tell you how to cook what they are selling.
• Buy the glut. A tray of tomatoes or a box of windfall apples at the end of the day is cheaper than any supermarket and perfect for jam, chutney or the freezer.
• Use farm shops for staples — eggs, milk, butter, flour, cheese — and the market for whatever is in season.

Spring: Wild Garlic, Asparagus and Rhubarb

Spring arrives slowly in the West Country, but when it comes it is worth the wait.

• Wild garlic carpets damp woodland from March. Pick a few leaves from each patch, never the roots, and only where it is abundant. Wash thoroughly and blitz with toasted nuts, hard cheese, lemon and rapeseed oil for a pesto that freezes beautifully in ice-cube trays.
• Devon asparagus appears in late April and vanishes by mid-June. Snap the woody ends rather than cutting, and resist peeling. Griddle with a little oil and serve with butter, lemon and black pepper — that is the whole recipe.
• Rhubarb is best early, before the stalks turn coarse. Roast chunks with orange zest, a spoonful of sugar and a knob of ginger, then fold through yoghurt or custard. Freeze the rest in measured bags for crumbles.
• Purple sprouting broccoli and spring greens fill the gap before the summer crops. Blanch for two minutes, drain well, and dress warm with garlic, chilli and oil.

Summer: Berries, Courgettes and Crab

Everything ripens at once, which is both the joy and the challenge. Strawberries should not be washed until the moment you eat them, and they will not wait. For jam, use equal weights of fruit and sugar with a good squeeze of lemon and a saucer chilling in the freezer to test the setting point.

Courgettes, when they arrive, arrive in force. Grate them, salt for ten minutes, squeeze dry, then mix with flour, egg, herbs and a little crumbled cheese for fritters that freeze well. Larger marrows are better stuffed or turned into chutney. Crab and mackerel land at the coastal ports through the summer, and a simple crab linguine with garlic, chilli, lemon and parsley takes fifteen minutes.

Autumn and Winter: Apples, Roots and Mussels

• Apples divide into eaters and cookers. Keep firm ones in single layers in trays in a cool, dark shed; turn windfalls into juice, chutney or apple sauce for the freezer.
• Blackberries freeze brilliantly: spread on a tray, freeze until solid, then bag. They pour out loose and taste of September in January.
• Roots — parsnips, swede, carrots, Jerusalem artichokes, leeks — roast in a hot oven with oil, rosemary and a few unpeeled garlic cloves.
• Mussels from the estuaries are cheap and superb. Steam them in cider with shallots and cream, and discard any that refuse to open.
• Dartmoor lamb and slow-cooked beef shoulder suit long, low cooking with root vegetables and garden herbs.

Preserving the Glut

Preserving is simply budgeting your time in reverse: an hour in September buys you a month of easy dinners.

• Freeze flat. Purées, sauces and stewed fruit freeze quickly and thaw fast when bagged in thin layers.
• Jam and chutney. Jam wants fruit, sugar and acid; chutney wants vinegar, sugar, spice and slow simmering until the spoon leaves a clear trail across the pan.
• Cordials. Simmer soft fruit with sugar and a little lemon juice, strain, bottle and dilute to taste.
• Drying and pickling. A low oven dries herbs and apple rings; vinegar and salt turn shallots, beetroot and chillies into something worth keeping.
• Label everything with the contents and date. Six months later, you will not remember whether that was apple or marrow.

Cook from what is in front of you, buy a little extra when the season is generous, and Devon will feed you well all year round.