The lower part of an asparagus spear has a lot of flavour. But before you make it into soup, you should make sure that any tough skin is removed first, even if you're
going to whizz it.

A Jersey royal is a thing of beauty. It always was. Always buy them loose, not prewashed and prepacked. Choose your spuds to be all the same size. Scrub then boil in salted water for 25 minutes. Eat with lashings of butter. Springtime without Jerseys would be like a pub with no beer. For decades I've been growing Sutton's Foremost as my early spud. They kick in once I've been feasting on Jerseys for a couple of months. We had our first barbie tonight. Donald Russell pure steak burgers followed by butchers' sausages. We polished off a big panful of Jerseys. Sublime!