Corn salad

Other names: Valeriana locusta, lamb’s tongue, lamb’s lettuce, mache, feldsalat ( field salad) Native to: Europe, North Africa and western Asia Type: Hardy annual

IN ITS native homelands, corn salad is often found on thin soils around rocky outcrops, scree, sand dunes and coastal shingle. It grows wild in disturbed ground and is sometimes a weed in grain fields.

It rose in my estimation when I found it poking perkily out of the snow after a spring cold snap. I shook off the snow and transferred the lush, fresh leaves straight into the salad bowl. It is the most indestructible of greens, surviving snow, hail and frost, and temperatures down to -15°C. You can pick the spoon-shaped leaves rimmed with frost and they’ll keep for up to two weeks in the fridge.

The leaves have a velvety texture. Surprisingly, in spite of its hardiness, the flavour is mild, delicate, nutty, with an almost melt-in-your-mouth quality. Some people describe it as tasting of primrose and rose petals.

The plant forms a loose and wavy, low-growing rosette (5-20cm high) of six to eight leaves on thin stems. They are fiddly to pick but worth the effort for their taste, high nutritional value and phytonutrient levels.

Corn salad contains substantial amounts of B-vitamins, vitamin C, iron, folic acid, potassium, and omega-3 fatty acids.