What’s the secret? Seasonality. Food picked when it is ripe is bursting with flavour and vitamins. Ignore green beans from Kenya and get stuck in to peas from Kent.

And it’s not just fruit and veg which respond to the seasons. Fish and meat are also subject to change. So read this column each week and get more nutritional punch for your pound.

FRUIT AND VEG

British strawberries are still at their peak. Early varieties are available, but mainly Florence, Symphony, Eros, Alice, Korona at pick-your-own farms, farm shops and farmers’ markets, plus Elsanta, the main supermarket variety. Expect to pay about £3.20-£4.50 a kg for pick-your-own, £4-£5 a kg for ready-picked. Ripe strawberries are best eaten on the day of purchase but if you need to store them, cover unwashed fruit loosely with clingfilm on the top shelf of the fridge and they will keep for 24-48 hours.

This year’s excellent gooseberry season ends soon. Expect to pay about £2-£2.50 a kg at farm shops or farmers’ markets. Not many supermarkets stock them. Dessert varieties can be eaten raw, but their main use is as a compote or sauce, and in pies. Top and tail with your fingernails, and cook in a little water with about 75g-100g of sugar per 0.5kg of fruit. To make a sauce, put cooked fruit in a blender with a knob of butter, and serve with goose, duck or mackerel. For pies, use uncooked fruit. For fruit fool, fold a purée into 150ml custard, chill, then lightly fold in 150ml whipped cream.

Coming to a farm shop or supermarket near you, freshly dug new potatoes. Theyare very sweet with skins that simply rub clean. The most popular variety is Nicola, a traditional salad potato with a lovely flavour. Expect to pay about £1 a kg for conventionally grown and around £1.50 for organic now, but the price will come down as more become available.

Also in season: black, white and red currants, baby carrots, broccoli, beetroot, courgette flowers, peas and mangetout; just starting, wonderful British cherries, raspberries, tayberries and blackberries.

For more information, visit www.farma.org.uk

FISH

Mackerel is at its peak until the end of the month; expect to pay about £3.85 a kg. Look for clear eyes, bright colouring and open red gills. Cook on the barbecue or oven-bake. For more information, www.johns-fish-shop.co.uk

MEAT

For a different barbecue experience, ask for a butterfly leg of lamb at your butcher or farmers’ market, about £9.99 a kg. To enjoy it medium-rare, cook on a hot barbecue for about an hour.

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