Herbs are springing up on our plates

With the Easter weekend coming up, Lent officially over and the added urge of leaving fresh air flow through the house, spring has arrived.

With it, the first spring vegetables make their way into the kitchen. Walking through the English Market, you can see the vibrant greens of wild garlic and the delicate young leaves of spinach. Spring in Cork isn’t dramatic, it doesn’t arrive with a flourish or a clear starting point. It creeps in, one ingredient at a time, until you suddenly realise your plate looks completely different to how it did a few weeks ago.

Coming up within the next few weeks and months are young kale, spinach, chard, all of them softer and sweeter. Cooking will be faster as most of these beauties only need a short steam, a squeeze of lemon or a little knob of butter.

Restaurants around the city tend to follow this shift without making too big a deal of it. You’ll see it in places like Farmgate, Old Brennan’s and Orso where menus start to loosen up, plates become brighter and suddenly everything comes with herbs that look like they were picked about five minutes ago.

This year, I promised myself I would overhaul my herb garden. Digging out the very invasive three cornered leek and lemon balm will not be an easy task and it might even involve exchanging the soil as well (little tip, don’t plant these two plants unless you have acres of space).

My thyme, mint and parsley have been ‘eaten’ by these and need replenishing. But I am also looking into more unusual herbs to plant like pineapple sage, lemon grass, borage (more for their beautiful blue blossoms) and hyssop (again, stunning flowers).

There is a certain optimism in planting herbs you’re not entirely sure how to use yet. Pineapple sage smells faintly tropical and will make a good addition to a jug of homemade lemonade. Lemongrass demands a bit of patience but rewards it with sharp, citrusy depth in broths and curries. Borage is the show-off of the group, all blue flowers and a subtle cucumber note, perfect for salads or floating in drinks if you’re feeling theatrical. Hyssop is quieter, slightly bitter and best used sparingly, the herb equivalent of someone who doesn’t say much but is worth listening to. The flowers make a lovely tea while the leaves are a great addition to salads.

I was told that wild bergamot is easy to grow as long as the soil is well drained, so I might try to grow this plant as well. I do need to show a bit of restraint with the herb bed, since the marjoram and oregano are already well established and more than capable of staging a quiet takeover, leaving everything else fighting for space and light.

So, as spring settles in, it’s quite easy to source fresh herbs around Cork. Apart from garden centres, a lot of supermarkets stock seasonal herb pots and if you prefer buying from small producers, Douglas farmer’s market and the Saturday market on Coal Quay have stalls with locally grown herbs to kick‑start your garden.