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daisies, dandelions and docks as part of the bounty, as well as cowslips (a type of primrose). These and many other plants that even flourish on compost heaps and waste ground could help the gardener be more self-sufficient – and at no real cost. Many of the “weeds” have to be picked at the optimum time, and sometimes the roots and stems are boiled to remove the bitterness. In any case, early moderns were wary of raw vegetables because it was believed that if eaten in too great a quantity they could upset the body. But the key point is that he has a much broader definition of what might be included in the salad family, such as the kind of foraged plants that are making a come-back in some high-end restaurants. Some of what Evelyn recommends were new spins on familiar ingredients. So why not pickle the seed-pods of a radish to make an attractive addition to your salad dish rather than just using the root? Or cook the stalks of a turnip (before it runs to seed) and eat them boiled and covered in butter, like asparagus. A Salad “Fitted for a City Feast” This is a flamboyant recipe that Evelyn gives us that upends our view of what a salad can be. Ingredients • Blanched almonds sliced, and soaked in cold water • Pickled cucumbers • Olives • Cornelians (a kind of cherry which Evelyn claims when pickled can pass for an olive) • Capers • Berberries (barberries) • Red-Beet (beetroot) • Nasturtium buds • Broom • Purslane stalks • Samphire • Ash keys • Walnuts • Pickled mushrooms • Raisins of the Sun • Citron and Orange peel • Corinth (currants) well cleansed and dried Method Chop all these ingredients, add in some roasted maroons (sweet chestnuts), pistachios, pine-kernels, lots more almonds, and decorate with candied flowers, and sprinkle with rose water. Accompany with a side dish of pickled flowers in vinegar. The message of Evelyn’s book is to use what nature provides. The medicinal garden (called the apothecary or physic garden) brought into sharp focus the beneficial properties of various plants, which they thought able to cure all sorts of complaints. Evelyn would have been proud to see a nation of gardeners and cooks today taking up this self-sufficiency that was so natural to him back in the 1600s. Something for us to reflect on as we enter another new year.