The green fronds of agretti were once sought across Europe to be reduced to ashes for use in making glass. These days, the verdant Italian plant is once more in demand – in a somewhat less well-cooked state – to feature on British dinner plates.
Seed supplies for the salt-tolerant succulent prized as a delicacy in Italy have run out in Britain after it featured on television; gourmets and amateur growers rushed in to partake of its delicate mineral taste. Agretti is difficult to find in shops, too, so restaurateurs and allotment-keepers are forced to grow their own stocks.
Otherwise known as saltwort or friar’s beard – or “land seaweed”, in Japan – agretti can cause mini stampedes in the markets of Umbria and Lazio as Italians dash to get hold of bundles of fleshy, needle-shaped leaves – traditionally served with oil and lemon – in its short early-summer seasonal window. Now it is migrating north, and growing awareness of the plant is provoking a similar battle to obtain seed to cultivate on British soil.
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