This Week's Food Focus is the Brassica Family

My passion for creating beautiful and delicious recipes was initially impulsive, using any ingredients found in the supermarkets. It was at a dinner with friends that I organized this winter that one of our guests, a lavender Farmer said that the only criticism she had of the food was that I wasn't using seasonal ingredients. Of course courgettes, tomatoes and aubergines are not naturally ready in the winter! I took this comment onboard and am trying harder to think carefully about what ingredients I buy. I only learnt recently that plants grown seasonally match our nutritional requirements for that particular season. For example in the winter months you'll find a glut of oranges. Packed full of vitamin C, these fruits help boost our immune system, warding away colds and flu. Another benefit to eating seasonally is that the produce is much fresher, having travelled shorter distances, thus also reducing your carbon footprint.

This week we will be focusing on Brassicas.

Brassicas are a genus of the mustard family. Many different parts of the genus are cultivated for our consumption, including the root vegetables turnip and swede, kholrabi which are edible stems, brassica flowers such as cauliflower and broccoli and leaves which include kale, pak choy and spring greens. Cabbage and Brussels sprouts are the buds. Seeds include mustard and rape.

This wide selection of brassicas boast antiviral, antibacterial, anticancer and DNA repair properties, they're high in vitamin C and soluble fibre (although boiling will destroy the vitamin C).

This week we will share with you some of our favourite recipes incorporating these ingredients.

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