Winter and spring food collide

Made a big pot of seafood chowder this morning as it was snowing.  I use an ancient xeroxed recipe, and I can't find  a credit on it.  But it's very good, and simple, too.  It's Manhattan, meaning with tomatoes, condemned by New England chowder purists.  But it doesn't have bacon, condemned by me as a foodstuff. Winter food.

But, spring trying to get here, too,  I'd also noticed an interesting few clumps of greenery outside with tiny white flowers.

I'm in a wildflower group on Twitter, but they're UK based, and my candidate didn't seem to be in their pix to date.  However, another tweeter id'd it for me.  Hairy Bittercress! Hilarious name. She dismissed it as a weed, but I pointed out that to wildflower fans, they're all wildflowers.  Anyway, it turns out to be edible.

I had to wait till the snow abated and the plant showed up again before I could test this hypothesis.  Since it's growing where for many years I've stopped the landscapers from spraying, it's in clean ground, always a good thing to note.

And I took a little sample and tasted.  Not really bitter, not peppery, but a bit dark, along the lines of cilantro.  I can see people who can't tolerate cilantro not liking this, either.  But I fancy trying it on a sharp cheddar, wholewheat bread sandwich.  That may happen quite soon.  I'm guessing it's best eaten this early in the year, before it really does get more bitter and tough. Also that it's probably a good spring tonic sort of green.

So that's today's adventure in the food world. Except  I did get a new supply of lemons and ginger, ready for the next batch of marmalade.