Sorting out recipe indexes is more complex than most people realise. E.g. do you categorize them in meal types (e.g. breakfast, dinner/ lunch, tea/dinner & supper). Or do you go for main dishes/ starters & side dishes/ salads/ chutney, relish & pickles/ preserves, jams & jellies/ cakes/ desserts etc. etc. etc. It's mind boggling!

This page started off with five categories, each with it's list of recipes. However we soon discovered that some recipes crossed over from one category to another and it meant that the reader had to go down the list in each category, to find what he/ she wanted, or to see what caught the eye. This, by the way, is how most cookery books do things.

So we sat down & started thinking laterally (outside the cook's kitchen!).

The process of growing food is a seasonal one, you don't normally come home with apples and spring cabbage. You don't normally think up or look up a good recipe and then toddle off to the allotment to fetch the ingredients. Chances are you wouldn't find what you want at all times of the year.

In reality what happens is the allotment grower turns up in the kitchen - after a hard day's slog on the plot - with a big trug full of what's ready to be harvested and eaten at that specific time (often in gluts). The poor cook/partner is left scratching the head about what do do with all this lovely fresh produce!

Then it dawned! What's needed is a list of recipes for specific produce. So when the grower turns up - whether it's with beetroot or broad beans, what the cook needs is a recipe that can be easily found that uses those ingredients either separately or together.

SO our recipe page has been revamped. Below you'll find a pretty comprehensive list of the most common produce in a vegetable garden or allotment plot.

Click on the produce that you want a recipe for, click the "Go To RECIPES" button and a page will pop up with a selection of recipes for that particular veg., fruit or herb. Problem sorted!