With the warmer weather and sunshine come some delicious new season ingredients.

In the UK May is a great time for Jersey Royal potatoes, delicious as a potato salad or served crushed, with butter, as an accompaniment to that other seasonal favourite, lamb and a crisp salad.

Salad ingredients really come into their own in May, with rocket, spinach and watercress all at their best.

Some peppery radishes would make an ideal addition, along with spring onion.

Sweet peas and broad beans are other May ingredients that come alive in a salad but are also useful in stews and as vegetable accompaniments.

Those with broad tastes could enjoy some wood pigeon, chicory, morel mushrooms, wild nettles or samphire this month, while crab, sardines, sea trout, sea bass and salmon also favour May.

However the food May is really known for is asparagus. Its short lived season lasts only a few weeks, but long enough to make the most of its light, delicate flavour in soup, with scrambled eggs, in a quiche or cooked very simply with butter and lemon.

Fruity desserts are served well with rhubarb and gooseberries in full swing over the next few weeks, both of which work equally well in creative, healthy breakfasts.

Creamy elderflowers not only look pretty, they can be used to make a delicious cordial or as a flavouring in many dishes such as Italian desserts.

While many of these ingredients are available as imports at other times of year, make the most of them during their British season both to enjoy them at their best and to support local producers.