There ain't no [fruit] flies on this...

Talking of produce that is at its best at the moment, this time of year is also prime season for imported mangoes. The many Asian supermarkets in the part of London I live in usually have crateloads of the fruits stacked up inside and out around this time, neatly packed in shredded paper in boxes of half a dozen or a dozen. You will often find a range of varieties on offer, but many people consider the Alphonso mango from India to be the finest. Named after Afonso de Alberquerque, a nobleman and military expert who helped establish the Portuguese colony in India, it is "one of the most heavenly of all edible things", according to our dear friend Mr Ottolenghi. And he feels much the same way about smoked oysters too, so clearly I'm not going to refute his claim.

An Alphonso mango. Photo NOT taken this year.

Lend me your spears

I can't believe it's June already - 2014 appears to be shooting by in a flash. The weather doesn't quite seem able to believe it either, or at least can't make its mind up as to what time of year it really is and what it's supposed to be doing - several times in the last few weeks I've found myself getting drenched one day and almost sunburnt the next - sometimes even on the same day. It's always a funny time of year though, this - Midsummer's Day is less than a week a way, but summer as we know it (or would like to know it) feels some way off yet. But it also feels a bit late to call it spring. Sprummer, maybe?

Call it what you will, but with the weeks passing so quickly, the all-too-short period when veg like asparagus and Jersey Royals are in season and at their best will soon be over. If only we were able to enjoy them for more of the year, without them having been flown over from the other side of the world... Well hold on to your horses for a minute, because maybe we can. Yep, you guessed it - both asparagus and Jersey Royals are available all year round from a tinned food aisle near you. Could they be as good as the fresh produce currently brightening up the displays of markets (whether of the super- or farmers' variety) up and down the country? Almost certainly not, but I was damned if I wasn't going to give them a try.