Charles Campion: Real food

Flock tactics

At this time of year butchers everywhere are rubbing their hands together as they look forward to marketing their lamb joints as "spring lamb" and nudging the price up accordingly. Isn't it strange that wherever Easter falls on the calendar, that seems to be the time that spring lamb hits the shops?

The idea of spring lamb is an attractive one: the little lambs are born in "spring" at a time when the weather is sunnier and the lush grass provides rich food for the nursing ewes. The trouble with this idyllic view is that the farmers have enthusiastically dispensed with such seasonal thinking – the ewes go to the ram in November, October or even September – and as a consequence the lambing sheds are busy when the farmer, rather than Nature, dictates.

In 1882 the first frozen lamb from New Zealand arrived in Britain on the sailing ship Dunedin, an event that was to change our view of lamb for ever. This trade in frozen meat peaked in the Seventies when the New Zealand Meat Marketing Board did a great job of making their product synonymous with tender eating, and tonnes of chilled and frozen meat were thawed and sold in our butchers and supermarkets. Eventually, Britain's EU membership put a stop to New Zealand lamb flooding the market, but by then the damage was done and the British housewife believed that lamb was not only a cheap meat but also available on a year-round basis.

Fast forward to the present ... we need to reappraise lamb and be more cautious when shopping. We should also stop worrying about the age of lambs. Anywhere between five and 10 months will do fine, and with modern husbandry you are unlikely to be offered tough meat, whatever the age of the beast. What we should be paying more attention to is the breed and provenance of the meat. Never lose an opportunity to try Hebridean lamb (the tiny carcasses mean small legs and shoulders, but they're full of flavour); or salt marsh lamb (it is said that the salt marsh herbs they graze upon flavour the meat); failing these, pick any local lamb that your butcher can vouch for. These options may not be billed as spring lamb, and will almost certainly carry a premium price tag, but they will repay careful treatment. Roast, rest and serve pink.

Love me tender

At Laverstoke Park, ex-racing driver Jody Scheckter has set up a 2,500-acre farm with the objective of farming organically to produce the best possible food without compromise. The farm is aiming for biodynamic status and currently the flocks include three breeds of sheep: Lleyns (a rare breed named after the peninsular in Wales), Hebrideans and Polled Dorset. You can buy Laverstoke lamb at the estate butcher's shop which is 2 miles south of Overton in Hampshire (01256 771571), or online at www.laverstokepark.co.uk.