Rock samphire, a plant with a story

Along the old railway line at the entrance to Folkestone’s Harbour Arm, there flourishes a rather special plant. It looks unremarkable enough, small and bushy with a branching structure of fleshy leaves topped by yellow flower heads, but this is a plant with a big history that’s inextricably bound up with humans, food, danger, survival and drama.

 

The name of this heroic plant is rock samphire, Latin name Crithmum maritimum, so called because it’s most usually seen growing on rocks and cliffs.

In the places where it’s growing by ‘our’ railway lines, the plants are at ground level, but the soil is poor and full of stones and, of course, very close to the spray-filled breeze from the sea.

 

 

 

 

For centuries rock samphire has thrived on the cliffs of Dover – and been gathered from the eroding tops of cliffs at great risk to life and limb. This we know partly because Shakespeare, who was familiar with Dover, wrote in King Lear: 

"There is a cliff whose high and bending head looks fearfully in the confined deep… The crows and choughs that wing the midway air scarce so gross as beetles; halfway down hangs one that gathers samphire, dreadful trade!". 

Local people, struggling to survive, would climb down on to the cliffs in early summer to pick the leaves, which were pickled in barrels of brine and sent to London, where it fetched an excellent price, being highly prized as a dish to accompany meat. Apparently street criers would call it ‘Crest Marine’. 

Photo: Karen Roe for White Cliffs of Dover

The samphire which has become fashionable recently to eat with fish is not the same plant – that is marsh samphire. Marsh samphire comes from a different family and grows at ground level close to the sea on salt marshes, as the name suggests. The first time I went to Samphire Hoe, close to Folkestone, I felt cheated because I didn’t see any marsh samphire. It was only later that I discovered that the name refers to the rock samphire plants that were successfully seeded on the cliffs when this land feature was created from the spoil of Channel Tunnel excavations. 

Rock samphire is equally nutritious as marsh samphire but has a more pungent, salty taste with hints of parsley and carrot. It is, in fact, a member of the carrot family. Rock samphire can be steamed or used sparingly in stir-fries, salads and sushi, and apparently when it’s pickled it goes well with smoked eggs. 

Rock samphire gin. Photo: Curio

 

Obviously it can also be used in drinks, as recently on the market is samphire gin. At 41% proof, this may be a drink for those with a constitution as hardy as the samphire gatherers of old!