THE SEASON

PUCKER UP

Gorse

‘When gorse is out of bloom, kissing’s out of fashion,’ goes the old saying, but don’t worry: it’s in blossom somewhere almost all the year round, so love lives on. Vibrantly yellow from a distance, angrily spiky up close, gorse is an evergreen shrub that’s widespread across Britain in almost all settings from coasts to urban brownfields. It’s most associated with wild heaths and moors, but lesser known is its usefulness: the buds can be pickled like capers, the flowers can be steeped into a syrup with a coconut-like flavour, and it makes a sunny natural dye. It used to be fed to livestock too – Thomas among the ‘furze’ (gorse) cutters of Dorset. The superstitious might want to think twice before bringing a bunch home, though: ‘gorse in, coffin out’ is a particularly ominous adage. Maybe it’s best left on the hillside.