A place that thyme forgot

I am currently reading the above book, which is the record of the travels of William Black in search of local delicacies from around Britain. Amazingly enough he starts with Preston - England's newest city, my place of work. He bemoans the demise of Tripe - one of the beloved delicacies of Lancashire. I can't really remember it much from my childhood but my husband waxes lyrically about the UCP, on the strength of this reminisance I visited Preston market and found the tripe stall as mentioned in the book still thriving. I also later the same week whilst visiting Booths (heroic north west regional supermarket) was amazed to find tripe for sale in a packet on the butchery section.

I am yet to pluck up courage to try it, but I am told its best served with lashings of malt vinegar. I will let you know how I go on. This month has also seen samphire( succulent seaweed) being pickled, something I haven't done before. I remember fondly picking samphire on a day out at the seaside with my late Granddad and pickling it when we got home. The taste is still the same but I can't perfect the stripping of the branches with your teeth when you eat it, just leaving the stringy core.