YOU SEE them all year round, but so often they're just for show. Don't be fooled into thinking they'll taste of anything until the time is right. A strawberry is not a strawberry unless it's red all the way through and bursts with juice and flavour in your mouth.

Each variety of summer berry has its own individual and delicate little rush of flavour, and right now the tastiest and most colourful ones are ripe and ready. Of course you can cook with them, but as often as not I prefer them au naturel. In fact they often taste best straight from the plant. Ask any child let loose in a pick-your-own field - or let their sheepish red faces be the proof that no one can resist a ripe berry warmed by the sun eaten seconds after picking.

A fruit farm (look up www.pick-your-own. org.uk or www.farmshopping.com, or call 0845 230 2150 for your nearest) will offer a variety of fruits for the picking and is a great way to gather berries for jams, parties or for the freezer. Keep them for my quick dinner-party fix - frozen berries with hot white chocolate sauce.

It's a shame, though, that the arrival of the first of the season's berries just doesn't seem as exciting as it did only a decade ago. Fruit, vegetables and herbs are available all year round now. You can pop them in your shopping trolley any month of the year and be totally oblivious to the seasons. Unfortunately there's little we can do to stop this trend except go to farmers' markets and local reliable shops.

Some restaurants add gratuitous little piles of raspberries to your dessert (with the obligatory mint leaf and delicate dusting of icing sugar) just to look pretty. A season-conscious restaurant will offer you a bowl of raspberries when they are at their best with a spoonful of raspberry sorbet or thick cream to help them down. Wouldn't you rather eat berries when they're in their prime and full of flavour than have them all year round tasting of nothing.

Raspberry flummery

Serves 4