“An unusual flavour, verbena is a beautiful plant I saw growing at the Secret Herb Garden outside Edinburgh. It makes the most delicious custard pots, possets or ice creams but it is powerful stuff, so be cautious and use just a few leaves. It’s not difficult to grow, so I may try it out on my new patio area for a taste of the Mediterranean.”

Makes 6 glasses

INGREDIENTS

450ml double cream

170g caster sugar

A handful of lemon verbena leaves

A few raspberries

3 pieces of stem ginger, finely diced

2 tbspn ground ginger

150g plain flour

100g butter

METHOD

Bring the cream and 120g of the sugar to the boil for 3 minutes, being careful to not let it boil over.

Remove from the heat and add the lemon verbena leaves. Let them infuse for 10 minutes before passing through a fine sieve into glasses. Chill overnight.

To make the biscuits, combine the butter, flour, ground and stem ginger then mix in the remaining sugar to make a smooth paste. Roll into a sausage shape, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for an hour or two.

Once chilled, cut the biscuit mix into thin slices and bake in a 135°C oven on greaseproof paper until just golden, roughly 30 minutes. Scatter on a little sugar as they leave the oven.

To serve, garnish each posset glass with a few raspberries and serve with the warm, fresh biscuits. Heaven.