We used to eat a lot of skirret in this country, but it was gradually overtaken in popularity by other roots which, while more troublesome to grow, produce larger crops.

You’ll still find Sium sisarum listed in many seed catalogues, however, and I think it has a number of advantages over its usurpers.

For one thing, it’s a genuine perennial — sow or plant it once, and you can have it for life with no further effort. Skirret is extraordinarily tolerant of neglect.

There have been whole years when I haven’t got round to doing more than glance in its general direction, and yet it never dies out or turns into a weed.

It grows happily in tubs or in the open ground, in full sun or partial shade, has no serious pests or diseases and you can eat it all through the winter.

One drawback is that there are no named varieties available, so that starting it from seed gives unpredictable results. In some skirrets the edible roots or “fingers” are scrawny and fiddly to clean. They need peeling before they’re palatable and have a woody core which is removed after cooking.

The one I’m growing at the moment, by contrast, has fat fingers, thin skin and no backbone at all. In fact, I’m thinking of calling it David Cameron.

This variability in quality means that many people prefer to propagate skirret by planting divisions from an established clump, in autumn or spring, either begged from a friend or bought over the internet.

But not only is seed cheaper, it also offers the chance that, like me, you’ll be lucky, and out of several seedlings end up with one really first-class plant.

You can then take cuttings from that individual forever, knowing they’ll have the same characteristics as the parent plant.

Sow the seeds in spring, direct in the soil or in trays — skirret doesn’t suffer from being transplanted.

They can take several weeks to germinate. Thin or transplant the young plants to about a foot apart, preferably in moist, rich soil, or plant them permanently in large containers, where an open-textured, sandy growing medium makes them easier to harvest and to clean.

Skirret benefits from generous watering and mulching with compost or leafmould.

The foliage grows to about a foot high and wide, but towards summer the plants put up four-foot flower stems.

Stake these if you don’t want them flopping everywhere. The blooms are attractive to bees and butterflies.

When autumn frosts kill the leaves, fork up the clusters of small, bright white fingers.

They can be stored in damp sand in boxes or just left in the ground until needed. Leave some behind to continue growing.

Skirret means “sugar root,” but as well as a delicious sweetness you may detect various flavours, notably celery, carrot, parsley, parsnip and liquorice. I love them raw but they can also be boiled, roasted and so on.

I reckon skirret’s still worth a yard of anyone’s veg patch.