Every year around the end of June, the first of our new season lamb comes into the shop. It's the moment the sheep year turns. For a few weeks in high summer this is the finest eating there is, and then it's gone, and the same animals start becoming hogget.
There's a good deal of confusion about what new season lamb actually is. Not least because half the country calls it spring lamb.
What is new season lamb?
New season lamb is lamb born in the spring and ready to eat at four to six months old. It comes from the current year's lamb crop, which is why it isn't in our shop until around the end of June, and why it's at its best through July and August.
The flavour is delicate compared to an older animal, and the texture is tender. It's the lamb that suits salads, barbecues and cold drinks rather than a long braise.
Is spring lamb the same as new season lamb?
'Spring' lamb, as some people call it, is a bit of a misnomer. The idea that new season lamb is ready for Easter is misleading. Lamb that we eat at Easter usually comes from lambs born in the previous Autumn, and finished on the lush grasses of spring. Some lambs ready in time for Easter will have spent the first four months of their lives in the lambing shed before being turned out on grass before Easter.
So the lamb on the table at Easter is not new season lamb at all. It's last year's.
When does lamb become hogget and mutton?
If you're eating lamb in late summer into Autumn the 'spring lamb' becomes hogget - at around nine months old. Lamb slaughtered at this time can be very delicious. Beyond this - over a year old - lamb becomes mutton. I'm a fan of mutton, it's got a great flavour and texture, but needs to be cooked well.
In the past, these different categories would have been well known to us all. However, since the arrival of imported lamb from New Zealand and Australia we can get cheaper, younger lamb all year round and we have lost track of the lambing season.
How to cook new season lamb
New season lamb is young and tender, so it wants quick, hot cooking rather than the long, slow treatment that suits hogget and mutton. Chops, cutlets and a butterflied leg are all made for the barbecue: hot coals, a few minutes each side, and rest it properly before you carve. A rack or a leg roasts beautifully and wants to come out pink. The flavour is delicate, and cooking it hard will only lose it.
Go steady with the seasoning too. Rosemary, garlic and anchovy are wonderful with an older animal, but they can bully a young lamb. Salt, pepper, good oil and something green alongside is usually plenty.
Buying seasonal lamb, hogget and mutton
Salter and King sell only local lamb according to the season. Our new season lamb arrives at the end of June and this is the prime time to eat it. As the year progresses the lamb gets older and we start offering hogget and then mutton, all of which have their own merits. Generally, the older the animal the stronger the flavour. But if you like a delicate flavour for your lamb, high summer is the time to buy.
Aptly enough, much of the seasonal produce available at this time of year goes beautifully with our new season lamb - broad beans, fresh wet garlic: they enhance each other's flavours very well.
We tend to dry age our lambs according to their age at slaughter, so a new season lamb only needs hanging for a few days, whereas hogget needs up to two weeks and mutton up to four weeks. This Free-Range, Heritage Breed lamb comes from our wonderful Suffolk farms including Shimpling Park and Somerleyton Estate. This hanging really enhances the tenderness and flavour, and makes a big difference to the eating - along with the cooking and the animal's diet. We prefer animals that will have had a varied diet of herbs, grasses and wild flowers: it really makes a difference to the flavour.
If you're inspired to give our new season lamb a try, you can browse our lamb range here >
Common questions about new season lamb
When is new season lamb available in the UK?
From around the end of June until the middle or end of August. British lambs born in the spring need four to six months on grass before they're ready, which is why there's no such thing as genuinely new season British lamb at Easter. After August the same animals become hogget at around nine months old, and mutton beyond a year.
Where can I buy new season lamb?
From our shop at 107-109 High Street, Aldeburgh, or online with delivery across the UK. Our new season lamb is reared on Suffolk pasture, butchered in our own shop by our own butchers, and sold only in season.
Is new season lamb an ethical choice?
It can be one of the better ones, if you know where it's from. Our Free-Range, Heritage Breed lamb comes from our wonderful Suffolk farms including Shimpling Park and Somerleyton Estate. Spring-born lambs are reared outdoors on grass rather than in sheds, and eating them in their own season means no long-haul freight from New Zealand or Australia. We buy whole animals and use the whole carcass, which is why we sell hogget and mutton later in the year rather than only the young lamb everyone wants.