I had read about samphire, and seen photos of samphire. In Greece I had seen a plant that looked as if it might be a type of samphire - but i was not certain enough to know if it was edible, and anyway how would I prepare it?
Then yesterday (20 August 2011) I was in Louth, Lincolnshire, and saw samphire on sale in a green grocers. Then I saw a goats' cheese and samphire tart in the Cheese Shop (and ate one for lunch - very good!). A fishmongers also was selling samphire. I bought a bag of samphire, and we had samphire as a starter last night. It tastes like salty, less fleshy, asparagus. We cooked and served it like asparagus - steamed, and served with butter.
Some tips (no pun intended!).
I read that you should remove the woodly bits of the plant, which I tried to do. But I only removed the brown bits that looked brown and woody. The green part of the larger stems was also woody, so next time I will remove those as well.
Samphire is salty, so don't add any extra salt until you have tasted the cooked samphire.
Some reading about samphire.
"Join the samphire brigade"
"Join the samphire brigade" - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
How to cook samphire - BBC Good Food
Wikipedia - samphire