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Details:
Eating seasonally has dramatic and far-reaching implications. For a start,
the food is less likely to have travelled as far to meet demand. Think of apples - in season for a very short time, September
and October - yet they appear on our supermarket shelves day in, day out. These apples have been flown over from the USA,
South America, New Zealand... By only eating food when it is in season in our own country, we are helping to contribute to
a greener environment by saving food miles.
Eating seasonal food also means that we begin to understand our food better,
and appreciate the fruits of each season. It is, if you think about it, completely natural to enjoy sweet and fruity tomatoes
and strawberries in August; and the more dense and earthy root vegetables such as turnips and squash in January. To eat seasonally
is to eat the food we should crave naturally!
It is really tough to get used to eating seasonally, as we have all become
used to eating what we want, when we want it, irrespective of seasonality. Here is a month-by-month guide to seasonal food
in the UK to get you going:
SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO?
Is it practical to eat only seasonal
food? Here's our three-point plan to eating/buying and cooking food with a clear conscience as far as the seasons are concerned...
1) You can eat an awful lot more seasonal food. You can eat salad leaves
in summer and through to early autumn and we can eat British asparagus, strawberries and tomatoes in summer; new potatoes
in early summer; and cabbage in autumn. It's tasty, nutritious and it saves fuel for transporting vegetables.
2) You can try cutting out some imported food. For example, stick to
traditional British apples, rather than foreign varieties. Have a go at preserving more food through traditional methods such as pickling (ideal for onion or red cabbage), by using
seasonal produce in chutneys and jams or by freezing (great for Bramley apple pies, apple sauces, vegetable soups etc).
3) Finally you can realise that non seasonal foods should be seen as
an occasional treat, rather than part of everyday cooking. Those Kenyan mange tout may be just what you want to give a bit
of variety to your diet in the middle of winter, but it seems wrong to eat them during the rest of year when there are excellent
seasonal alternatives, grown in this country.
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WHATS IN SEASON:
-
Root vegetables are perfect for warming winter ‘comfort food’, such
as stews and chunky soups. Try celeriac, parsnips, turnips and swede. If you can ignore the food miles, citrus fruits are
available. January is the traditional month to make your own marmalade and organic fruit won’t contain pesticides in
the rind or be waxed
-
Fruit and Vegetables: cabbage, carrots, celeriac, forced rhubarb, leeks, parsnip, pears,
shallots, squash, turnips
Meat, Poultry, Game: goose
Fish: lobster, scallops
VEGETABLES
- Sow Early Peas and Broad Beans in the soil in mild areas, protect with cloches
- Sow Bulb Onions seeds under glass
FRUIT:
- Plant raspberries, which will be in plentiful supply at your local garden centre. If you have the space,
choose a couple of varieties to provide a longer cropping season – autumn raspberries can carry on producing as late
as November in warm winters. When planting raspberries, don’t forget they’re perennial, and this is your best
chance to improve the soil. Add plenty of good compost or rotted manure to the bed, then erect stakes to support your plants.
Plant the raspberries shallowly, spreading the roots and just covering with a layer of topsoil and mulch. Established autumn
varieties of raspberry can now be pruned – cut them hard to the ground. It seems harsh but will reward you in the following
season.
Lawn care Spring:
- As the grass starts to grow you will need to prepare your
lawnmower prior to starting to mow your lawn. It is very important in early spring that you set the mowing height of the lawnmowers
blade quite high, taking no more that one quarter of the length of the grass off at a time, otherwise the lawn will become
stressed. A little and often approach is better when lawn mowing in spring. As the grass grows faster as we move further into
spring you can increase the mowing frequency and gradually reduce the height of cut of the mower to give the desired finish.
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