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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:
- March can be a difficult month to find home-grown organic vegetables, as winter produce is
finishing but it is too early for spring harvests. Forward planning by freezing your own organic vegetables can help out.
Rocket, kale and spinach may also be available, if the winter weather has been kind.
- Fruit and Vegetables: beetroot, carrots, leeks, mint, purple sprouting broccoli, rhubarb,
sorrel
Fish: lobster, sardines
VEGETABLES
- Sow Lettuces, Radishes and Spring Onions in the soil
- Sow Summer Cabbages, Leeks and Brussels Sprouts in a seed bed
- Sow Tomato seeds in trays or pots and keep at 18°C (65°F)
- Sow Beetroots, Carrots and Turnips in the soil
- In the south, plant Early Potatoes and Onion Sets from mid month providing the soil is not
excessively wet
FRUIT:
-
Time to look at your currant bushes: any established shrubs should be pruned gently this month. Prune
gooseberry bushes, reducing the length of sideshoots (aim for about three buds per branch) and then feed them ready for spring
growth. Look at your blueberry bushes too – pruning isn’t essential but if there is a lot of old wood at the centre
and bottom of the bush, you can cut up to a quarter of it. Once you’ve done the pruning, give all of your fruit trees
and bushes a feed. Use sulphate of potash and hoe it into the topsoil.
Lawn care Winter:
- Only mow the lawn if necessary; this will depend upon weather conditions and
temperatures at the time. Do not use your lawnmower if heavy frosts are expected or if the ground is very wet.
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