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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:
- Peppers are plentiful, and the colours are great in salads to tempt kids. Try them on the barbeque
too, or roasted in the oven. Marrows are beginning to appear in shops now; great for stuffing with chilli mince or ratatouille.
- Fruit and Vegetables: greengages (like plums), basil, peas, lettuce, fennel, loganberries,
aubergines, peppers, courgettes, strawberries, sweetcorn
Meat, Poultry, Game: Welsh lamb, hare
Fish: skate, john dory, crayfish
VEGETABLES
- Sow early Winter Lettuces and Spring Cabbages
- Sow early Carrots
FRUIT:
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In the midst of your fruit feast, don’t forget to spare a thought for next year! It’s time to pot up your strawberry
runners, which is a free way to get more plants. Without cutting the runner from the main plant, lift it and insert its roots
into a small pot of compost. Watch for roots to appear beneath the pot – in a short while you will be able to sever
the runner. When your summer raspberries have finished fruiting, cut back the old canes, leaving the young canes (which didn’t
bear fruit) for next year.
Lawn care Summer:
As temperatures rise and we move into summer the growth of your lawn may actually
start to slow down, mow as and when necessary never taking more than one third of the length of the grass off in any one cut.
As always a sharp lawnmower blade is essential. If temperatures become very hot your lawn will become stressed and it may
be necessary to cut back on the frequency of mowing.
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