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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:
- This is the best month for the organic shopper as there is plenty of choice of fruit and vegetables
on offer. As well as salads, there are autumnal crops such as sweetcorn, squashes and pumpkins. The first root vegetables
are being harvested too; potatoes, parsnips, carrots, onions and potatoes. Autumn fruits such as plums and damsons are ripe.
You could even pick your own blackberries and sloes from country hedgerows, away from traffic pollution. This is the time
of year to plan ahead for the lean winter months by storing, preserving and freezing.
- Fruit and Vegetables: damsons, plums, blackberries, apples, sweetcorn, cucumber, spinach,
onion
Meat, Poultry, Game: Autumn lamb, partridge, wood pigeon, venison, grouse
Fish: brown trout, oysters, sea bass, mussels
VEGETABLES
- Sow Broad Beans, Spring Cabbages, Carrots and Lettuces under
cloches
- In the north, plant out Spring Cabbages towards the end of the month
FRUIT:
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Put your strawberry runners into a cold frame and keep them well watered, allowing them to settle in for the winter. And
whether you have your own bushes or not, it’s time to go blackberry picking! This hedgerow crop is a delicious partner
for your home-grown apples and pears, and it’s free, so grab the kids and take a blackberry field trip.
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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