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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:
-
Savoy cabbages and purple-sprouting broccoli are ready; great comfort food with mashed potato and celeriac when the nights
are drawing in.
Fruit and Vegetables: parsnips, chesnuts, cranberries, beetroot, swede, cabbage, potatoes,
pumpkin, pears, leeks, quinces
Meat, Poultry, Game: grouse, goose, teal (duck)
Fish: oysters, mussel
VEGETABLES
- Continue to sow Broad Beans under cloches
- In the south, continue to sow Lettuces under cloches
- Sow Early Peas under cloches
FRUIT:
-
If you’re lucky enough to have a surplus of apples or pears, you can store them: wrap apples in newspaper and space
them out in wooden crates, to store somewhere cool (a garage is ideal). Pears store best unwrapped but layered in wooden crates
with plenty of space between them for ventilation.
Lawn care Autumn:
As the days grow shorter and the temperatures begin to fall the rate at which
the grass grows will slow, meaning that the lawn will need mowing less frequently. It is also a good idea to raise the height
of cut of the lawnmower as winter approaches. As always maintain your mower in good condition and keep the blades sharp
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