• In season now: May

    New this month: Asparagus! The food of gods... and carrots are back.

    Still in season from last month: cauliflower, chard, green cabbage, salad leaves, main-crop potatoes (from store), salad leaves, sea kale, spring greens, rhubarb

    Goodbye till next year to: Purple sprouting broccoli (sniff, sniff), leeks, stored parsnips, forced rhubarb

  • What I’m doing here

    This all started when I picked the first strawberries from my new allotment.

    I'd never been so enraptured or so excited by food. It was a shock to find that anything could taste so good.

    So what - I'd never had strawberries before?

    No - all the strawberries I'd had were shop-bought, like as not flown in from intensive growers in Spain or Chile, and eaten in winter when strawberries should be a distant summer memory.

    It revolutionised my thinking about the fresh food we eat every day. I started to wonder if you got the same amazing taste from all types of food grown and eaten in season. And then I decided to do something about it.

    The Year of Eating Seasonally is my little experiment to find out what it's really like not to have it all. The only fruit and veg I and my family are going to eat in 2008 will be what's growing in the ground at the time (or, in winter, what I can get out of store).

    I want to find out if the hungry gap is really as hungry as everyone says it is: whether you're really eating nothing but cabbage all winter; and whether you miss strawberries in December.

    Along the way I hope I'll save a few tons of carbon being released into the atmosphere on my behalf, as I won't be requiring those French beans flown from Chile, thanks very much. And I hope I'll be rediscovering what food can really taste like.

    If you have any comments, please feel free to post them anywhere you like - or you can email me at sallywhite@hotmail.com.

What’s in season when

January

New this month:

A big fat nothing. Cue: In the bleak midwinter… frosty wind made mooooan…..

Still in season from last month:

Jerusalem artichokes, Brussels sprouts & tops, red white and green cabbage, carrots (from store), spring greens, curly kale, leeks, onions, parsnips, salsify/scorzonera, salad leaves, swede, turnips (from store), main-crop potatoes 

late-season and storing apples (e.g. Cox, Bramley), late-season pears (e.g. Doyenne du Comice, Conference), forced rhubarb

Goodbye till next year to: 

Celeriac

mid-season apples (e.g. Egremont Russet, Blenheim Orange)

February

New this month:

We’re looking down the wrong end of the hungry gap here…. but the very first leaves of Swiss chard can be picked on my allotment this month, so I reckon that makes it a new addition.

Still in season from last month:

Jerusalem artichokes, Brussels sprouts & tops, white and green cabbage, salad leaves, spring greens, curly kale, leeks, onions, swede, main-crop potatoes , parsnips (from store), salsify/scorzonera

Forced rhubarb

Goodbye till next year to: 

Red cabbage, carrots, turnips, late-season and storing apples (e.g. Cox, Bramley), late-season pears (e.g. Doyenne du Comice, Conference)

March

New this month:

Purple-sprouting broccoli! Woo-hoo!

you can also have a try at eating sea kale if you’re brave (and desperate) enough

Still in season from last month:

green cabbage, spring greens, leeks, main-crop potatoes (from store), parsnips (from store), salad leaves, salsify/scorzonera

forced rhubarb  

Goodbye till next year to: 

Jerusalem artichokes, Brussels sprouts & tops, white cabbage, curly kale, onions, swede

April

New this month:

Cauliflower

Non-forced rhubarb

Still in season from last month:

Purple-sprouting broccoli, green cabbage, salad leaves, spring greens, leeks, sea kale

Goodbye till next year to:

Salsify/scorzonera

May

New this month:

Asparagus! The food of gods…

And carrots are back.

Still in season from last month:

Cauliflower, green cabbage, salad leaves, spring greens, sea kale

Rhubarb

Goodbye till next year to: 

Purple-sprouting broccoli (sniff, sniff), leeks

June

New this month:

Summer kicks in at last.

Broad beans, peas, new potatoes

Gooseberries, strawberries (yay!)

Still in season from last month:

Asparagus, carrots, cauliflower, green cabbage, salad leaves, spring greens

Rhubarb

Goodbye till next year to: 

Sea kale (winter must really be over…)

July

New this month:

Globe artichokes, beetroot, courgettes, French beans, garlic, kohlrabi, onions, tomatoes

Blackcurrants, blueberries, cherries, plums, salad leaves, summer raspberries, whitecurrants

Still in season from last month:

Broad beans, carrots, cauliflower, green cabbage, peas, new potatoes

Gooseberries, strawberries, rhubarb

Goodbye till next year to: 

Asparagus, spring greens

August

New this month:

Aubergines, calabrese, cucumbers, fennel, chard, pak choi, maincrop potatoes, runner beans, salad leaves, salsify/scorzonera, spinach, sweetcorn

Early apples (e.g. Discovery), blackberries, redcurrants

Still in season from last month:

Globe artichokes, beetroot, broad beans, carrots, cauliflower, courgettes, French beans, garlic (from store), green cabbage, kohlrabi, onions (from store), peas, tomatoes

Blackcurrants, blueberries, plums, summer raspberries, whitecurrants

Goodbye till next year to:

Cherries, strawberries, gooseberries, rhubarb

September

New this month:

Curly kale, chillies, pumpkins, squashes

Greengages, mid-season apples (e.g. Egremont Russet, Blenheim Orange), plums, early pears (e.g. Beth, Williams)

Still in season from last month:

Globe artichokes, aubergines, beetroot, green cabbage, calabrese, carrots, cauliflower, chard, courgettes, cucumbers, fennel, garlic (from store), kohlrabi, onions (from store), pak choi, maincrop potatoes, runner beans, salad leaves, salsify/scorzonera, spinach, sweetcorn, tomatoes

Early apples (e.g. Discovery), blackberries, blueberries, redcurrants

Goodbye till next year to: 

broad beans, French beans, peas

blackcurrants, summer raspberries, whitecurrants, rhubarb

October

New this month:

Cardoons, celeriac, turnips

Late season & storing apples (e.g. Cox’s, Bramleys), grapes, medlars, late-season pears (e.g. Doyenne du Comice, Conference), quince, autumn raspberries

Still in season from last month:

Beetroot, green cabbage, calabrese, carrots, cauliflower, chard, chillies, courgettes, fennel, curly kale, garlic (from store), kohlrabi, onions (from store), pak choi, maincrop potatoes, runner beans, salad leaves, salsify/scorzonera, spinach, tomatoes, pumpkins, squashes

mid-season apples (e.g. Egremont Russet, Blenheim Orange)

Goodbye till next year to: 

Globe artichokes, aubergines, cucumbers, sweetcorn

Early apples (e.g. Discovery), greengages, plums, early pears (e.g. Beth, Williams), blackberries, blueberries, redcurrants

November

New this month:

Jerusalem artichokes, red & white cabbage, Brussels sprout tops, leeks, swede

Still in season from last month:

beetroot, green cabbage, cardoons, carrots, celeriac, chard, chillies (from store), spring greens, curly kale, garlic (from store), kohlrabi, onions, parsnips, pumpkins, salad leaves, squashes, salsify/scorzonera, turnips, main-crop potatoes

Fruit: mid-season apples (e.g. Egremont Russet, Blenheim Orange), late-season and storing apples (e.g. Cox, Bramley), medlars, late-season pears (e.g. Doyenne du Comice, Conference), quince, autumn raspberries

Goodbye till next year to:

Calabrese, cauliflower, courgettes, fennel, pak choi, runner beans, spinach, tomatoes

Grapes

December

New this month:

Brussels sprouts of course – it’s Christmas!

The very first of the forced rhubarb appears this month too.

Still in season from last month:

Jerusalem artichokes, Brussels sprout tops, red white and green cabbage, carrots, celeriac, salsify/scorzonera, spring greens, curly kale, leeks, onions, parsnips, salad leaves, swede, turnips, main-crop potatoes 

mid-season apples (e.g. Egremont Russet, Blenheim Orange), late-season and storing apples (e.g. Cox, Bramley), late-season pears (e.g. Doyenne du Comice, Conference)

Goodbye ’till next year to:

Beetroot, cardoons, chard, kohlrabi, pumpkins, squashes

medlars, quince, autumn raspberries

2 Responses

  1. Matt Black, on February 25th, 2008 at 5:05 pm Said:

    What about salsify?. Great with a greco dressing.

  2. SallyGardener, on February 25th, 2008 at 8:32 pm Said:

    you’re so right! sorry, it’s just an oversight – in fact I’ve been keeping an eye out for some salsify or scorzonera so that I can try some. It sounds delicious, but you just try picking it up in the supermarket…. another one you can only get hold of if you grow your own, I think.

    I’ll add it into the list right away!

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