Food Eating seasonally

Dory Berkowitz-Bukowski

Clam whisperer
Oct 15, 2004
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Anyone ever bothered doing this? I might give it a whirl as of next week, partly because it will be much cheaper, but partly for the environment blah blah transport fuel pollution. After checking some UK sites the following seem to be in season this month:

Kale
Carrots
Baby leeks
Baby tomatoes
Basil
Brown onion
Brussel sprouts
Cara potatoes
Cauliflower
Celeriac
Celery
Cep mushrooms
Chicory
Desiree potatoes
Flat beans
Ginger
Green Cabbage
Leeks
Purple sprouting broccoli
Red cabbage
Savoy cabbage
Shallots
Peppers


With most of them still in season next month. So, that being said come up with some meals I can do with the veg and minimal extras (a pasta, rice etc), preferably ones that use the same ingredients so I don't have to waste anything. Anyone else want to try out only eating seasonal fruit and veg? @APRIL ?
 
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So far I have found the following quick, tasty recipes:

Cabbage and Pasta with Bacon and Mozzarella

Ingredients
350g dried penne pasta
1 tbsp olive oil
150g smoked streaky bacon, chopped
few sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked from the stem
1 pointed cabbage (outer leaves removed), quartered, cored and finely sliced (300g)
125g mozzarella, cut into 1cm dice
25g pine nuts, toasted
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook the penne in plenty of salted boiling water for 10-12 minutes until al dente.
Meanwhile heat the olive oil in a large pan and fry the bacon for 3-4 minutes until golden and crisp. Add the thyme and the sliced cabbage and season well. Stir, cover with a lid and cook over a low heat for 5-7 minutes, shaking occasionally until the cabbage is just tender but still bright green.
Drain the pasta well and add to the pan with the cabbage. Add the mozzarella and pine nuts, season and toss to combine all the ingredients. Tip into a warmed serving dish and serve immediately.


Cauliflower with Roasted Tomato Sauce and Chorizo

Ingredients
1 large cauliflower (approx 1.1kg) cut into florets
500g ripe tomatoes, quartered
1 onion, peeled and sliced
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
1 tbsp olive oil
250ml hot vegetable stock
200g cooked chorizo, sliced
1 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1: Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C, gas mark 6. Place the tomatoes in a single layer in a roasting tin, with the onion and thyme, season well and drizzle with the oil.
2: Roast for 15 minutes until the tomatoes are soft.
3: Pour the hot stock over the tomatoes and return to the oven for a further 10 minutes.
4: Cook the cauliflower florets in boiling salted water for 6-8 minutes until tender. Drain well, place in an ovenproof dish and keep warm.
5: Blend the tomatoes and stock in a liquidiser or food processor until smooth (you may have to do this in 2 batches).
6: Add the slices of chorizo to the cauliflower, pour over the tomato sauce and scatter with the Parmesan.
 
Yay! I try to buy only seasonally. Our grocery store sends out text messages when they have new fruit/veggies in that are in season so that helps keep me in line. :)

We tried a food delivery service that promoted that it was only local/seasonal stuff. It was EXPENSIVE to do, but I thought I would try it to see whats up. Come to find out she (the owner) was peeling chickita stickers off the bananas and promoting them as local. We got a bunch of bananas and could see the leftover sticky residue. FUDGE.

The best way is to grow your own. It feels great too to eat off your land, very down to the earthish. I tried it, but I am not that skilled at it. One day I'll try again when we live in a place with better weather. :hs: I remember making a squash stir fry with all of the veggies in the garden.
 
Yay! I try to buy only seasonally. Our grocery store sends out text messages when they have new fruit/veggies in that are in season so that helps keep me in line. :)

We tried a food delivery service that promoted that it was only local/seasonal stuff. It was EXPENSIVE to do, but I thought I would try it to see whats up. Come to find out she (the owner) was peeling chickita stickers off the bananas and promoting them as local. We got a bunch of bananas and could see the leftover sticky residue. FUDGE.

The best way is to grow your own. It feels great too to eat off your land, very down to the earthish. I tried it, but I am not that skilled at it. One day I'll try again when we live in a place with better weather. :hs: I remember making a squash stir fry with all of the veggies in the garden.

:eek: Shocking behaviour. I used to get veg boxes from this place who were great: http://www.edenfarms.co.uk/ Think it was about £10 a week so I might buy from local grocers and then switch to see which one is cheaper. My mum has lots of veg in the summer from the allotment but in the winter months is basically just potatoes and onions.
 
If I ordered from the organic place the box would have:

This weeks Veg Box contains:

• *100%UK PRODUCE

• ** from 21st January weather permitting

• Beetroot UK

• Cabbage UK

• Carrots UK

• Celeriac UK

• Chestnut Mushrooms UK- larger box

• Leeks UK

• Onions UK

• Parsnips UK

• Potatoes, Valor uk

• Swede UK

Probably be better to order the boxes in the summer months when there's more variety.
 
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Let's take a look at that list

Kale yep, growing now
Carrots most likely from autumn store
Baby leeks seasonal OK
Baby tomatoes hot greenhouse? Nowhere in the UK can you get tomatoes now unless heated greenhouse or imported
Basil same as tomatoes
Brown onion from store
Brussel sprouts yes
Cara potatoes from summer stored
Cauliflower winter varieties
Celeriac setored from autumn
Celery only a couple of winter growers in the Fens and the first frost finishes it
Cep mushrooms yes
Chicory for another month maybe
Desiree potatoes stored from summer
Flat beans really???
Ginger
Green Cabbage winter varieties yes
Leeks yes
Purple sprouting broccoli a bit early but yes
Red cabbage yes
Savoy cabbage yes
Shallots stored from the summer
Peppers orly? Hothouse again?
 
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Let's take a look at that list

Kale yep, growing now
Carrots most likely from autumn store
Baby leeks seasonal OK
Baby tomatoes hot greenhouse? Nowhere in the UK can you get tomatoes now unless heated greenhouse or imported
Basil same as tomatoes
Brown onion from store
Brussel sprouts yes
Cara potatoes from summer stored
Cauliflower winter varieties
Celeriac setored from autumn
Celery only a couple of winter growers in the Fens
Cep mushrooms yes
Chicory for another month maybe
Desiree potatoes stored from summer
Flat beans really???
Ginger
Green Cabbage winter varieties yes
Leeks yes
Purple sprouting broccoli a bit early but yes
Red cabbage yes
Savoy cabbage yes
Shallots stored from the summer
Peppers orly? Hothouse again?

According to this site Peppers are in season 12 months of the year! http://www.thinkvegetables.co.uk/vegetable.asp?VegetableID=51

Dubious, but thanks for editing the list for me. I thought tomatoes was laughable too.
 
I've been working on picking out a CSA to join this spring. Winter definitely sucks for food here. And if my CSA told me they were giving me locally grown bananas I'd know something was up. I'm surprised to hear Florida is not a good climate for growing things. Perhaps you should just choose to grow stuff more well suited for the climate? I'd think it would be great for many things since you don't have hard frosts often.
 
I buy what's on sale as far as fruits or veggies, aside from always having to have apples, carrots, and bananas in stock cause the kids live off those. So I figure that's fairly seasonal. Luckily we have a broader season around here, so we are already venturing into strawberries that don't have to come farther than California :happy:

My dad built me a garden box and I should be growing all my own lettuce and carrots already, but I need to go get more dirt and haven't had a chance yet.
 
Anyone ever bothered doing this? I might give it a whirl as of next week, partly because it will be much cheaper, but partly for the environment blah blah transport fuel pollution. After checking some UK sites the following seem to be in season this month:

Kale
Carrots
Baby leeks
Baby tomatoes
Basil
Brown onion
Brussel sprouts
Cara potatoes
Cauliflower
Celeriac
Celery
Cep mushrooms
Chicory
Desiree potatoes
Flat beans
Ginger
Green Cabbage
Leeks
Purple sprouting broccoli
Red cabbage
Savoy cabbage
Shallots
Peppers


With most of them still in season next month. So, that being said come up with some meals I can do with the veg and minimal extras (a pasta, rice etc), preferably ones that use the same ingredients so I don't have to waste anything. Anyone else want to try out only eating seasonal fruit and veg? @APRIL ?


No, I like this whole global market thing where I can get 15 kiwis for $3 whether they are in season or not
 
Okay so people give me some fuckin recipes and such.
I made something called "Hungarian Cholent" in my crock pot over the weekend, was pretty tasty. I can post the recipe if you like, it was all winter root vegetables and beans.

Edit: and 3 kinds of beef :drool:
 
Except if they were in season they'd be more like $1.50. Seasonality affects price regardless of global markets bro.

I know, but our produce place seem to effectively compensate for it somehow...all they do is produce and they seem to have fairly stable prices throughout the year, probably the biggest fluctuations are artichokes and blueberries