Here's a little calendar to let you know what fruit and vegetables are in season to make sure you're buying the best and freshest ingredients in 2005... thanks to Myrtle and Fawn Allen who published the second version of Local Producers of Good Food in Cork.
January & February:
ROOT VEGETABLES (carrots, swede turnips, parsnips, onions, Jerusalem artichokes ).
LEEKS
BRUSSELS
SPROUTS
RED & GREEN CABBAGE
BROCCOLI & CAULIFLOWER
all available until March.
February:
FORCED RHUBARB
comes in and lasts until March.
March:
WINTER LETTUCES
SPRING CABBAGE
until June.
SPROUTING BROCCOLI
until April.
April:
RHUBARB
lasts throughout summer depending on weather conditions.
SALAD LEAVES
SPINACH
until end of summer.
SEAKALE
May:
ASPARAGUS
until June
Glasshouse crops:
NEW POTATOES
June:
GOOSEBERRIES
STRAWBERRIES
SPRING ONIONS
NEW POTATOES
GLOBE ARTICHOKES
BABY CARROTS
until July.
July:
RASPBERRIES
TAYBERRIES
BLACKCURRENTS
REDCURRENTS & WHITECURRENTS. PEAS & BEANS.
Glasshouse crops:
TOMATOES, PEPPERS
CUCUMBERS
continuing until August & September.
August:
Outdoors:
BLUEBERRIES
BLACKBERRIES
PLUMS
until September
First SWEDE TURNIPS
MAIN CROP ONIONS
CARROTS
POTATOES
in from now on throughout the year.
Glasshouse crops:-
AUBERGINES
MELONS
until September.
September:
WILD BLACKBERRIES
AUTUMN RASPBERRIES
PEARS
APPLES
from now through the winter months.
First RED CABBAGE in season until next March.
October:
CELERY
MARROWS
PUMPKINS
SQUASH
until November & December.
November & December:
See August, September & October
Note: Cabbages & cauliflower are available almost all the year. May is the most difficult month, however.
All fresh fruit and veg should be labelled as to where it was grown and packaged. If it says it is from far far away and the price is cheap cheap you can probably presume it isn't great as transport and fuel costs make up the majority of the cost. Someone along the chain is being ripped off, usually the poor farmers
. The amount of time from harvest to plate is increased and therefore the quality of the crop is being compromised
Read the label, Support local growers, Save the planet and Eat tastier food!!
I'll tell you about an interesting experiment we did when we were writing our Honey, Carrot and Coriander Soup recipe;
We couldn't get it to taste as good as it did at home so we did an experiment. We bought freshly picked carrots from the local farmer (a commercial non organic variety but non intensive) and also bought some from a shop (regular decent carrots). Then we made soup.
It was extraudinary. The soup made from the freshly picked carrots was like a full bodied wholesome smoothy while the other one was plain; not bad but not worth writing home about!
3 things worth growing in your garden are tomatoes, herbs and if you have room, carrots. Carrots need to be picked daily and therefore are always imported out of season. This is different to other vegetable like potatoes which will keep perfectly in a fridge for weeks.
Very handy thanks cully good to know which veg are in season
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