How to eat seasonally in the UK - Celebrating British food

Knowing what food is currently in season seems to be a big stumbling block when it comes to people eating seasonal food. Admittedly, until recently I have struggled; if you are in the generation where you are used to having tropical fruit all year round and your food brought to you from all over the world, you tend to lose sight of what actually grows on our island and when. 

I put together a really simple guide from a few things I have seen and tried to make it as simple and easy to follow as possible. I hope this is something that is easy to digest (excuse the pun) and encourages everyone to shop more seasonally and reduce those food miles!

Spring Vegetables: Asparagus, carrots, cauliflower, kale, spinach, celeriac, savoy cabbage, celery.

Spring Fruits: Gooseberyys and rhubarb.

Recipe Ideas: For a healthy veggie curry use seasonal cauliflower and spinach with lentils and spices, just because a food is seasonal it doesn't have to be boring! Chicken and asparagus pie, gingered cabbage and rhubarb crumble are all good ways to use seasonal produce. 

If in doubt look on the packet it will tell you the country of origin! 

Summer Vegetables: Fennel, beetroot, green beans, tomatoes and salad leaves along with carrots courgettes and garlic.

Summer fruit: Blueberries, Plums raspberries and strawberries.

Recipe Ideas:

As soon as I see blueberries raspberries and strawberries I think of an Easton mess or Pavlova! Summer is also a good time to take advantage of all the fresh fruit and make lots of smoothies! This summer I’m looking forward to going strawberry picking and am hoping I get enough to make some jam and freeze some for autumn and winter. 

Fennel can be a lovely addition to a summer BBQ and personally, I love it grilled with some salt pepper and lemon. Other people enjoy it grated on a salad but I personally feel like that is quite overpowering. Some other good seasonal recipes that are always fun to experiment with are stuffed courgettes or spiralized carrots!

Autumn Vegetables: Mushrooms, potatoes, pumpkin, squash.

Autumn Fruit: Apples, blackberry’s, damsons, pears plums slows bilberries.

Recipe ideas:  Hasselback potatoes or stuffed jackets are always a favourite of mine! Potatoes are so versatile and we really don't make the most of them. Pumpkin can also be really versatile but we don't seem to use it much here in the UK. Waffles, curries, risotto pumpkin hummus or even a pumpkin pie! They are really versatile and I'm hoping to do some experimenting this year with pumpkins. 

Autumn and moving through into winter is also the best time to find game, such as venison and grouse. I personally love venison it can be a good way to make sure you are getting really high quality local red meat. Swap beef for venison in your roast for a lower fat roast, or try it in a stew or pie, delicious!

Winter vegetables: Sprouts, cabbage, carrots. Cauliflower, kale, parsnips, potatoes red cabbage, sewed, turnips

Winter fruit: Apples and pears, anything that you have frozen.

Recipe ideas: Winter is always the best time to celebrate our homegrown root vegetables! The most obvious way is a roast, however, soups, stews and pies are definitely my favourite things to eat in the cold dark winter months. Making your own kimchi, or creating ramen bowls celebrating our kale and red cabbage can also be a nice and easy way to use seasonal produce. 

Partridge, duck, pheasant, goose are also in season and pies, cassoulet and ragout can be a great way to eat your game as opposed to a roast. For pudding in the winter months, stuffed apples and poached pears have to be a winner! A pear upside down cake, tarte tatin.

(I also found a very interesting recipe for pears with cabbage which I might try...)

I hope you have all enjoyed my list, and while I know it isn't perfect or complete I have found it a really good place to start. If you're not used to eating seasonally, it can be a daunting thing to learn about; I grew up in the countryside with a garden and it's still a new experience for me looking intently at food labels!