British seasonal food

[jeral Profile]

Here's a table of British seasonal foods. The link has tabs so you can select a category:
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/seasonal-calendar/all

A recent post gave me thought about what we valued about seasonal cooking which has all but disappeared with stored all-year-round meat, fish and veg from all around the world.

Do we still have seasonal dishes or is everything alternative cuisines now, or British with an Mediterranean/Mexican/Indian/Chinese twist?

[DEB Profile]

I live in East Sussex with a reasonable sived garden, smaller than the one my first home 2 up and 2 down. Yesturday I bottled approx 20kg damsons, and made 6kg damson jelly. I have all ready made 10lb aproct jam. In the next few weeks I will have apples to bottle and wild blackberries to make jelly and bottle. I try to cook using seasonal friut and vegtables, however I do use lots of frozzen veg eg beas, beans, and swwet corn. I thing the way is moderation in all things. So a celebration meal can use imported berries as decoration but will need some thing eg choclate to give the requried depth of flavour.

[Amyw Profile]

I still cook seasonally to a certain extent . I have stews note in winter alongside chunky soups . A few weeks ago , when it was blazing hot , I was living off salads , whereas I don’t have as many raw main meal salads when it’s colder , as it doesn’t hit the spot .

I eat a lot of root veg in autumn/winter . Wouldn’t eat strawberries any season apart from summer . I think having all round availability of certain foods isn’t a bad thing necessarily . Winter months could be quite boring without .

I think seasonality and dishes from other countries are two different things. Gazpacho is Spanish but for me only a summer dish . Tartiflette id only have in winter . You don’t have to cook exclusively British to eat seasonally

[Sakkarin Profile]

I think my chart's better, because you don't have to scroll across to see what veg it is, just read down the month column...

That's on my computer, however. Not sure how well it works on a mobile phone though, after all I did create it in 2007, only 4 months after the iPhone first came out...

http://www.sakkarin.co.uk/seasons.htm

Just realised it's written in antique markup language, should update it really.

[Alexandria Profile]

Sakkarin,

Interesting chart.

What I have found most interesting was Potatoes.

March, April, May, June: Are they unavailable or The U.K. does not grow them, perhaps only plants them ?

Potatoes in Galicia ( our main grower región ) are available all year long ..


Jeral,

The majority of Spaniards at home, eat by seasonal availability and local products, as they are totally traditional and highly supportive of their country. The most popular dishes, here are the authentic bean dishes for e.g.: Fabada, Cocidos, Alubias with clams and artichokes or sausage and morcilla de Burgos ( Blood Sausage or Blood Pudding ) etcetra. These are available all year long as are Paella and other basic coastal rice dishes. Fish and shellfish are seasonal. Oxtail is very seasonal as well (May).



If they want to taste a foreign food, normally, they go out to eat these cuisines.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Blimey DEB, you've been busy. I find bottling and jamming takes it out of me. It's really hard work.

I see gooseberries are still available on both September columns.
I wish I could see them in the shops, I'm itching to make gooseberry jam.

Nope, I don't really cook seasonally. If it's in the shops for me, I'll cook it.

[Pepper Pig Profile]

I don’t necessarily cook seasonally but I do freeze. Loads of gooseberries in the freezer at the moment, also rhubarb from the garden and the cooking apples are just getting to be ripe.

[Joanbunting Profile]

Apart from such things as bananas and the odd pineapple and mango I really try to etc./use season and local ingedients.

I don't expect or yern for strawberries in December, Asparagus in October. This goes as fabuyr as cheeses. There are summer cheeses and winter cheeses and one can't expect to the unseasonal ones out of season.

I bottle and preserve anything we have a glut of. Next project picallili . bottled figs and fig jam and chutney. The oldest and best way of enjoying out of season produce.

[Badger's Mate Profile]

Gill, I wish you luck finding goosegogs.

The RHS says

Gather green, under-ripe fruits for making jam, pies, tarts, and sauces in June, taking every other fruit, leaving the remainder to swell into ripe, sweet berries to gather in July.

I wonder if they are available from Scotland in September, but I've never heard of it.

[Linnet Profile]

My local Waitrose had some goosegogs on Saturday, but I didn't look at them closely, so don't know where from.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Member 461
I think the problem is that neither chart distinguishes between “new” potatoes and main crop potatoes

As potatoes store very well, of course British potatoes are available all year round

But traditionally “new” potatoes - quite young potatoes, very thin skinned, eaten soon after harvesting and usually cooked simply have only been available in late spring and early summer, so quite seasonal.

Potatoes left to be harvested later in the year are the larger thicker skinned ones that can be kept through the winter, so they aren’t considered seasonal

In fact you can get British “new” potatoes for much more of the year now, but we still look forward to our favourite spring varieties

[DEB Profile]

Dear Sakkarin,

Interesting chart, however I find most of it all but unreadable due to the background colours asI have sight issues.
That said thank you

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Thanks Badger's, you certainly know your onions!

Hokay, I'm on my way to Waitrose today. Not the cheapest way to get your hands on produce, but I can make just the one pot, for my breakfast yoghurt dollop.

Happy preserving everyone.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Interesting chart, however I find most of it all but unreadable due to the background colours asI have sight issues.
That said thank you

Seconded - July onwards virtually unreadable for me and some of the earlier months not too good. The problem is lack of contrast

[Pampy Profile]

Thirded!

[Badger's Mate Profile]

I'm sure they'll be good quality fruit if they have got some, Gill. It's possible they might have some dessert varieties that can be eaten raw.

Mrs B and I used to think we only needed enough gooseberries for a couple of fools, until we discovered the Benares chutney...

[Wic Profile]

I’ve just started a batch of Damson Gin and another of Sloe Gin. The best kind of seasonal food!

[Renee Profile]

Wonderful Wic! I expect that they will be ready by Christmas.

[Wic Profile]

They are drinkable by Christmas, Renee, but it’s worth leaving them till next Christmas, they get better with age - as do we all, of course. Just saying. For Christmas we shall have last year's bottles ...

Damson is our favourite and can be drunk at any age, but Sloe gin always tastes better after a year or two. When we found a bottle at the back of the cupboard that was over three years old, it was nectar!

[Wic Profile]

I’ve just noticed the typo in the original Damson Gin post. I meant 'seasonal food', but my predictive text tends to put 'god' in all over the place.