Seasonal cooking is something you don’t really think about, until you start thinking about it. What even is seasonal cooking? Well, seasonal cooking is using ingredients (mostly fruit and veg) that are at their peak harvest time. This is important because it means cooking with foods that are at a higher quality and produced right here in the UK. However, you may be wondering why this matters in a world where we can get anything imported in. There are several reasons why you might choose to cook seasonally. Firstly, the quality of ingredients will be so much better, your food will be fresh and richer with flavour. In addition to this, cooking seasonally is a great way to lower your carbon footprint as the food you’re eating will have been grown more locally.
So now that you’ve decided you want to start cooking with more seasonal ingredients the question is, what is in season at the moment. What’s most in season currently is parsnips, turnips, cauliflower and sprouts. Unfortunately, due to the winter months, not a lot of fruit is in season, but pears and apples are still good during this time of year. In the winter months one of my favourite things to cook is crumble, and an apple and pear crumble is a great way to start off your seasonal cooking journey. All the vegetables available also make for great companions to a roast dinner, or if you want something more adventurous you could always try some homemade vegetable soup.
Cooking seasonally is a great way to lower your carbon footprint as the food you’re eating will have been grown more locally.
Whatever you decide to cook, cooking with seasonal vegetables is so important for the environment and also for your personal cooking experience. It’s a great habit to get into and take with you into your adult life. I’m not saying you have to avoid all fruit and veg that’s out of season, but by incorporating more seasonal foods into your cooking you are taking a big step into a culinary journey.
