A Month by Month Guide to Seasonal Produce | The Tool Shed

A Month by Month Guide to Seasonal Produce

Planning your meals based around the seasonality of your ingredients doesn’t just mean that you get to enjoy when they’re at their ripest and tastiest, but they should also be more nutritious and affordable too.

We’re going to take a quick run through the year to see which fresh produce is in season for each month.

January

While the start of the year is generally something of a grey and dull month as we all recover from Christmas, which we associated with traditional vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower and turnips, remember that citrus fruits are also in season at this time too and could be a good way to brighten up these dark winter days.

February

As the cold really starts to bite in February, turn to winter warming ingredients such as goose, venison as well as seafood such as oysters and mussels and various types of fish.

This is also the time of year that rhubarb comes into season, perfect to make a crumble for dessert.

March

As we enter spring and the days start to get longer, the likes of spinach and spring greens start to come into season, as well as more fish such as salmon and halibut.

April

With the temperatures slowly starting to rise, it’s time to make the most of spring’s seasonal produce, some of which is only available for a fairly short period of time! Seasonal highlights include crab, new potatoes, peas, radish and more.

May

May sees lots of classic British classics come into season, with the highlight being the asparagus, but keep an eye out for fresh aubergine, carrots, artichoke, mackerel and more.

While it’s in season all year round, May is also the perfect time to enjoy some spring lamb, especially as mint is in season too to make a sauce with!

June

Summer is the prime growing period, which means we start to see the widest variety of produce coming into season around now.

Highlights include berries such as raspberries as well as black and redcurrants and cherries, but don’t forget broad beans, peas and tomatoes too.

July

With Wimbledon taking place, it’s a good job that strawberries are ripe in season during July to enjoy with some cream (you could even try your hand at growing your own?). July also sees the return of broccoli, celery, figs, marrow, peach and more!

August

Although summer is starting to slow down, there’s still plenty of great produce to enjoy, for example, it’s the only month where crab apples are in season and one of only two where you can get fresh sweetcorn!

Also be sure to keep an eye out for, elderberries, plum and fowl such as goose and grouse.

September

Autumn sees lots of fruits come into season which can be frozen or preserved to be used as we head back into the colder months such as apples, blackberries, damsons and pear. Other ‘in season’ ingredients include chestnuts, celeriac, guinea fowl, kale and more.

October

Of course, pumpkins are the highlight for October, with Halloween coming up at the end of the month.

However, be sure not to forget about other seasonal produce such as duck, cranberry, and root vegetables like turnips.

November

As the temperatures start to drop again, it’s back to hearty warming produce such as roast dinners and soups.

The likes of Jerusalem artichokes, swede, and Bramley apples also come into season around November time.

December

Of course, December’s two big seasonal products are turkey and Brussels Sprouts, but be sure to check out pomegranates and clementines to bring a bit of zest to these dark, cold months.

This is just a quick run through some of the highlights for each month, but if you want a more in-depth look at exactly which ingredients come in season when, check out this handy chart from BBC Good Food.

Post by Chris Holland

Our Chef Director Chris Holland worked as Head Chef at the prestigious Alderley Edge hotel before joining us. He has a passion for using the best produce and never compromises on quality. Author of our best selling book Sous Vide The Art of Precision Cooking, Chris is a expert on the sous vide technique.During the later part of my school days at Wardle High School Rochdale I always wanted to be a chef . I knew from the very start that my path to work was never going to be academic it was always going to be something practical and hands on.

As a young boy growing up I was inspired to cook with my Grandma who was and still is an inspiration to me . I have memories of helping make the cakes that she always had made for visitors and family alike . She made the most amazing cakes and I loved nothing more than eating the sweet raw cake batter straight from the bowl . We used to fight over who got to lick the bowl/spoon after the cakes were made. My grandma’s philosophy for cooking even on a shoe string budget was always to use fresh and seasonal ingredients either home grown or bought from the market.

School was somewhat of a drag for me as I was itching to learn to become a chef.

I started at Hopwood Hall college as a chef and instantly fell in love with it .To me it was the only real time I excelled in something and this inspired me to really get my head down and put in the hard work. College was the first time I really excelled in something and gave me the opportunity to laugh at the teachers who said I would never make something of my life!!!!

During the three years at college I also took on a part time position in a local hotel working the bar and restaurant first and then the kitchen. These were great days and gave me the opportunity to see how the industry ticks. I learnt a lot from those days both good and bad !! But I have to say I was itching to work only in the kitchen but it was a good insight into the catering world .

After completing college I moved away from Rochdale for a full time roll at one of Cheshire’s most talked about Hotel restaurants The Stanneylands Hotel. This was the school of hard knocks for me as I quickly realised that although excelling at college meant nothing in “The Real World”.

I loved every minute of the 18 hour days 6 days a week on minimum wage . Although difficult I feel that without this grounding I wouldn’t have achieved what I have today. After 18 months of hard graft I left Stanneylands and went with the Head chef to open a fine dining restaurant at Mere Golf and Country Club. The opportunity to work alongside Matthew Barrett was too good to turn down. I learnt so much from the ex-Ritz chef and working in a much slower paced role helped me develop a much better understanding of how to organise and run a kitchen. We were a very small team and teamwork was and still is the only way to go for me.

After 2 years at Mere I got the opportunity to go into The Alderley Edge Hotel as Junior Souschef. The Early days at the Edge were all about learning new styles of cuising which is invaluable in any role as a chef. I got the opportunity to grow and learn all aspects of every section which was inspiring . I was offered the opportunity at the age of 29 (2004) to take the role of head chef. For me this was when I really started to develop my own style of food.

After 9 years at the top winning Cheshire restaurant of the year , Chef of the Year and appearing on GBM amongst many highlights including cooking for many celebrities and famous people I decided to move on into development with Sousvidetools.

The main inspiration for this was to train and educate people . I always had a great passion for education but could never really see myself at a college . The job is super rewarding and I am proud to say we have become the leading light in sous-vide education in the UK . This is something I am very proud of . Food is my biggest passion and this is what keeps me interested the most . I love to travel and try out other countries cuisines. I am constantly inspired by ingredients and the pursuit of getting the best out of them without destroying their natural flavour .It is super important to me to continue to try and be at the forefront of the food scene this is what inspire me and the team to keep driving forward .

Technology is now widely used in the industry and I am super proud to say we have been a big part of spreading that message.

I am very lucky to be in the position I am and the drive to constantly improve our training and links to the next generation of young budding hospitality chefs.

TI feel that my experience over the last 25 years really enables me to get close and educate the “next generation” of chefs .

The industry which I love is really struggling to bring through new recruits and if I can help that process I will be immensely proud.

The food seen in the Uk has improved dramatically over the last ten years and I feel this will continue with the correct education. What happens next only fate will tell us...

...