British seasonal food in August – what to eat now
The latest guide to the best British seasonal food in August is here, with the 2026 heatwave ushering in all kinds of ripe fruits and healthy vegetables.
Extra sunshine means the stars of the season include plenty of sweetcorn, peppers, tomatoes, figs and stone fruits such as plums. If you’re a meat eater, August is also the month that the game season officially begins, starting from the 12th.
Here’s what to buy from the market, add to your veg box delivery, or pick from your kitchen garden or allotment over the next few weeks.
Fruit in season in August
There’s so much fruit to choose from this month, including more stone fruits. Have a peek at all these:
British-grown fruit in August
Apples (first few)
Apricots
Blackberries
Blackcurrants
Blueberries
Cherries
Damsons
Figs
Greengages
Gooseberries
Loganberries
Peaches
Plums
Raspberries
Redcurrants
Strawberries
Tayberries
Whitecurrants
Imported seasonal fruit: August
Apricots
Caribbean pineapple
Figs
Melon (Charentais, cantaloupe, galia)
Peaches
Nectarines
Nuts in season in August
- Kentish cobnuts
Recommended seasonal fruit & preserves books
Vegetables in season in August
There’s a huge range of vegetables to choose from right now:
British seasonal veg: August
Aubergines
Beetroot
Broccoli (summer sprouting & calabrese)
Broad beans
Cabbage (summer)
Celery
Chard
Chicory
Courgettes
Cucumbers
Endive
Fennel (bulb / Florence)
Globe artichoke
Green beans (French & runner)
Kohlrabi
Leeks (baby)
Lettuce & other salad leaves
Mangetout
Marrows
Okra
Pak choi
Parsnips
Peas
Peppers
Potatoes (new & first maincrop)
Radishes
Shallots
Spinach
Spring onions
Summer squash
Sweetcorn
Tomatoes
Turnips
Watercress
Available most months in good condition: button mushrooms, carrots, cauliflower, maincrop potatoes, onions, rocket.
Recommended seasonal veg books
FREE!!
UK fruit and veg calendar
Herbs in season in August
- basil
- chervil
- chives
- coriander
- dill
- fennel
- lovage
- marjoram
- mint
- oregano
- parsley
- rosemary
- sage
- sorrel
- summer savory
- tarragon
- thyme
- winter savory
Always available:
- Chives, coriander and parsley grown under cover.
- Older leaves of hardy perennials like bay, rosemary, sage, thyme.
Wild / foraged food in season in August
Wild food to hunt down this month:
UK foraged food in August
Bilberries / blaeberries
Blackberries
Crabapples
Samphire (marsh and rock)
Wild damsons
Wild mushrooms (ceps/penny bun, chanterelles, field, puffball, truffles)
[Take great care when foraging as it’s very easy to confuse edible and poisonous ingredients.]
Recommended foraging & wild food books
Fish in season in August
Seasonal fish varies greatly in different fishing grounds around the UK, and also from year to year as stock levels and stewardship recommendations change, but here’s a rough guide to what’s on sale now:
Sustainable British fish: August
Brill
Coley / saithe
Common sole / Dover sole
Crab (brown & spider)
Dab
Flounder
Haddock
Hake
Herring / sild
Mackerel
Monkfish
Plaice
Pollock
Pouting / bib
Sprat / whitebait
[To the best of my knowledge the list above excludes critically endangered fish but the guidelines change regularly. Visit The Good Fish Guide from the Marine Conservation Society for their latest lists.]
You should also be able to buy these sustainably from a responsible fishmonger:
Less sustainable UK fish: August
Crayfish
Sardines / pilchard
Seabass
Seabream
Squid
Whiting
Wild halibut
Wild salmon
In good condition almost all year: herring, farmed sea bream, seabass and turbot, megrim sole, sustainably-fished monkfish, rope-grown mussels, prawns.
Recommended fish & shellfish books
FREE!!
UK fruit and veg calendar
Meat, poultry and game in season in August
Game season starts this month when grouse moors open.
UK meat, poultry & game: August
Grouse (from the 12th of August)
Hare
Lamb
Snipe
Venison (wild red deer)
Always available in good condition: beef, chicken, pork, rabbit, farmed venison, wood pigeon.
Recommended meat, poultry & game books
Cheese in season in August
Yes, many cheeses are seasonal. It depends on the animals being milked, their grazing and reproductive cycles, the way specific cheeses are made, and their time to mature.
In August you can find well-aged fresh cheeses made from spring milk, fresh cheeses made from rich summer milk, several white blooming rind cheeses, washed-rind cheeses with orange or pink surfaces, and a few shorter-matured blue cheeses.
Here are some of the best seasonal cheeses to pick now:
Best British cheeses: August
Farmhouse Cheddars
Ewe’s milk cheeses
Goat’s cheese (fresh from summer milk, or aged from spring milk)
Stinking Bishop
Best imported cheeses: August
Short-matured blue cheeses (Bleu d’Avergne, Fourme d’Ambert, Roquefort)
Camembert de Normandie
Other soft cheeses (e.g. Chaource, Pont l’Evêque, Reblochon)
Feta
Mozzarella
Many quality mature cheeses are available year-round, especially hard cheeses.
Recommended cheese books
Enjoying this guide? You may also like:
- British seasonal food in July
- British seasonal food in September
- What to sow & do in an August kitchen garden
- Top summer supermarket wines under £5 & £10
What we’re eating at Golightly Gardens
August is always a good month for homegrown fresh fruit and veggies. We have a hosepipe ban here, so we’re conserving water carefully and have prioritised the tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes and autumn raspberries.
We’ve already had several tomato salads, chunky cucumber salads, and chargrilled courgettes with mediterannean herbs. The salads and most of the soft herbs probably aren’t going to make it, but it’s okay, them’s the breaks. The wild rocket might be okay because it’s been used to underplant the tomatoes.
We’re looking forward to picking up some mackerel or sardines for the grill, and maybe some corn on the cob with chilli butter to serve alongside for a true taste of summer. It’s also the perfect time of year to pick up a few imported fruits such as peaches, figs and melons – it’s far too hot to cook much and they’re easy to eat.
It’s also time for a payday cheeseboard, with some summery French Bleu d’Avergne, Fourme d’Ambert or Roquefort, a squidgy slice of Stinking Bishop, and maybe a crottin of goat’s cheese. I say cheeseboard, but it might turn out to be a cheese picnic…
Bon appetit!
Recommended seasonal inspiration books
This site may get paid a small amount of commission for purchases made after clicking some of the links in this post. There’s no extra cost to you, so please support our work.
Do you have any favourite August seasonal ingredients or recipes?
Leave us a message in the comments box below!
