British seasonal food in July

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Welcome to our guide to the best British seasonal food in July, and it’s an abundant month as warmer weather and stronger sunshine bring us a wider range of produce. There’s plenty to pick if you have a kitchen garden, an allotment, or a few grow-your-own pots on the patio.

Here’s the big list of the best fresh ingredients to buy and eat this month:

Fruit in season in July

British-grown fruit this month

  • apricots
  • blackberries
  • blackcurrants
  • blueberries
  • cherries
  • figs
  • gooseberries
  • loganberries
  • peaches
  • raspberries
  • redcurrants
  • rhubarb
  • strawberries
  • tayberries
  • whitecurrants

Best imported seasonal fruit

  • apricots
  • figs
  • melon (Charentais, cantaloupe, galia)
  • nectarines
  • peaches
  • pineapples

Recommended seasonal fruit inspiration:

Seasonal fruit inspiration book recommendations

Vegetables in season in July

  • aubergines
  • beetroot
  • broad beans
  • broccoli (calabrese)
  • cabbages (summer, red)
  • celery
  • chard
  • chicory
  • courgettes
  • cucumbers
  • fennel (Florence)
  • globe artichokes
  • green beans (French and runner)
  • kohlrabi
  • leaf beet (perpetual spinach)
  • lettuce and other salad leaves
  • mangetout
  • marrows
  • new potatoes
  • okra
  • pak choi
  • peas
  • peppers
  • radishes
  • shallots
  • spinach
  • spring onions
  • summer squash
  • tomatoes
  • turnips
  • watercress

[Available most months in good condition: button mushrooms, carrots, cauliflower, maincrop potatoes, onions, rocket.]

Recommended seasonal veg inspiration:

Herbs in season in July

  • basil
  • chervil
  • chives
  • coriander
  • dill
  • fennel
  • lovage
  • marjoram
  • mint
  • oregano
  • parsley
  • rosemary
  • sage
  • sorrel
  • summer savory
  • tarragon
  • thyme
  • winter savory

[Always available: chives, coriander, parsley grown under cover; older leaves of hardy perennials like bay, rosemary, sage, thyme.]

Wild / foraged food in season in July

  • bilberries
  • elderflowers
  • puffball mushrooms
  • samphire (marsh and rock)
  • Scottish girolles (chanterelles)

[Take great care when foraging as it’s very easy to confuse edible and poisonous ingredients.]

Recommended foraging & wild food inspiration

Fish in season in July

Seasonal fish varies greatly around the UK and from year to year, for complex reasons including geography, climate change and overfishing. It’s a real labour of love trying to keep up with it all. If in doubt about sustainability, look for farmed fish or responsibly fished wild varieties from a reliable fishmonger, and do your best to avoid fish that are currently in their spawning season.

Here’s a rough guide to what fish and seafood is most sustainable, in season and on sale now in July:

Sustainable British fish varieties

  • coley / saithe
  • crab (brown)
  • dab, flounder
  • haddock
  • herring / sild
  • mackerel
  • plaice
  • pollock
  • pouting / bib
  • cold water prawns
  • common sole / Dover sole

[To the best of my knowledge, the list above excludes critically endangered fish. Visit The Good Fish Guide from the Marine Conservation Society for the latest lists which are regularly updated.]

Fish in season in July, less sustainable

You can still find most of these fished using sustainable methods via a good fishmonger.

  • cod
  • dab
  • lemon sole
  • sardines / pilchards
  • squid
  • whiting
  • wild halibut (best to avoid completely)
  • wild salmon
  • wild seabream

[In good condition almost all year: herring, farmed halibut, farmed sea bream, farmed turbot, megrim sole, sustainably-fished monkfish, rope-grown mussels, prawns.]

Recommended fish & shellfish inspiration:

Meat, poultry and game in season in July

  • lamb (including salt marsh lamb)
  • venison (wild red deer)

[Always available in good condition: beef, chicken, pork, rabbit, farmed venison, wood pigeon.]

Recommended meat, poultry and game inspiration:

Cheese in season in July

British cheeses this month

  • fresh goat’s cheese
  • Stinking Bishop

Imported cheeses in July

  • Camembert
  • Reblochon
  • Saint Marcellin

[Many quality mature cheeses are available year-round, especially hard cheese types.]

Recommended cheese & wine inspiration:

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Favourite British seasonal food in July

We’ve been having lots of salads with home grown baby leaves, pea shoots and radishes, and making meals more interesting with fresh basil, coriander and newly sprouted thyme leaves.

Beau just harvested our cherry tree too, so we’re enjoying those in various sweet treats, alternating with this year’s bumper crop of rhubarb. Some of the rhubarb’s been infused into gin, with a plan to use it in rhubarb negronis in a few weeks’ time, and the rest has been turned into cordial and poached rhubarb. Some for now, some for the freezer, like we do most summers.

Has anything caught your eye on this list of best UK seasonal foods in July? Any old favourites or interesting new things that you want to try?

Recommended general seasonal inspiration:

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