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:
- The Last Bite: Desserts Through the Year – Anna Higham
- River Cottage Fruit Every Day – Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
- Pam the Jam: The Book of Preserves – Pam Corbin
- Jams With a Twist: 70 Deliciously Different Recipes – Kylee Newton
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:
- The Magnificent Book of Vegetables – Alice Hart
- The Complete Vegetable Cookbook – James Strawbridge
- RHS Step-by-Step Veg Patch – Lucy Chamberlain
- Abel & Cole organic fruit & veg box deliveries
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
- The Forager’s Calendar: A Seasonal Guide by John Wright
- Food for Free: 50th Anniversary Edition – Richard Mabey
- Wild Food: A Complete Guide for Foragers – Roger Philips
- Concise Foraging Guide – Tiffany Francis-Baker
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:
- Fish & Shellfish: The Definitive Guide – Rick Stein
- Fish for Dinner: Delicious Seafood Recipes – Nathan Outlaw
- The Seafood Shack – Kirsty Scobie & Fenella Renwick
- Fish – Sophie Grigson & William Black
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:
- Tom Kitchin’s Meat and Game
- Lidgate’s The Meat Cookbook
- Game: River Cottage Handbook No.15
- The Meat Cookbook: Know the Cuts, Master the Skills
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:
- A Cheesemonger’s Compendium of British & Irish Cheese – Ned Palmer
- World Cheese Book – DK & Juliet Harbutt
- Which Wine When: What to drink with the food you love – Claire Strickett
- CheeseGeek seasonal cheese subscriptions & gifts
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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:
