Seasonal ingredients in September
What’s in season this month? I’m looking forward to autumn berries, the best wild mushrooms, the return of the shellfish, and the biggest range of goodies from the kitchen garden in the whole of the growing year.
Lots of UK gardeners have had problems getting crops to ripen this year due a lack of sunny days during the crucial months. In particular, quite a few people have complained to me about green tomatoes so stay tuned for ripening methods and the tastiest ways to use up the ones that stubbornly refuse to ripen. Meanwhile, on with the seasonal show:
Fruit & nuts: apples, bilberries, blackberries, blueberries, crab apples, damsons, elderberries, figs, grapes, greengages, juniper berries, first Kentish cobnuts, loganberries, pears, plums, raspberries, sloes. Imported: melons, nectarines and peaches.
Vegetables: all salad leaves, asian greens, aubergines, beetroot, broccoli, late summer cauliflower, celery, chard, chillies, chives, courgettes, cucumbers, fennel, globe artichokes, green beans (French, runner, and borlotto pods), green and red cabbage, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, marrows, peppers, pumpkins (put first Winter ones aside to mature rather than eat), radishes, red onions, rocket, salsify and scorzonera, samphire, shallots, sorrel, spinach, spring onions, squashes, swedes, sweetcorn, summer squash, tomatoes, watercress, wild mushrooms (ceps, chanterelles, oyster, puffball, shaggy ink cap and more).
Fish and shellfish: black bream, brown and rainbow trout, brown hen crabs, brown shrimp, clams, cockles, Dover sole, eels, lobster, mussels, native oysters, pilchards, plaice, prawns, scallops, sea bass, signal crayfish, skate, sprats, squid, turbot.
Meat, poultry and game: Michaelmas goose, Autumn lamb, grouse, partridge, venison at its best, wild duck.
Cheeses: UK: Double Gloucester, Farmhouse Cheshire. French: Brie de Meaux. (For other French seasonal cheeses see this table at baudelet.net).
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What are you going to cook? Ideas please!
