Eating seasonally in July

This should probably be called ‘Eating seasonally in July in England’, but I thought that was a bit long. Fairly obviously though, it’s dependent on where you are, what is in season here in the lovely (very rainy right now) English summer, is going to be very different to what is in season in Peru or Japan.

Eating locally produced fresh properly grown (not in a hydroponic greenhouse in Holland) and in season produce is a joy. It’s not just the intensity of flavours in the way that things taste, but just as much the way that they smell, if you can’t smell a tomato through a plastic packet and if a surge of aroma doesn’t come up and smack you in the nose when you cut into it, then something is wrong.

So, with the all of that preamble out of the way, we can get down to a list of some of the lovely things that are in season right now. It’s not an exhaustive list, it’s just things that come to mind, and I’m sure I’ll come back and add more to it throughout the month.

Strawberries, Blackberries, Raspberries
The best known summer berries, as long as they are ripe there is no way that they can taste bad, and they smell like essence of summer days. If you can’t think of anything exciting to do with them, then don’t – just wash them and enjoy, either on their own, or with cream or thick greek yoghurt.

Loganberries
For anyone who is wondering what a loganberry is, or what the hell to do with them if you have some: It’s a hybrid cross between a raspberry and a blackberry. So, basically you can use it wherever you would normally use either of those types of berry.

Gooseberries
When I was a kid I remember eating a lot of gooseberries,I remember picking them as well, from horrible prickly bushes that want to hurt you. For some reason, gooseberries seem to have become pretty invisible lately. You don’t see many of them on supermarket shelves, but when you do spot some, grab them and make jam, or you can convert any lemon based desert recipe to use gooseberries!

Cherries
In my opinion, cherries are competing in a very close two horse race with raspberries for the crown of best summer fruit in the world. Eat them as they are, bake them in a pie, make jam, dip them in a chocolate fondue, or google for any of about a million recipes.

Aubergine
There is something strangely erotic about a nice glossy aubergine, you (well, I) just want to stroke it and caress it. Apart from all of that though, it’s a great vegetable that has a huge amount of uses, don’t be tempted just to stick it in ratatouille all of the time!
When you are picking an aubergine, always go for heaviest one, and look for a glossy and unblemished skin.

Tomatoes
Tomatoes are just tomatoes, except when they are in season and of a nice variety, when they become so much more. There are so many varieties that I wouldn’t even know where to begin with a recommendation, but those that come still on the vine are usually much more full of flavour than those that don’t. Don’t take them off of the vine stems until the moment you want to use them, or if you are roasting them then leave them on the vine and take them off after cooking.

Watercress
It’s green, peppery, tangy, quintessentially English, and apparently a ’superfood’. Not everyone eats watercress, and a lot of people don’t have a clue what to do with it. There are plenty of options though, you could simply use it in a salad as you would use something like rocket, or there is the summer classic ‘Watercress soup’.