Eating Seasonally

In addition to Reusing and Recycling, I also try to choose produce that is organic and In Season. Florida may not have "the Seasons" that bring crisp bright leaves falling from the trees and sweaters and then coats out of the closets at regular intervals every year; but by eating Seasonal produce, I can make my life feel that annual change as well as keep the impact of the cost of my foods resource to get to my table at a minimum.

Winter, obviously, is the most challenging in choosing fresh, locally grown produce.

We can't - of course - have a ready knowledge of our community's larder and what has been stored since the local harvest to help sustain us through the Winter or what has just recently been shipped over from Central Africa to reach the produce bin at Publix. So although the stores my have bountiful supplies of strawberries and grapes and bananas; it is not what is in my hemisphere's growth pattern.

Because, I want to pick my food choices by what is seasonal and regional, and because it is Winter, I am limited right now on having many produce choices. I tend to make breads the most in Winter. I also cook grains and add nuts and seeds to dishes in the Winter more often than at other times of the year.

This is not at all suffering, not picking whatever is on the shelves of the big grocery shelves. I find it exciting to live within the seasons. In the heat of Summer, I sometimes find myself thinking, longfully, of the day, in Winter, when I will be preparing and eating a nice warm barley soup with a big hunk of homemade rye bread; something as I sit down to my cool Summer salads, I wouldn't have on the table. Just last week I had that nice bowl of barley soup with fresh rye bread!

I put together a list for Winter in-season produce in North America (below). I keep a list on my refrigerator. It makes meal planning and grocery shopping according to each Season relatively easy.

North America Winter Produce Remember, you can enjoy the taste of any fruit or vegetable year-round. Fresh, frozen, canned, dried, and 100% juice – it all counts! But, try organic as much as possible.

Apples (Southeastern Region)

Belgian Endive

Brussels Sprouts (Southeastern Region)



Buttercup Squash

Cactus Pear

Collard Greens (Southeastern Region)

Clementines

Chestnuts

Dates

Delicata Squash

Grapefruit (Southeastern Region)

Kale (Southeastern Region)

Kiwifruit

Leeks (Southeastern Region)

Mandarin Oranges

Oranges (Southeastern Region)

Passion Fruit

Pear

Persimmons

Red Banana

Red Currants

 

Spinach (Southeastern Region)

Sweet Dumpling Squash (Southeastern Region)

Sweet Potatoes (Southeastern Region)

Tangerines (Southeastern Region)

Turnips (Southeastern Region)

Winter Squashes

 Just yesterday I made a potato and leek pie. I think that the leek is my favorite Winter vegetable. Tom loves the winter squashes and I can cook them probably one hundered ways as well as prepare them "raw" another 25; but I like the leek!

What is your favorite Winter produce? How do you like to prepare your cooking and baking to the Seasons?

Joyful Kitchen Dancing!

Peace.

Brianne