Eating Seasonally

We want to start eating more seasonally and can what's in season to eat year round. Any tips or books that you've found on that topic?

Eating straight out of the garden makes it easy to eat seasonally if a person has both a spring and fall garden.

I like to eat salads with lots of different vegetables and fruits.

Changing the different salad dressings makes the salads more interesting.

Also fall greens are really easy to cook.  I have never used a recipe.

I like the Joy of Cooking cookbook because it was recommended on the forum and I feel this lady knows how to cook.

I also feel that the grocery stores seem to have a better selection seasonally.

I am looking forward to what tips others have to suggest.

The best books to try will be based in your own region, because certain edibles may be "in season" at a very different time (if at all) in different climates. Where are you located?

C. Lee Greentree wrote:The best books to try will be based in your own region, because certain edibles may be "in season" at a very different time (if at all) in different climates. Where are you located?

We're in the upper part of South Carolina. Zone 7B. Last spring frost is usually early April and first frost is usually early November.

I am going to go left field on you and suggest instead of a book of recipes, resources to help you predict/expect what's in season by month.
These seem relatively easy to use
https://certifiedsc.com/where-to-buy-local/whats-in-season/?month=september&category=produce&search=
https://agriculture.sc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/harvestcalendar1108.pdf
From there you can start hunting for recipes that use specific ingredients
I'm sure you have your own favorite recipe sites and books, but one place I find myself coming back to with garden produce is https://www.allotment-garden.org/recipe/category/vegetable-recipes/ -- lots of people end up with too much french sorrel or too many zucchini/courgettes

While I do not have this book, I have heard a lot of good things about Harvest Eating by Chef Keith Snow.

https://www.harvesteating.com/the-harvest-eating-cookbook

I guess this depends on what you consider to be season. What I unfortunately feel like happens too much is that the foods I eat are not necessarily what is in season for my location. Pineapples are at their lowest price during January... they are flown or shipped in from some South American country. Lots of produce comes from California at weird times... Most channels of production have found that it is cheaper to grow most produce en masse far away and ship it than it is to grow it locally during its season.

My attempt at a solution has been to find small producers who don't charge an excessive premium. Farmers markets and roadside stands are often options. Although a couple of weeks ago pickup trucks with beds full of watermelon have started popping up on everyone corner around here. I thought to myself it seems a bit early for watermelons to ripe, no? Stopped and bought one and asked the fella if he grew them, and he said that they get shipped up from Florida and Mexico to sell... Seems like folks know people want to shop local and are attempting to disguise their produce as such. I have also noticed in the past couple years that grocery stores are really making sure you know if their produce is from the region.

I also recall walking through a farmers market once and seeing a guy selling russet potatoes. Intrigued, I took a look and saw he didn't bother to take the stickers off. He literally was buying them from the grocery store and raising the price a bit lol!

I'm still trying to find local sources for seasonal produce. My best move thus far has been to plant my own fruit plants spaced out so they produce throughout the year. That way I know I am at least getting mostly in-season fruits. Hoping to expand the garden to cover more of our vegetable needs as well.

I am still working on this myself and by no means am an expert. Here are some ideas that worked for me:

1. Try to make flexible "base" recipes such as a curry or stirfry with whatever vegetables you have or "wilted greens" - I use the same recipe for all of them (sochan, collards, kale, wood nettles, radish tops) - sauté in olive oil with a little garlic, don't overcook, add vinegar and salt towards the end.

2. Gorge on a particular food while in season and try to avoid it out of season. You get tired of the food and don't really crave it until it's in season again. I don't really eat out of season tomatoes anymore (aside from occasional canned ones). You can alter the recipes to do without.

3. Plan for the hungry gap. This period is tough. This is when I usually cut myself some slack and buy more things that in season in warmer places (i.e. citrus or avocados). I am now planting MORE things that I can harvest in early spring vs. planting a whole lot of stuff that ripens in August.

4. Things that grow together often go together when cooking (ramps and morels, for instance).

5. Don't forget to forage. This is particularly useful in the hungry gap of spring.

6. Preserve your harvest. Fermented food is always "in season"! (Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz is a good book). I also recommend the Everlasting Meal Cookbook by Tamar Adler. This book is more about leftovers, but it gave me other ideas on how to cook "without recipes". Foods that store well at room temperature (drying beans, certain types of squash, garlic, onions) are also in season pretty much the whole year because of how long they last. We also dry a lot of things. I hate canning so I don't do it, but again it's a great way to preserve food.

7. Make yourself a challenge to eat something from your garden every day (if you don't have a garden, it could be "eat something local"). It could be something as simple as some parsley.

8. Big part of eating seasonally (and also locally) is you get to look forward to things. Essentially, by "depriving" yourself of foods shipped from far away, you will start to look forward to things that are in season. For instance, I no longer eat mango, but I really look forward to when raspberries ripen. I would totally eat mango, of course, if I could grow it. The point is when we become accustomed to extreme variety at the grocery store, we may not value seasonality. On the other hand, once you start eating things in season, you start to realize many things at the grocery store don't taste good (those  awful tomatoes...).

Thank you all for the tips! Such great ideas and suggestions on how to eat seasonally. I keep coming back to ... 1. growing the produce we eat ourselves 2. or finding it at the farmers market or local farms. 3. preserving from both of those