Seasonal calendar: what fruits and vegetables to eat each month

A calendar to eat seasonal all year

Are you one of those who complain that tomatoes don’t taste like they used to, but you want them in your salad every day, summer or winter? Or have you been invited to a spring dinner party and been amazed at how good the strawberries your host has grown in their pots taste?

We have gotten so used to being able to buy almost any fruit or vegetable throughout the year that we are less and less sure when is each food in season. Worse still: we are not even aware of everything we lose along the way.

However, fruits and vegetables picked in season they taste better and are more nutritious than those that are forced to grow in a greenhouse or endure for months in a chamber.

Why it is better to eat fruits and vegetables that are in season

The benefits of eating seasonal foods are many. If not, think about what are seasonal foods: they are what nature puts at the service of life at each specific moment of the year so that everything around them continues its cycle in the best possible way.

Or in other words, fruits and vegetables that they have grown at the time when nature is most favorable to themfrom the time of sowing to the time of harvest.

Thus, no one can deny that the tomato ripens more comfortably under the summer sun. But it is that, meanwhile, the summer heat is very good for the sweet potato to fatten underground and be ready in autumnbefore it rains too much and the temperatures drop a lot.

That, that the temperatures drop, is just what the orange likes, which fills with juice with the rains and grows provided with a good coat for the cold. Contrary to the strawberry, which will prefer to wait for spring so that the first rays of sun take out the colors

By following the seasonal calendar you will therefore be able to enjoy the fresh vegetables at their optimum moment. In addition, you will save in the shopping cart and you will be betting on a more ecological option than if you buy out of season.

How to use seasonal calendars

In our seasonal calendars you will find two types of information. On the one hand, in the all year calendar You will be able to check when the fresh fruits and vegetables that arrive at the markets are in season.

On the other hand, in the monthly seasonal calendars You will be able to see what are some of the seasonal fruits and vegetables of each month.

1. The seasonal calendars of each month

In each of these calendars we highlight twelve fruits or vegetables per month. Most are the novelties that nature brings at that time of the year, but they can also be fruits and vegetables in a wide season that are of special interest that month.

Under each calendar, we include a more complete list of everything that is in season, distinguishing between what is in optimum season and in good season.

The optimum season corresponds to that of maximum availability in the markets.

By good season we mean those months in which, either because it is early or the season has begun to end in some areas, fruits and vegetables are found, but not so widely. That’s not to say that, in some areas, those fruits and vegetables can’t be at their best.

2. The seasonal calendar for the whole year

In it downloadable calendar throughout the year, you will find all the previous information summarized and in a more visual way.

The optimum ripening months for each fruit and vegetable they are indicated by marking them in a more intense tone.

The rest of the good months to consume them, which usually coincide with the months of early or late harvestappear in a lighter shade.

You will see that we have included some tropical fruits. Many are found all year, or most of the year, but for this they are imported from other countries, which is not very ecological. Some, however, have adapted well to some areas of Spain. The months in which fruits from those areas are available are indicated as the optimal season.

Get familiar with the cycles of nature

Remember that the months are temporary classifications that we humans have invented, that the limits are relative and that the weather can advance or delay the beginning or end of a food season. precisely because of weather differencesseasonality can also vary from one area to another.

One of the best ways to become familiar with the food seasonality is by cultivating them yourself, be it on a small piece of land, a terrace, a balcony or a community garden. That way you can also make sure to grow them organically.

The seasons They can also help you situate yourself and have a clearer idea of ​​the transition from one food to another. There are foods that are naturally available all year round, such as garlic, onion or bananas, but others are clearly more typical of the hot or cold months.

Curiously, in the transition seasons between hot and cold, spring and autumn, we find some of the more ephemeral seasonal fruits and vegetables. They are short-season fruits and vegetables that do not tolerate extremes well and are often hard to find out of season.

In general, between winter fruits and vegetables citrus fruits, roots and tubers, cabbages, pumpkins, bitter leaves, some types of lettuce and stew vegetables predominate.

Between the spring fruits and vegetables we found various stone fruits, pods and wild leaves. Of ephemeral season we find, for example, loquats or apricots.

As the temperature rises, they reach their splendor summer fruits and vegetables: lettuce, berries, melons or the juicy salad greens. They also pluck the pears and towards the end, the apples.

Between the autumn fruits and vegetables We already find many more apples, pears, the first citrus fruits and a large number of the vegetables that we will later find in winter: roots, tubers, pumpkins, cabbages…

In the section of the most ephemeral seasonal fruits, the persimmon, the chestnut, the cherimoya or the pomegranate are clear autumnal examples.

Do not miss it…

If you are interested in this topic, I’m sure you’ll like the course to organize your healthy menu How to plan your weekly menuby María del Mar Jiménez, an expert in natural and ecological health.