What is really in season?
So many vegetables don’t really have a season any more
Seasonality has become something of a challenge. Not only do we live in a changing seasonal environment - did we have a winter? - technology and a whole host of economic influences have altered what seasonality means.
Blood oranges started appearing in January, but any we tasted did not have that rich, warm rounded taste we certainly associate with that glorious fruit. I asked an Italian friend in early February when she thought the season for blood oranges started. Without hesitation she said at the end of winter, which for her was fast approaching. And she was right, gone were the acidic specimens, now we had a blast of sunshine on the tongue and so we ordered away.
Lets face it, most of us would be waiting until mid summer to enjoy things like peas and broad beans, but that is not how it all works. The slightest hint of sunshine and we want it all now. Nature may have to respond to global warming, but it has its own way of doing things. And so we move from rhubarb to strawberries (the crossover enabling a brief combination of both), wild garlic gives way to asparagus and quickly peas and broad beans even if they are coming from mainland Europe. At least they are not from another hemisphere.
We will go on waiting for tomatoes, a real sign that high summer is here. They have to be sweet and giving, with lots of umami. And therein lies the challenge as tomatoes no longer really seem to have a season. Why wait at all? Something odd really and it goes like this.
When I was younger my summer holidays were spent in Co Sligo on the west coast of Ireland. My grandmother lived on a 40-acre farm (her photo is on the wall in the bathroom). She had hens, two cows and occasionally pigs. A vegetable garden with rows of beans and peas. She made her own butter (rolled into balls for the table natch) and cream. We ate like kings and queens, mostly from the garden and so I have this weird guiding hand from the past that sort of keeps me on the straight and narrow. As for the tomatoes, they were in her greenhouse and when they were ready, invariably late July, you were hit with a bolt of texture and flavour, aroma and colour.
That was all over 40 years ago, when summer days were endless sunshine (of course not). But I adhere to something innately informed by my past. How does this work in practice. Yes you have to know a bit about when things should happen seasonally. In practice, the really good eating is a few weeks after the arrival in any supermarket. And then far better to use your local farmer’s market or speciality vegetable shop.
Asparagus is not far away, but those early stems are rarely very rewarding. You need - or rather I need - to show a little patience and respect. And what do I get for all of this? Taste above all else but also a sense of order, a real celebration of what is good. And every year I end up missing out on things as everything happens too quickly. I always seem to run out of time as the next ingredient pushes forward for attention. But that is more than ok as I love the change.
Hugo