seasonal foods
Why Is Seasonal Food The Way To Go?
Most people always hear about why we should be thinking about seasonal foods when the time comes to plan a menu for family or friends.
Whenever it comes to food, the term "seasonal" refers to those times of year when the item is at its flavor or availability peak.
At this time, the item will be at its freshest and cheapest. Of course this usually also coincides with the time for the best flavor, although there are some food items that can benefit from aging after the time of harvest before eating.
When it comes to the best opportunities for really enjoying your fresh food there are some messages that you should keep in mind:
- Eat local produce whenever you can
- Eat food that's in season, and
- Eat organic produce if it is available and of high quality.
There are several reasons why you should be considering seasonal produce:
- When the food item you ane considering is in season, there will be much more of it in the shops, and this will generally result in lower prices.
- The flavor of the food that is grown locally, rather than in hot houses or transported over long distances is almost always better. Food destined for long distance transport needs to be picked early and cooled using refrigeration to ensure that it doesn't rot en route to the customer. Such food rarely develops its full flavor.
- Not all crops are harvested in the summer season. There is a wide range of products that appear on the market at different times of the year.
- Another disadvantage of harvesting the produce too early is that the nutrients have not fully developed. This means that food that is available out of season is not only less flavorsome, but in many cases also less nutritious.
- While you mightn't always have the opportunity to buy seasonal produce that has been grown locally, then you may wish to look for opportunities to purchase produce that may be in season somewhere else – ideally not too far away in order to reduce both the overall shipping time and the resultant reduction in quality.
In summary, what you should do is to find out what produce is in season today and go for it. You’re reward will be to bring home a higher quality of produce, which will be chock full of nutrition, and all at a lower cost.
Remember that the taste buds of you and your guests will really appreciate your thoughtfulness!