Fall Produce Guide
You know that fall is around the corner when you have to wear a sweatshirt in the morning and start thinking about pumpkin spice lattes to help you keep warm. As we head into the fall season, we can also start to bring fall produce to our plates. Focusing on these foods through the colder months can help diversify you plate and contribute to global health.
What is eating seasonally?
Eating seasonally means that you focus on eating fruits and vegetables that are in season, meaning produce that can be grown locally in your surrounding environment. This helps keep you out of a food rut by switching up your ingredients, benefits the environment, and can even benefit your health.
What is in season in the Fall?
There are a variety of foods that are in-season in the fall, some of which overlap with late-summer foods as the weather can be mild towards the beginning of the season. Foods that are in season include apples, root vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, hearty greens like collard greens, cranberries, bulbs like garlic and onions, ginger, grapes, green beans, herbs, citrus fruit, lettuce, mushrooms, pears, peas, pumpkin, radishes, raspberries, and winter squash.
Fall Favorites
Some top fall favorite foods include pumpkin, beets, sweet potato, spaghetti squash, kale, pears, parsnips, celery root, brussels sprouts, and cranberries. These foods often pop up during fall holidays like Thanksgiving, but they can be incorporated into your plate all Autumn. Squash and sweet potatoes are great in curries, kale, beets, and pears make a great salad, parsnips, celery root, and brussels sprouts can be roasted as a side, and cranberries are good for more than just sauce, try them in muffins.
What does eating locally mean?
Local foods are foods that are produced and sold within a certain geographic area. The term is relevant here in terms of produce being grown and distributed in one geographical area, but it can also refer to processed foods like cookies and pickles.
Why eat local?
Local produce retains more nutrients. Nutrients begin to decrease in a fruit or vegetable from the moment it is picked or cut. If the food does not have to travel as long to get to you because it is produced geographically closer to you, then it will have more nutrients at the time you purchase it fresh compared to fresh produce that has traveled.
Local farmers growing for their community may be less likely to use pesticides. Many smaller farms operate using organic practices, but the certification is too expensive. Even if they do not eliminate use of pesticides, they are less likely to use them as compared to industrial farms. If you are not worried about the use of pesticides for your health, it can still be important for the health of the planet. Pesticides can harm populations of pollinators and run off from farms using pesticides can end up in bodies of water.
Eating local decreases carbon emissions. If your food travels less miles, then there is less gas used to get your food to you.
You are supporting local businesses and preserving green space. Farmers are less likely to sell their land to developers if they have a booming business. Supporting local businesses help with the economy and helps to build a more tight-knit community which supports one another.
How to eat local?
Though the most obvious way to consume more local produce is through frequenting your local farmers market, there are other options. Joining a community garden can help you contribute to local produce production and reap the benefits of seasonal produce. You can join a CSA, which stands for community-supported agriculture. You pay ahead before the growing season to buy your produce direct from a farmer. You go to pick up your box of produce that was farmed that week, some even allow you to receive a delivery of the box straight to your door. One easy way to eat local is to look out for tags at your grocery store that tell you which food is local or locally grown. Many grocery stores will have a local produce area or tags that state which produce is grown in your area.
Fall starts September 22 and ends on December 21. Let’s take a look at what fall produce is available month to month.
September: The beginning of Fall is still mild, with some summer weather, so you will still get the tail end of summer produce! Though you will start to see classic fall foods such as apples and pumpkin, there will still be an abundance of summer produce. Here is an overview of what is in season in September:
Apples
Blackberries
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Corn
Cucumber
Eggplant
Garlic
Grapes
Green Beans
Kale
Melon
Pears
Peppers
Potatoes
Pumpkin
Radishes
Raspberries
Squash
Tomatoes
Zucchini
October: As the weather starts to cool, the bright tomatoes of summer fade away and an abundance of classic fall produce comes into season. Here is what you will see:
Apples
Beets
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Collard greens
Cucumber
Eggplant
Grapes
Kale
Melon
Mushrooms
Pears
Peppers
Pumpkin
Spinach
Sweet Potato
November: By November, the first frost of the season has probably hit, so delicate vegetables and fruits will not survive the cold. No more fresh cucumbers or melons, but keep an eye out for these heartier produce picks:
Apples
Beets
Brussels sprouts
Carrots
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Clementines
Cranberries
Dates
Eggplant
Kiwi
Parsnips
Pears
Persimmons
Pomegranates
Pumpkin
Sweet potato
Turnips
Winter squash
December: Even though many think of December as the beginning of the winter, as it is the month of festive holidays, winter does not truly start until late in the month. This year on December 21. Keep an eye out for these fruits and vegetables to keep you warm as the nights get longer:
Apples
Avocado
Beets
Bok choy
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Carrots
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Celery
Citrus
Cranberries
Fennel
Kiwi
Onions
Pears
Persimmons
Pomegranates
Sweet potato
Turnips
Wild mushrooms
Winter squash
Incorporate these fall fruits and vegetables on your plate.
Breakfast. Play up pumpkin spice season and use pureed pumpkin, winter squash, or sweet potatoes to make pumpkin spice oatmeal or a pumpkin spice smoothie. Use potatoes, beets, and hearty greens like kale, cabbage, or collard greens to make a breakfast hash to serve with fried or poached eggs. Make cranberry-orange muffins for an easy grab-and go breakfast.
Lunch. For an easy packable lunch make a salad and top it with an abundance of fall produce, including fruits. Apples, dried cranberries, pears, and pomegranates all make a delicious addition to your normal salad. You can also can vegetables such as roasted beets, fennel, and winter squash.
Dinner. Fall soups such as potato leek soup, broccoli cheddar, and pumpkin soup or chili are obvious, but there are other ways to incorporate fall produce into your daily dinner routine. If you enjoy roasted vegetables with your dinner, think about roasting up brussels sprouts, or a mix of parsnips, celery root, and carrots to have as a side. Make a mushroom or pumpkin risotto.
Dessert. Make pumpkin bread, apple snack cakes, or sweet potato cheesecake. You can make brownies, even use a brownie mix, and top them with pomegranate seeds. For a lower effort dessert, roasted apples and pears make a great topping for yogurt, especially if you add caramel sauce and pecans or walnuts on top.
Snacks. There are so many fall fruits that you can add into your snack routine. If you like to have a snack of berries paired with a protein such as cheese or a hardboiled egg, think about switching in a fall fruit such as apples, clementines, oranges, or dates. When you are cooking with winter squash or pumpkins, save the seeds, rinse them off, and roast them with a little salt for a delicious fiber-rich snack. Top yogurt with pomegranate seeds or another fall fruit.
Eating seasonally does not have to be hard and it should be fun. Use this time of the year to explore new produce options, diversify your diet, and try new recipes!
References
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