Cooking with the Seasons

What many do not realize is that all of the seasons have their particular bounties. Each season may spark the imagination with its particular colours, sights, sounds, smells. The seasons may offer different feelings, from the exhilarating warmth of the early spring to the embracing comfort of an icy winter day. Cooking with the seasons can bring immense joy and the discovery of new flavours.

People used to have their cooking follow the seasons not by choice, but by necessity. Nowadays, we can have fruits and vegetables out of season quite easily. Yet the cost is often acute. Produce purchased out of season may have travelled a long way, with a great waste of fossil fuels, and often contains fewer nutrients. Moreover, fruits and vegetables consumed out of season tend to have an inferior taste. Tomatoes in January just never taste very good.

The joy of following the seasons in cooking is the discovery of new flavours. Many of us get used to cooking with the same ingredients time and time again. Paying attention to the bounties of the seasons means learning more about the food you consume and learning to experiment with different ingredients. The seasons all have their own particular treats to offer, and too many of these go ignored because people habitually consume the same foods no matter what time of year it is. Cooking with the seasons can also be a way to commune with the earth which nurtures us, a discovery course on the wonders of nature.