Veg, Fruit and Foraged Foods in Season in May

What is seasonal food? 

If you grow your own vegetables the packet will tell you when you can expect to harvest the crop and this is when it is in season.  If you see vegetables for sale outside of this time then they are not in season and may well have been imported or grown under heat in a greenhouse.

Why eat seasonal food?

Food that is in season has many advantages over imported food or that grown under cover:

• It will have the best and freshest taste.
• It will have a higher nutritional value.
• It is good for the environment as it will have low food low miles and less energy will have been used than glass-grown plants to produce it.
• As a result it will be cheaper.
• Finally, as a consumer, you will get seasonal variety and the excitement of the first taste of a just in-season food is hard to beat.  A strawberry in winter may look appetising but it has minimal taste compared to a summer one.

What is is Season in May? 

(Please note I have based this list on UK and Northern France)

Veg

•  Everything that was on the April list plus:
• Peas
• Broad beans
• Spring onions
• Radishes
• Spinach

Herbs

• Loads of herbs are now is season so it is a good time to switch from dried ones to fresh ones in all your recipes. 

Fruit

• Rhubarb
• Early Gooseberries
• Early Strawberries

Gooseberries and strawberries may not be available locally until the end of the month so please do check where they were grown to avoid imported ones.

Foraging

• Wild garlic
• Samphire
• Watercress
• Nettles 
• Chickweed
• Dandelions 
• Sea kale

This is my recipe for Dandelion Jelly which has a lovely delicate flavour and is made from dandelion petals. 

Do you have any favourite recipes using these May ingredients?