Eat seasonal, Choose local, Shop sustainable

There’s nothing like fresh fruit and vegetables at their seasonal best. There’s something so good about eating food when it’s just been picked. It tastes better, it’s better value and it’s a better deal for the planet.

Each fruit or vegetable has a prime time when it’s at its seasonal best. Eating seasonably helps you enjoy extra flavour, extra crunch, extra juiciness - all super-fresh and great value. Celebrate eating the right things at the right time: a crisp salad when it’s hot and sunny, a wholesome stew when it’s cold; strawberries in June, Brussel sprouts in December.

By purchasing local foods in-season, you eliminate the environmental damage caused by shipping foods thousands of miles, your food £ goes directly to the farmer, and your family will be able to enjoy the health benefits of eating fresh, unprocessed fruits and vegetables. Buying seasonal produce also provides an exciting opportunity to try new foods and to experiment with seasonal recipes. And it simply tastes better!

An important part of buying local is making an effort to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables when they are in season in your area. Although today’s global marketplace allows us to buy foods grown virtually anywhere in the world all year round, these options are not the most sustainable. Even if you don’t want to change any of your eating habits, you can at least make sure to buy local produce when it’s available, rather than purchase the same type of food from 3000 miles away!

To find out what’s at its freshest each month and enjoy the best the season has to offer visit your local fruit and vegetable shop and find out what’s currently at it’s seasonal best
• The Sussex Produce Company in Steyning’s High Street sells a wide range of locally grown, seasonal produce, and are a great source of advice on the best fruit and vegetables in season.
• The Steyning farmer’s market on the first Saturday of each month has stalls selling fresh local seasonal produce.
• Farm shops and pick-your-own sites are also a brilliant way of choosing fresh, local, seasonal fruit and vegetables.

Why not devote a small part of your garden to grow your own fruit and vegetables? Tomatoes, peppers, salad leaves, peas, beans, and rhubarb plants take up very little room, but eating your own home grown food can be very satisfying!

Take a look at the brilliant easy to use calendar on the Eat Seasonably website which shows the fruit and vegetables in season each month: www.eatseasonably.co.uk. You can even print out the calendar and display it in your kitchen to remind you what to buy when.

Here’s some ideas of what’s best to buy, cook, eat and enjoy in May:

May’s best fruit – Ridiculous rhubarb

Long, thin and proudly pink, rhubarb is a great British favourite, versatile enough to both form classic ‘comfort food’ puddings and work extremely well with savoury dishes too.

Some quick and tasty tips:
• Try making a rhubarb crumble with a few balls of chopped up stem ginger. The flavours work brilliantly together.
• Poach rhubarb in orange juice and zest, cinnamon and a sprinkling of sugar and serve in a magnificent Pavlova.
• Mix poached rhubarb with double cream and spread inside a Victoria sponge.

May’s best vegetable - Amazing asparagus.
This sweet, sophisticated super food is in season in Britain for just a few short weeks. So grab those melt-in-the-mouth spears while you can and feast! Asparagus is one luxury you can afford.

Some quick and tasty tips:
•Try using perfectly cooked spears to dunk into soft boiled eggs.
• Try asparagus griddled and served with a drizzle of your best extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice and a grating of Parmesan.

So, dig in and celebrate what’s fresh in fruit and veg!

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