On missing foods & why I love seasons
Posted by kathryn in Fruit
This week I’ve eaten my first peach and mango of the season. Stood over the sink, with sweet, luscious juices drizzling down my chin.
Two moments. Pure, meditative, pleasure.
And while I ate them I thought how wondrous the flavour of fruit could be.
I love seasons. Mangoes and lychees are my absolute favourite fruits, but I don’t want to eat them all year round. For me, that seems boring.
Instead I want to miss foods. I want to get to this time of year and be excited by what’s on offer.
I want to be so entranced by the first perfect peaches in my local shop, I’m willing to spend $2.00 on one small piece of fruit.
While there are health benefits to eating seasonally, for me it’s also about taste and enjoyment. By foods not being available all year round, I get moments like I’ve had this week. Biting into a peach, savouring the flavour. And thinking, yes, I remember, that’s what a peach tastes like.
What about you? What do you look for at this time of year?
Or do you want produce to be available all the time?
Photograph courtesy of benprk under the terms of a creative commons license.
01 November, 2007
Comments
yes! i know exactly what you mean. i’ve been raving on and on about asparagus lately, and how good it is to buy seasonally, because who wants to pay $3 for a bunch of Peruvian aspargus in July anyway??
Totally agree. Your peach experience made me sigh sadly though. It’s a fruit that doesn’t grow well in our (Scottish) climate and also one that doesn’t transport well. The last decent peach I tasted was several years ago in Spain.
Sigh.
LIndsey, I’ve also been very excited by the new season asparagus. It’s always one of the first signs of spring. Harris Farm Market have been doing specials of three bunches for $3. Delicious.
Wendy, no decent peaches for years – yikes. It’s a good reminder how much I take the fruit available here for granted.
If it’s not peaches, what are the fruits or vegetables you hang out for in Scotland?
yes i get my veg at HF too, they’re great because it’s easy to know what’s in season by the prices.
What a beautiful post Kathryn! I had the same experience this week but for me it was a white nectarine. I so agree with your “missing” fruit so that you can really savour them when in season. I paid $5 for ten of them, so I guess that wasn’t too bad.
I LOVE lychees! My special treat with lychees is to have a huge bowl of them (about 3kgs) on our Christmas table, along with mangoes and cherries. So much better than heaps of chocolates and lollies.
Lindsey, HF is great, but I do go a bit bargain crazy. I find a vegetable bargain hard to turn down. So we end up with more vegetables than will actually fit in our fridge. The greens in particular are tricky – particularly when you’ve bought 2 bunches of silverbeet and 3 bok choy because they’re on special. The first few days after shopping Richard and I have a high vegetable consumption quota – just to normalise the fridge.
Mariana – $5 for 10 white nectarines at this time of year is an uber-bargain. I’m green with envy. 3kg of lychees sounds like my idea of heaven!
Seasons really do make food special. You can give the produce of the season your undivided attention.
Kathryn, I the biggest thing I look forward to by season would be spring asparagus, summer cherries and fall/winter pomegranates.
I am a fan of mangoes as well, though interestingly enough, I never cared much for them (or avocados) until I moved away from my home where I had a mango and avocado tree growing out back! Funny how that works!
haha yes – the cheap greens are hard to resist. we tend to plan stirfries/things with lots of leafy greens for early on in the week, and then hard baked types of veggies later in the week.
During last October I picked up a basket of the most delicious Ontario peaches at a local grocery store cum farmer’s market here in Canada. I am looking forward to the same again in the next Autumn. I love reading articles on Limes & Lycopene! Nice catchy name! Keep up the good work.
Thanks for your comment and feedback Madrigal. Our peaches are just moving out of season. I’ve had some bad, flour-y ones in the last week. Although the berries are still cheap and beautiful.
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