Earlier in the week I wrote about produce which was out of season and a long way from home. Here's why I believe eating sesonally is better for you - better tasting, better for your health and better value

 

 

To be transported over a greater distance or sold out of season, fruit and vegetables have to be picked before they are mature. Harvested unripe and unready, the produce is then stored under specific conditions which arrest its development. During this time in storage most immature fruit and vegetables won't improve in flavour or sweetness; the substances that give fruit and vegetables their flavour and aroma are fragile and easily lost.

 

In contrast, in season fruit and vegetables tastes better. Picked close to home and eaten at their peak readyness, fruit and vegetables have had time to develop flavour, texture and sweetness. You're getting the produce at its best.

 

 

In long-distance transport and long-term storage it's not just flavour that is lost, the nutrients degrade as well. By the time something is picked, packed, transported to market, sold to a retailer, stored at their shop, sold to you and then stored at your house, an average of 8 - 10 days has passed. For less perishable produce like apples, grapes, pears and pumpkins, this harvest-to-plate time can expand out to months or even a year. During this journey water soluble nutrients like vitamins C and the B group, along with certain antioxidants, degrade and lose their potency.

Plus, eating seasonally ensures you eat a variety of foods which means you get as many different nutrients as possible. For example, we don’t need antioxidants in large quantities, however getting a wide range of these important substances is a good idea. Antioxidants come in many different forms and are found in a range of foods. One of the best ways of ensuring your diet includes the variety and quantity you need is to consume a variety of fruit and vegetables.

If you pick what's in season the shorter the time from harvest to your dinner, plus you're guaranteeing variety. Asparagus, potatoes, cauliflower and zucchini are not always going to be available. Sometimes you may have to choose eggplant, sweet potato, capsicum and snowpeas, because that's what is in season. By choosing in-season produce you're ensuring the vegetables and fruit you consume will change over the year. What you're eating now will differ from what you consume in two months time and your diet will be more varied.

 

Asparagus from Mexico, garlic from China, grapes and cherries from the US, all have been available in my local supermarket over the last twelve months. Pears and apples remain in-store all year round, well past their winter prime. Along with citrus and melons it seems some produce never goes out-of-season.

 

Despite this seemingly unchanging supply, fruit and vegetables do actually have seasons. They only grow at certain times of the year, and under certain conditions. Some vegetables love the winter, they thrive in the cold weather and need a bit of frost to sweeten their leaves. While others seek out warmth; the sun's full rays to ripen, bring on colour and flavour.

For this constant, unchanging range of produce to be always available there are going to be times during the year when it hasn't come from your local area, probably not even grown in your country. At some point during the year the produce is either from overseas; or it's been picked immature and stored for many months; or it's been grown in a greenhouse, under artificially enhanced conditions. If you're a consumer seeking the best value, taste and nutritional benefit, these three growing and storing conditions are a problem. Moreover if you're also concerned about the environmental impact of what you eat, then out of season produce is something to avoid.

For me there is nothing better than eating fresh, local and in season produce. While mangoes and lychees are my absolute favourite fruits, I don't want to eat them all year round. How boring. Instead by choosing what's in season my eating naturally changes over the year. Much more interesting.

Great piece from Dr Khandee Ahnaimugan about we ight loss and exercise on the Huffington Post.

 

Gorgeous looking Persian Eggplant recipe on the Fig and Quince blog - "grilled eggplant, garlic, tomato and egg dish which melts in your mouth, as you scoop it in with fresh Persian bread". Sounds good to me.

 

Rachel Eats has cooked a beautiful tomato dish to go with pasta which "involves the saving grace of many-a-mediocre tomato: a flesh shriveling, flavour intensifying roast". Tomatoes are paired with anchovies, garlic and topped with breadcrumbs and rosemary.

 

I love that Wendy from A Wee Bit of Cooking gives two different dressing options for her Shredd ed Beetroot and Carrot Salad. You can choose between the kick of mustard or the zing of ginger.

 

On Twitter Elaine directed me to this practical, clever and idea-packed article on how to plant a personal garden in even the smallest of urban spaces.

 

 

For many, a trip to the movies is not complete without a bucket of popcorn. However researchers from the University of Southern California have used movie-goers and popcorn to highlight the way eating is affected by our habits and location.
 
The researchers gave a group of movie goers a bucket of popcorn as they entered the cinema. However not all the popcorn was the same. Half the group were given freshly popped popcorn, while the others were given stale popcorn which was one week old.
 
The people who didn't usually have popcorn at the cinema ate less of the stale popcorn than the fresh because it didn't taste very good – what you'd expect. However for those moviegoers who typically ate popcorn when they went to the cinema, it made no difference if the popcorn was stale or fresh, they ate the same amount.
 
As researcher David Neal says "When we’ve repeatedly eaten a particular food in a particular environment, our brain comes to associate the food with that environment and make us keep eating as long as those environmental cues are present.”
 
The study shows some interesting things about the way we eat, why people over-eat and the associations which build up in our brains between what we're eating and what we're doing. Associations which may be part of the reason many people over-eat, even when they're not hungry and not enjoying the food.

As co-author Wendy Wood says "People believe their eating behavior is largely activated by how food tastes. Nobody likes cold, spongy, week-old popcorn. But once we've formed an eating habit, we no longer care whether the food tastes good. We'll eat exactly the same amount, whether it's fresh or stale.”