Seasonal Calendar: What Fruits And Vegetables To Eat Each Month

A calendar to eat seasonal all year

Are you one of those who complain that tomatoes don’t taste like they used to, but you want them in your salad every day, summer or winter? Or have you been invited to a dinner in the spring and have been surprised by how good the strawberries your host has grown in their pots taste?

We have become so used to being able to buy almost any fruit or vegetable throughout the year that we are increasingly less clear when each food is in season. Worse still: we are not even aware of everything we lose along the way.

However, fruits and vegetables picked in season taste better and are more nutritious than those that are forced to grow in a greenhouse or held for months in a chamber.

Why it is better to eat fruits and vegetables in season

The benefits of eating seasonal foods are many. If not, think first about what seasonal foods are: they are what nature puts at the service of life at each specific moment of the year so that everything around them follows its cycle in the best possible way.

Or in other words, fruits and vegetables that have grown at a time when nature is most favorable to them, from the time of sowing to the time of harvest.

Thus, no one can deny that the tomato ripens more comfortably under the summer sun. But in the meantime, the summer heat is very good for the sweet potato to gain weight underground and be ready in autumn, before it rains too much and the temperatures drop a lot.

That, lower temperatures, is just what the orange likes, which fills with juice in the rains and grows provided with a good coat from the cold. Unlike the strawberry, which will prefer to wait for spring so that the first rays of the sun bring out its colors.

By following the calendar, you can therefore enjoy fresh vegetables at their optimum moment. In addition, you will save in the shopping cart and you will be betting on a more ecological option than if you buy out of season.

How to use seasonal calendars

In our calendars you will find two types of information. On the one hand, in the calendar of the whole year you will be able to check when the fresh fruits and vegetables that arrive at the markets are in season.

On the other hand, in the monthly calendars you will be able to see which are some of the seasonal fruits and vegetables of each month.

1. The seasonal calendars of each month

In each of these calendars we highlight twelve fruits or vegetables per month. Most of them are the novelties that nature brings at that time of year, but they can also be fruits and vegetables of wide season that are of special interest that month.

Under each calendar, we include a more complete list of everything that is in season, distinguishing between what is in good season and in good season.

The optimal season corresponds to the maximum availability in the markets.

By good season we understand those months in which, either because it is early or the season has begun to end in some areas, fruits and vegetables are found, but not in such a general way. That does not mean that in some areas these fruits and vegetables cannot be at their best.

2. The seasonal calendar for the whole year

In the downloadable calendar for the whole year, you will find all the above information summarized and in a more visual way.

The optimal ripening months for each fruit and vegetable are indicated by marking them in a more intense tone.

The rest of the good months to consume them, which usually coincide with the months of early or late harvest, appear in a lighter tone.

You will see that we have included some tropical fruits. Many are found throughout the year, or much of the year, but for this they are imported from other countries, which is not very ecological. Some, however, have adapted well to some areas of Spain. The months in which fruits are available from these areas are indicated as the optimum season.

Become familiar with the cycles of nature

Remember that the months are temporary classifications that humans have invented, that the limits are relative and that the weather can advance or delay the beginning or end of the season of a food. Precisely due to climate differences, seasonality can also vary from one area to another.

One of the best ways to become familiar with the seasonality of food is to grow it yourself, whether it be on a small plot, a terrace, a balcony, or a community garden. That way you can also make sure to grow them organically.

The seasons of the year can also help you position yourself and have a clearer idea of ​​the transition from one food to another. There are foods that are available all year round naturally, such as garlic, onion or bananas, but others are clearly more typical of the cold or hot months.

Interestingly, in the transitional seasons between hot and cold, spring and fall, we find some of the most short-lived seasonal fruits and vegetables. They are short-season fruits and vegetables that do not tolerate extremes well and that are often difficult to find out of season.

In general, among winter fruits and vegetables, citrus fruits, roots and tubers, cabbages, squash, bitter leaves, some types of lettuce and stew vegetables predominate.

Among the spring fruits and vegetables we find several wild stone fruits, pods and leaves. Of ephemeral season we find, for example, medlars or apricots.

As the temperature rises, the fruits and vegetables of summer reach their splendor : lettuce, berries, melons or the juicy salad vegetables. They also pluck the pears and towards the end, the apples.

Among the autumn fruits and vegetables we already find many more apples, pears, the first citrus fruits and a large number of the vegetables that we will later find in winter: roots, tubers, pumpkins, cabbages …

In the section of the most ephemeral seasonal fruits, the autumnal examples are persimmon, chestnut, custard apple or pomegranate.

Do not miss it…

If you are interested in this topic, you will surely like the course to organize your healthy menu How to plan your weekly menu, by María del Mar Jiménez, an expert in natural and ecological health.