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Cytobit | 5 years ago

Does anybody have a good suggestion for figuring out which produce is seasonal? Do you just buy stuff grown in/around your home country? It seems like I can usually buy any vegetable I want, regardless of the time of year, so I have no sense of when anything is in season.

discuss

ip26|5 years ago

A big one is simply price. Produce tends to be cheapest, often dramatically so, while it is in season.

elorant|5 years ago

I live in Greece and only buy seasonal produce because everything out of its season is choke full of pesticides, plus they don't taste the same. For example tomatoes in September are sour, while if you buy them during February they're sweeter. You can also tell by their shape, produce grown in a greenhouse looks in a far better shape than the one grown in the field, because the latter is exposed to weather condition and it takes a beat on its surface/appearance. As a general rule of thumb, the more uniform a vegetable/fruit appears the less tasty it is.

Other than that, there are plenty of guides on the web regarding what to buy when. Just make a search for "seasonal vegetables and fruits" and you'll find a lot of infographics.

bttrfl|5 years ago

The easiest way is to avoid supermarkets.

I have a small market nearby where I buy, once a week, directly from small local farmers. You can learn the calendar there quickly.

jgust|5 years ago

Another bonus is that I bet you can ask the people working the market and they'd be more than happy to explain what is in season and when!

joshspankit|5 years ago

At least in north america, the supermarkets have to label where the food is from. You’ll begin to notice the difference between seasonal NZ and seasonal California, for instance.

I do suspect that there are sites and apps, but don’t know of any off-hand.

chrisandchips|5 years ago

You can get a chart and hang it up in your kitchen. Moving to europe really opened my eyes up to following the seasons. The vegetables taste better, and you feel better knowing they didnt have to be imported from extremely far away

8fGTBjZxBcHq|5 years ago

I live in the US and had some family visit from france a few years ago. They came back from the supermarket absolutely giddy about buying a melon and these huge beautiful strawberries in january.

Then they ate some and were completely let down at how bland they were and I was just like, yeah, you can but that's why I don't.

crazcarl|5 years ago

Someone here on HN made this some time ago, but it still emails me weekly: https://harvestsignal.com/

captainredbeard|5 years ago

If you search for "$REGION + in season food" you will likely find listings. Most states have local food departments that focus on creating marketing material and such.

muststopmyths|5 years ago

For the really lazy like me, Whole Foods has a wheel in their produce department which shows what's in season. Maybe something similar exists in your local grocery store ?

pvaldes|5 years ago

Is a too generic question that could fill a book. Most people just ask to somebody. Libraries and grandmas can definitely save the day in this sense.