Blog: Sally Abé
The Changing of the Seasons - By Chef Consultant Sally Abé
Photo credit: Food Story Media Ltd
Spring is a special time of year in any chef’s calendar as the first shoots of green start to appear and there is finally a break from woody root vegetables and hearty soups. Summer’s bounty of berries and the finest English peas and greens are always welcome but the shift from Summer to the harvest season of Autumn is when the UK really starts to shine with its produce.
The English hedgerow is a wonderful example of what the wild has to offer as the leaves start to turn to burnt orange and fall from the trees. Look closely and you will see an abundance of damson, sloe, rose hip, and if you are really lucky or very determined, the unusual medlar. All brimming on the tree ready to be transformed into glistening jams and jellies to last through the colder months and provide us with bursts of sweet fruity flavour when little else is on offer.
There are hundreds of varieties of apples and pears in this country all coming into their own in the autumn months. To find them you will need to look a bit further afield than the average supermarket, so why not try taking a trip to Brogdale Farm in Faversham? At this time of year with its 3,000 heritage varieties of fruit you can spend a day wandering around the orchards and become reacquainted with the sharp but sweet flavour of fruit as it used to taste before mass production and the Golden Delicious came along.
It is September when green fingered gardeners really start to reap the rewards of their allotment or vegetable patch, with cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, kale and cauliflower flourishing, and everyone must know someone wanting another courgette recipe due to an unexpected glut. These brassicas when cooked with a light touch and paired with a piquant sauce such as elderberry, make a handsome side for a rich flavoured game bird such as pheasant or partridge whose season coincides with the start of the cooler weather.
Autumn is really a season to savour, preserve, pickle and ferment before the temperature drops, the clocks go back, and we are back to those winter root vegetables.
