Choosing to cook with seasonal fruit and vegetables can be majorly beneficial for our environment. This is because they typically utilize less energy for artificial lighting, heating, and refrigeration. With seasonal products, you can reduce storage losses, helping to generate less greenhouse gas emissions – especially when compared to products that aren’t in season.
So, read on to discover which fruits and vegetables are in season this winter. Deciding to buy these products from your local markets can go a long way in helping our planet thrive!
Pumpkin
From all the Halloween festivities, this one is probably obvious. Pumpkins are certainly in season during the colder periods of the year, so it might be time to experiment with some pumpkin recipes this winter. You could use your leftover Halloween jack o’lanterns to incorporate them into a range of beverages and meals, including pumpkin smoothies, pumpkin pie, pumpkin chili, and pumpkin curry, just to name a few! Pumpkin can act as a great meat replacement in hearty meals, enabling you to reduce your meat consumption and get some healthy nutrients.
Potatoes
While you may consume potatoes in every season of the year, they are technically in season in winter. It’s time to roast up some potatoes for your Thanksgiving and Christmas meals with the addition of garlic and rosemary for extra flavoring. There are many great tips online to help you produce irresistibly crispy roast potatoes, although you can also shake things up a bit with mashed, boiled, or fried types.
Broccoli
Broccoli may seem readily available, but this vegetable does grow most efficiently in cooler temperatures. This food goes down a treat in soups, pasta bakes, and of course, classic roast dinners.
Butternut Squash
Like pumpkins, butternut squash can be a great meat alternative in a range of comforting home-cooked meals. Winter squashes can actually last for a few months at room temperature, but you can prevent any mold from growing by oil buffing it or cooking and freezing it to defrost at a later date.
Beets
Beetroots can stand the test of time in cold weather and are harvested during the winter period. You can treat beets similar to carrots in terms of roasting, and they can also go down well in sandwiches and salads.
Key Takeaways
- Shopping habits are critical when it comes to helping protect our environment. By buying fruits and vegetables that are in season, you can support local businesses and encourage the production of goods that require less energy to grow.
- Secondly, businesses may be able to benefit from selling fruit and vegetables which are in season. As consumers start to become more eco-conscious, they will be looking for seasonal goods. Thus, businesses that provide these products may be able to profit more than those which don’t.
- Finally, every individual shopper has the ability to change our world for better or worse. By doing some research and supporting what’s in season this winter, you can reduce the demand for resources that take more energy to produce and focus on those that grow naturally instead.
