Vegetables in Season Melbourne – 3 Good Reasons to Eat in Season
Eating seasonally and locally is as important for your body as it is for the planet, eating a cooling fruit like watermelon whilst you are cold in winter, makes no sense, and transporting it from the other end of the country makes even less sense.
Above all eating seasonally is…..
Easy on the Wallet
When produce is in season locally, the relative abundance of the crop usually makes it less expensive – the basic law of supply and demand. Shoppers can make a serious dent in their weekly grocery bills by taking a little more care when they’re buying.The key is to think seasonally and to shop around, two experts say. – The Herald Sun
Vegetables in Season Melbourne Tastes better
Which can be more important than cost. It’s hard to be enthusiastic about eating five servings a day of flavourless fruits and vegetables and it’s even harder to get your children to be enthusiastic about it.
When food is not in season locally, it’s either grown in a hothouse or shipped in from other parts of the world, and both affect the taste. Foods that are chilled and shipped lose flavour at every step of the way – chilling cuts their flavour, transport cuts their flavour, being held in warehouses cuts their flavour.
Fresh, locally harvested foods have their full, whole flavors intact, which they release to us when we eat them.
Less tampering
If you harvest something early so that it can endure a long distance shipping experience, it’s not going to have the full complement of nutrients it might have had.
In addition, transporting produce sometimes requires irradiation (zapping the produce with a burst of radiation to kill germs) and preservatives (such as wax) to protect the produce which is subsequently refrigerated during the trip.
So eating local is really the safer option!
Variety All Year Long
Many people are surprised to find that a wide variety of crops are harvested in their local area in particular seasons.
It may not be possible to eat local 100% of the time but do the best you can.
And if it is organic…….even better!
Here is a guide to what’s available in Winter (June-August).
Fruit – Apple, avocado, cumquat, custard apple, feijoa, grapefruit, kiwi fruit, lemon, lime, mandarin, nashi, orange, pear, persimmon, pineapple, quince, rhubarb, tamarillo, tangelo
Vegetables – Asian greens, avocado, beetroot, broccoli, broccolini, broad beans, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, chokos, fennel, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, leek, lettuce, mushrooms, okra, olives, onion, spring onion, parsnip, peas, snow peas, potato, pumpkin, radish, silverbeet, spinach, swede, sweet potato, turnip
Herbs – Ginger, coriander, dill, garlic, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary
Farmers and Produce Markets
Here are just a few around my area but there are so many more.
Check out Lord Google for more around your area!
Mornington Main Street Market – every Wednesday 8am-3pm
Mornington Farmer’s Market – 2nd Sat of month 8.30am- 1pm, Mornington Park Schnapper Point Drive, Mornington
Mt Eliza Farmers Market – 4th Sunday 8am – 3pm, Cnr Mt Eliza Way and Canadian Bay Rd Mt Eliza
Peninsula Fresh Organics (Farm gate open Fri, Sat & Mon) 6 Henderson Road Baxter Ph 5971 4466 or 0403 319 919
Bryants Organic Farm (Farm gate open Thurs, Fri & Sat 9am -12noon) 201 Old Cape Schanck Rd Cape Schanck Ph 5986 8308
And remember you can grow your own!
Maybe, a pot of herbs at the backdoor, a few winter greens in a small patch of dirt or a crop rotated 6 bed system.
Fresh herbs are amazing so I always make sure I have some growing!
Have we missed any Vegetables in Season Melbourne? Get in touch and let us know!
