Seasonal tastes : What's in season?

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Seasonal tastes : What's in season?

Fruit

 

Hello everyone,

 

One of my favourite things to talk about is food! 🙂

 

Presently here in the UK, the sun is out and this signals lots of lovely fruit and vegatable. I always associate summer with strawberries, blackberry picking, raspberries - generally a lot of berry related products! We have just come to the end of Wimbledon, which for those of you who don't know, it is a big tennis tournament held in Wimbledon in South London. As a sporting event, one of the traditional things to do whilst watching tennis is to eat strawberries and I read this morning that 28,000kg or 140,000 servings were eaten over the 2 week period. Wow - that is one big bowl! 

 

This got me thinking, whatever the season it is where you are, what fruit/veg or even food in general is popular at this time of year? Do you grow anything in particular or like to cook anything using this ingredient? 

 

In my recent trip to Spain, I loved the array of tomatoes on display, such an array of colour...

 

Tomatoes

 

Looking forward to hearing from you.

 

Lizzie

 


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14 Replies 14
Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

@Sheri16@Jeet0@Kitty-and-Creek0@Dieneke0@Laura474@Michelle13@An-Nhien0@Babs0@Alysha3@Rhonda34@Rachael26@Jayesh0@Robin4@Lawrene0@Helga0@Ethna0@Marie3@Cormac0, I thought you might be interested in this topic! 🙂

 

(Here is the correct thread I meant, sorry about that)


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Hi Gang! I am picking a handful or two of sugar snap peas every morning, and tomatoes galore. Zucchini squash and flowers...cucumbers coming on quickly. I managed to get a basket of the early ripening plums before the birds did, and we are all keeping a lookout on the next tree, with golden plums on it. Raspberries and wild strawberries - definitely a treat.

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Oo this sounds like an excellent crop @Kitty-and-Creek0. What do you do with it all? I've haven't had a golden plum in years, are you a fan of making jam? 🙂


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Great Question! I do not make jam and I do not "can" things. It is just too much work and heats the house up when it is already hot weather. It also takes up a lot of storage space. What fresh fruit we do not eat gets dried as whole fruit or as fruit leather.

We have a lot of types of plums - Elephant Heart, Golden, and good old Santa Rosa! French Prunes are excellent and very successful here, so I planted an extra tree. We also have mulberries and a variety of cherries.

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hello @Kitty-and-Creek0,

 

Sometimes when you have such amazing fresh fruit it is nice to eat them when they are fresh so I like that you try to eat as much as possible. It all just sounds so delicious, it is making me hungry...especially as it is nearly tea time here! Oo drying fruit is a new experience for me, is it hard to do? 

 

 


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An-Nhien0
Level 3
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

@Lizzie Here's an example of how we use pineapple in our main dish 🙂

 

prawns and pork belly.JPG

When I first started cooking in my studio apartment five floors above Pasteur Street, I asked my aunt for easy recipes to try.

This pork belly and prawn recipe was my Aunt’s second recommendation for idiot-proof recipes. The first recipe was hard-boiled eggs, in case you’re wondering. Haha!

With a view of Notre Dame from my window, I cooked simple meals in my tiny kitchen of that apartment. This recipe was my favorite from those times.

Tép ram thịt, as its known in Vietnam, is the perfect choice for a week-day dinner – minimal prepping, few steps to remember, and you can put it together in 15 minutes. Throw in a few slices of pineapples or lime leaves in the end; the flavors will shine like the summer sun.

**Note: if you do not know how to find pork belly you can easily substitute thick pieces of pork. Also, prawns can be substituted with shrimp.

———————

Tép ram thịt recipe (Pork Belly and Prawn) Ingredients:

  • 16 oz. of fresh prawns
  • 16 oz. of pork belly, thinly sliced
  • 1 teaspoon of chopped garlic
  • 1 teaspoon of chopped shallot
  • 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon of sugar
  • 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
  • 1 tablespoon of fish sauce
  • ½ teaspoon of salt
  • 1 teaspoon of pepper
  • ¼ of a pineapple, sliced
  • 5 lime leaves, thinly sliced (optional)
  • A bowl of Steamed Rice

Preparation:

  1. In a hot pan, add the oil. When the oil is hot, add garlic & shallots. Sauté for 15 seconds.
  2. Add the pork belly and let it cook until the edges start to turn golden.
  3. Mix in sugar, mix it evenly with the pork and add the oyster sauce.
  4. Add the fish sauce to taste. Mix them well with the pork. Cover and let cooks for 10 minutes.
  5. Add the prawns and pineapples slices.
  6. Cover and let cook for another five minutes until the prawns are cooked through.
  7. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and serve with steamed rice.

I shared this little story on my friend's (also previous Airbnb guest) blog: http://kcloosemore.com/vietnam-pork-belly-prawn/ 

An-Nhien0
Level 3
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Rambutan, lychee, durian, peach, papaya, dragon fruit, pineapple, avocado, and strawberry are a few fruits that are in season now in Saigon. 

 

We have different ways to enjoy these fruits:

- Fresh as it is, maybe chilled for a bit in the fridge

- Smoothies: peach, papaya, dragonfruit, pineapple, avocado and strawberry can be blended with ice chips and condensed milk and turned into a delicious summer drink.

- Fruit salad: any combination of lychee, peach, papaya, dragonfruit, pineapple, avocado and strawberry and home made yogurt.

- Main dish: pineapple can be used in different recipes such as fried rice, chicken skewers and slow cooked with fish/pork ribs in caramelized fish sauce.

- Sticky rice: durian - smelly as it is to some people, but an incurably addicting once you get past the smell (Anthony Bourdain came to love it), durian can be mixed with coconut sticky rice and makes good breakfast.

- Dessert (chè - sweet soup): lychee can be added to chè khúc bạch, a refreshing dessert of cream cheese jelly in corn syrup topped with sliced almond. 

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

This sounds so delicious @An-Nhien0, it is fantastic you have such amazing fruits in season at the moment. Your fruit smoothie sounds very refreshing, I have never put condensed milk in a smoothie, does it make it quite sweet tasting? 


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An-Nhien0
Level 3
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Yes, Lizzie it's very sweet. You can subsitute it with fresh milk or yogurt, and still tasty. 

I hate washing the blender so I just mash up my avocado with 1 tablespoon of condensed milk and eat it.

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Aw that's amazing @An-Nhien0. I wonder if you could freeze the mixture and make it into ice-lollies too! I'm feeling creative! 🙂


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Farah1
Level 10
Seattle, WA

@LizzieIMG_2626.JPG

 

These are some of the things I have in my garden right now 🙂

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

They are impressive @Farah1. Your peppers are huge, you must have very green fingers! Aw I love raspberries, raspberry picking reminds me of my childhood, we used to have a few plants in the garden and to prevent the birds from munching they way through them all we use to have a little bit of netting - so I used to climb under it and pick the crop! hehe

 

 

Any plans on what you are going to cook with them?


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Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.

@Lizzie the pepper is called chocolate beauty pepper and supposed to turn brown, so I have been waiting for it to happen. 🙂

 

Your childhood experience sounds fun!

Many people suggested me to make raspberry jam with the raspberries, but I still not give it a try. So far, my husband and I have been eating the raspberries on vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup... it taste pretty delicious, especially with the summer weather over here.

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

A chocolate beauty pepper, sounds intriguing @Farah1! 🙂 I wonder will it have a chocolatey taste? 

 

Raspberries with syrup and ice-cream sound yummy, you could also make pancakes if you like them and have them on top! Jam sounds great, I'm a big fan of making damson jam, although it is a little hard for me to do this in London...without any damson trees!


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Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.