For vegetables, fruit and meat, September has it all – the last of the summer veg and the beginning of the autumn main crop.
We probably won’t be seeing much in the way of maincrop root vegetables this month. They’ll be left in the ground waiting for a bit more rain-– partly to plump them up and partly so they can be harvested without damage. Yields look set to be well down after such a dry summer. Most of the soft fruit might have finished, but there should still be blackberries in the hedgerows and plenty of summer vegetables hanging on.
Lamb should be at its absolute prime, having spent the summer munching away on grass and frolicking amongst the buttercups etc. What’s coming in still looks good but, judging by the way the few sheep on the farm bleat and follow me across the field, they’re feeling a bit peckish.
Here’s what to look out for this September.
Apples
September sees the British apple season get properly underway, with more varieties appearing as we head into autumn.There’s plenty you can do with them beyond eating them straight from the fruit bowl. Cook them down for sauce, bake them into cakes and crumbles, add them to chutneys or pair them with pork and sausages. It’s also apple pressing season. Surplus fruit can be turned into juice or cider rather than being left to fall and rot – a fairly simple example of making the most of what we grow.
Squash
The first of the autumn squash start appearing in September, although there will still be plenty of courgettes and summer squash around too. Roasting is probably the easiest option. Cut them into wedges, add a bit of oil and seasoning and let the oven do the work. They’re also good in soups, curries and stews, or added to grains and salads. The seeds are worth keeping too. Give them a wash and roast them with a little salt rather than throwing them away.
Sweetcorn
British sweetcorn should still be around throughout September. When it’s fresh, it doesn’t need much doing to it. Boil or barbecue whole cobs and add butter, or cut the kernels off and use them in salads, fritters, soups and salsas. It goes particularly well with some of the produce appearing at the same time – tomatoes, peppers, chillies, beans and squash.
Plums & damsons
There should still be British plums around this month, with damsons coming into their own as well. Damsons are generally a bit too sharp to eat by the handful, but that makes them particularly useful for cooking. Both plums and damsons work well in jams, chutneys, compotes, cakes and puddings. If you have a glut, preserve them. You’ll be glad of it in a few months’ time.
Blackberries
There should still be plenty of blackberries in the hedgerows through September. They’re at their best picked ripe and eaten straight away, but if you come home with more than you can eat, they’re easy enough to put to use. Blackberry and apple is the obvious combination for crumbles and pies, but they can also be cooked down into compotes, jams and jellies or simply frozen to use later.
Summer vegetables
Summer doesn’t suddenly stop on the 1st September. Tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines, cucumbers, beans, peppers and chillies should all continue cropping while conditions allow. At this point in the season you can also find yourself with rather more of something than you know what to do with. Pickling, fermenting and preserving are useful ways of dealing with a glut. Cucumbers can become pickles, tomatoes can be bottled or cooked down into sauces, and courgettes and peppers work well in chutneys and relishes. It saves food from going to waste and gives you something to open when the summer crop is long gone.
Lamb
Lamb should be particularly good at this time of year after a summer spent out at grass. Chops and steaks still work well for quicker cooking while the weather is warm, but September is also when slower cooked dishes start making a bit more sense.Shoulder, neck and other slower-cooking cuts work well with beans, tomatoes and the first of the autumn vegetables. Ask our butchers what’s looking best on the counter and how they’d cook it. Their season is remarkably short, making them one of those ingredients to savour while you can. Their arrival is also a gentle reminder that late summer is beginning to give way to autumn.
Also in Season
Keep an eye out for:
- Apples
- Aubergines
- Beetroot
- Blackberries
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Chillies
- Courgettes
- Cucumbers
- Damsons
- Fennel
- French beans
- Kale
- Kohlrabi
- Lettuce
- Marrows
- Onions
- Pears
- Peppers
- Plums
- Pumpkins
- Rocket
- Runner beans
- Spinach
- Squash
- Sweetcorn
- Swiss chard
- Tomatoes
- Watercress
If you’re foraging
Exactly what’s available will depend on the weather and what our growers are harvesting. After the summer we’ve had, some crops will be earlier, later or simply smaller than usual.
That’s rather the point of eating seasonally – you eat what’s actually growing, rather than what the calendar says ought to be there.