FOOD ALL YEAR ROUND

If foods are seasonal, how come we can eat so many of them all year round? Mostly, fresh fruit and veg that are not in season here are imported from places where they are in season – at great cost to the environment. Here are some other ways that we can eat all kinds of foods at different times of the year.

GROWING DIFFERENT VARIETIES
Different varieties of fruits and vegetables mature and are ripe at different times. For example with apples, early apples such as "Discovery" are ready to be picked in mid August, "Ellison's Orange" in mid September and "Golden Delicious" in mid October. (Ellison's Orange is in fact a type of apple!)

COLD STORES
Cold stores can store a variety of food. The temperature depends on the food being stored but it will generally be between 5-10 degrees centigrade. This cool temperature prevents rotting and spoiling. Potatoes and apples can be held in a cold store.

FREEZING
The true flavour, colour and appearance of the food is kept well during freezing. Most vegetables are blanched (put in boiling water for a very short time), dried and then frozen. An example of this method is frozen peas. Fruits can be frozen dry (berry fruits) or in sugar or syrups.

PICKLING
Vegetables can be pickled raw or cooked. They are stored in vinegar, which is a weak acid, and this prevents bacteria from spoiling the food. Even eggs can be cooked and pickled in vinegar and spices – although maybe cucumbers are more common (as gherkins)!

BOTTLING AND CANNING
This preserves food with its natural taste and texture. Fruit or vegetables are packed into bottling jars. They are covered with water, syrup or brine. They are heated at a high temperature to sterilise the jar's contents. The jars are then sealed when still hot. Bottling was popular in the home, but cans are used commercially, like with tinned tomatoes.

MAKING JAMS AND JELLIES
Fruit is cooked and softened, sugar is added and the mixture is boiled. When a certain temperature is reached, the jam can be taken off the heat and poured into jars. As it cools, it sets. Jellies are strained jams, without pips or whole fruits.

DRYING
Some foods can be dried, either in the sun or by artificial heat. Sultanas are dried grapes.

GROWING UNDER GLASS
In countries with cool climates, there is usually not enough heat to grow the most delicate or exotic vegetables. In hot houses a farmer can grow almost any crop. This is because the temperature can be controlled. Summer salads, which do not store well, can be grown all year. But it is expensive to heat these glass houses and it uses huge amounts of energy.