Seasonal Produce Guide

My food philosophy is to eat local food in season.

The beginning of a new season is always exciting for those cooks who cook with seasonal produce; it allows enjoying a fresh new range of fruits, vegetables, meats and fish when they are at their best, at their most flavoursome and full of vitamins. Each new season has its produce strengths and so cooking with foods according to nature’s changing seasons allows us to vary our diet, and most importantly, it gives us something to anticipate, savour and look forward to.

Eating in harmony with the seasons connects us to a healthy rhythm of life. Food tastes its best when it is at its peak, in its season and eating food this way gives us a wide and varied diet.

In my cooking classes, and for all my recipes at Cooking on the Bay, I use the very best fresh, seasonal, wholesome, nutrient-dense, unprocessed, healthy foods.  This way we make food our medicine and focus on wellness and good health.

Remember, when selecting your fruit and vegetables, use your senses to assess and select those firm to touch, heavy, well-shaped, rich in colour and smelling sweet and fresh.

I look forward to enjoying foods at their peak and in their season, such as wonderful green and the occasional, white asparagus in spring, all those red berries in summer, mandarins in autumn, Fuji apples, rhubarb and quinces in winter – the seasons in which these foods are all at their most flavoursome.

This guide will help you to select produce in season and to cook accordingly.  Note: Some fruit and vegetable varieties can be grown outside of their usual season by being grown in hothouse or greenhouses. Sometimes flavour can be compromised but they are still available locally. e.g. tomatoes, eggplants, capsicum, berries and herbs such as basil. Also, some of the fruits and vegetables in this guide may be grown in the season, but maybe sent from interstate, so they are Australian, but not so local.

Your local Framers’ Markets and greengrocers are the best people to consult for what is best in the market right now! 

Spring – September to November

Fruits – Apples, avocado, banana, blueberries at start of November, cantaloupe, cherry, cumquat, grapefruit, honeydew, lemon, lime, loquat, lychee, mandarin, mango, mulberries, orange, papaya, pepino, pineapple, rhubarb, strawberries, starfruit, tangelo, watermelon.

Vegetables – Artichokes, Asian greens – bok choy, choy sum, gai laan, wonga bok; asparagus,  green, purple, white; avocadoes, beans, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, Choko, cucumber, daikon(Chinese radish), eggplant, endive, fennel, leeks, lettuce, mushrooms, morel, onions – salad, spring; parsnips, peas – green, snow, sugar snap; Peppers – red, yellow and green; pimentos, potatoes – new; pumpkin, radish, shallots, silverbeet, sorrel, Spanish onion, spinach, spring onions, squash, swede, sweet corn, sweet potato, tomato, turnip, watercress, zucchini, zucchini flowers.

Herbs and spices – basil, chervil, chilli, chives, coriander, dill, garlic, ginger, lime – kaffir leaves; lemongrass, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon, thyme.

Seafood – Eel, ling, longfin, lobster – Eastern Rock; mackerel, Moreton Bay bugs; orange roughy, oysters – Pacific; perch- golden sea, pawns – bay, school, tiger, redfish, river garfish, salmon, Australian; snapper – Golden; spanner crabs, trout – Coral; whiting – King George; yabbies – Farmed.

Summer – December – February

Fruit – Apples, apricots, bananas, berries – blackberry, blueberry, boysenberry, cranberry, gooseberry, loganberry, mulberry, raspberry, strawberry; cantaloupe, cherries,  currants, dragon fruit, feijoas, fig; grapefruit – pink and yellow; grapes – Cardinal, Musquat, Sultana and Waltham; guava, honeydew, kiwifruit, lemon; loquats, lychee, mango, mangosteen, mulberry, nectarine, oranges, papaya – red; passionfruit, peach, pears, persimmons, pineapple; plum, rockmelon, pomegranate, rambutan, rhubarb, star fruit, tamarillo, watermelon.

Nuts – Pistachio

Vegetables – Asparagus, avocado – Fuerte, Hass, Sharwill; beans – Borlotti, butter, green, runner, snake, beetroot, cabbage, capsicum, celery, corn, choko, corn, cucumber, daikon (white radish); eggplant, fennel, leek, lettuce, okra, onions- brown, salad and spring; peas – Green, Snow and Sugar Snap; potato, radish, shallot, silverbeet, spinach, squash, sweetcorn, tomatoes – cherry, red and ox heart; watercress, zucchini and zucchini flower.

Herbs – Basil. basil, Thia, chervil, chilli, chives, coriander, dill, French tarragon, garlic, ginger, lime, kaffir leaves, lemongrass, mint, mint, Vietnamese, oregano, parsley, rocket, rosemary, sage, tarragon, thyme.

Seafood – Abalone- blacklip; Arrow Squid; Banded Morwong; Bigeye Tuna; Bugs – Balmain and Moreton Bay; Crab – Blue Swimmer, mud and sand; Dory – mirror, silver; Eel; Flathead – tiger; flounder; Golden Snapper; Kingfish; Lobster – rock, western rock; Mackerel – Jack; Morwong; Oreo; Oysters – rock, south coast Sydney rock; Prawns – Bay and School; Red emperor; Salmon – Atlantic and Australian; Skipjack Tuna – bigeye; Snapper – gold band; Squid; Trevally; Tuna – bigeye, bluefin, skipjack; Trout – Coral; Whiting – King George; Yabby.

Autumn – March – May

Fruit– Apple – Bonza, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Jonathan, Pink Lady, Red Delicious, Royal Gala, Snow and Sundowner; avocado, banana, cumquat, custard apple, dragon fruit, feijoas, fig,  grapefruit, grapes – Purple Cornichon, Waltham Cross; guava, kiwi fruit, lemon, lime, mandarin, mango, mangosteen, melon – Champagne; nashi, orange, papaya, passionfruit, pears – Howell, Josephine, Packham, Red Sensation and William, persimmon, plum, pomegranate, prickly pear, quince, rambutan, raspberries, rhubarb, strawberries, tamarillo, watermelon

Vegetables – artichokes, Asian greens, avocadoes, beans – borlotti, butter, green, beetroot, broccoli, Brussels sprout, cabbage, capsicum, carrot, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, Choko, cucumber, corn, daikon (white radish), eggplant, fennel, leek, lettuce – Butter, Mignonette, mushrooms – wild, field, pine and slippery jacks; okra, olive, onions – brown, spring; parsnip, peas, potato; pumpkin, shallot, silverbeet, spinach, squash, swede, sweet potato, sugar snap peas, tomato, turnip, watercress, witlof, zucchini.

Herbs – basil, chervil, chilli, chives, coriander, dill, garlic, ginger, lime – kaffir leaves, lemongrass, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon, thyme.

Nuts – Almonds; Chestnut; Hazelnut; Peanut; Pistacchio; Walnut.

Seafood – Albacore; Arrow Squid; Australian Salmon; Banded Morwong (Deep Sea Bream); Blue Warhol; Calamari; Garfish; John Dory; King George whiting; Mullet; Octopus; Perch; Pilchards; Saw Shark; Sea Mullet; Sea Urchin; Smooth Oreo; Snapper; Southern Calamari; Southern Garfish; Sea mullet; Prawns; – king and tiger; Sand Whiting; Trevally; Western Rock Lobsters; Yellowfin Bream.

Winter – June – August

Fruit – Apples – Bonza, Braeburn, Cameo, Cox’s Orange, custard, Pippin, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Lady Williams, Nashi, Pink Lady, Red Delicious; Snow, Sundowner; avocado, broccoli, broccolini, coconut, cumquat, feijoa, grapefruit – yellow and pink; guava, kiwi fruit, lemon, lime, mandarin – Ellendale, Imperial, Honey Murcott; melon – Champagne; nashi, oranges – blood, navel; papaya (pawpaw), pears – Beurre Bosc, Corella, Honey, Josephine, Lemon Bergamot, Packham, Red Anjou, Red Sensation, Williams, Winter Nelis, Ya Pear (version of nashi), persimmon, pomelo, quince, rhubarb, tamarillo, tangelo.

Vegetables – Artichokes; Asian greens – bok choy, choy sum, gai laan, wombok; avocado – Fuerte, Hass, Sharwill; beans – broad, flat, snake; beetroot, broccoli; Brussels sprouts, cabbage, capsicum, carrot, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, Chokos, cucumber, eggplants, fennel, horseradish, Italian parsley, Jerusalem artichoke, kale, kohlrabi, leek, lettuce – Butter, Cos, Mignonette, Romana; mushroom, Okra, olive, onion, onion, spring; parsnip, peas – snow, potato, pumpkin, radicchio, radish, rhubarb, shallot, silverbeet, spinach, swede. sweet potato, turnip, watercress, witlof; zucchini – green and yellow.

Herbs – ginger, coriander, dill, mint, oregano, parsley, thyme

Nuts – Chestnut; Hazelnut; Walnut.

Seafood – Abalone – greenlip; Arrow Squid; Australian Salmon; Barramundi – farmed and wild; Beche-de-mer; Blue Eye; Blue Grenadier; Blue Warehou; Crabs – Spanner; Flathead – Dusky; Grafish; Grey Mackerel; John Dory; Ling; Longfin Eel; Moreton Bay Bugs; Mullet; Murray Cod; Mussels; Orange Roughy; Pacific Oysters; Pearl Perch; Pilchards; Prawns – Banana, King and Tiger; Redfish; Sand Crabs; Sand Whiting; Scallops – Coffin Bay; Sea Mullet; Saw Shark; Snapper; Tailor; School Whiting; Southern Calamari; Trevella – Blue-eye; Trout; Warehou; Whiting; Wrasse; Yellowfin Bream; Yellowfin Whiting.

Sources: Seasonal Produce Guide – Sustainable Table;  Victorian Farmers’ Markets Association;  Maggie Beer, Maggie’s Harvest. (2005) Lantern, Camberwell. Victoria. Dr Geoff and Leigh Coggins, Dunroe, Hamilton.