Seasonal Eating

Winter: What’s in season right now?

Storage Vegetables: potatoes (red, yellow, white), celery root, turnip, rutabaga, garlic, beets, onions (red, white), cabbage (red, green–and sauerkraut!), carrots, jerusalem artichokes, squash (buttercup, delicata, acorn and others)

Greenhouse/grown under cover: mushrooms, sprouts, hydroponic vegetables

Fruits: late apples of many varieties and Bosc pears from controlled storage

Wild Foods: great preserves of many wild foods, dried mushrooms, wild rice

Meats, cheeses, local grain baking, preserves, honey, maple syrup and more add to your local eating options throughout the seasons!

One of the great things about farmers’ markets is the connection they build to the seasons, from the first spring greens through to winter root crops. Market farmers also work hard to stretch our Ontario growing season at both ends, with greenhouses, cold-tolerant vegetables, and both early and late season crops grown under cover. Excellent storage means that year-round markets can provide you with some local foods right through the year, too.

Along with familiar favourites, you’ll find farmers growing many unusual varieties, specialty crops, and heirlooms, so not everything is listed in this guide to produce availability, but it will help if you’re wondering which foods are available at different times of year: foodland.gov.on.ca/availabilityf.htm

Wondering what to do with all the great food you brought home from the market?

Here’s a fun blog which includes lots of season-specific recipes for Ontario: seasonalontariofood.blogspot.com

The Globe and Mail published an encouraging article on the pleasures of canning and freezing summer’s abundance. Read more…