10 Recipes Featuring Seasonal Produce

Using seasonal produce means using fruits and veggies in your cooking that are abundant at that time of the year. When you cook with seasonal foods, you’ll find that the produce you want at that time of the year is always available and they are most likely affordable too.
Let’s look at the most common season’s fruits and veg available and some seasonal produce recipes to try for every season.

What’s on the South African Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables Chart?

As you can imagine there are a large array of fruits and vegetables available to us at every season thanks to our great climate and variety of biodiversity. As foodies, we can be guided by the Seasonal Fruit and Vegetable Chart for South Africa to help us create the best dishes for that season.
Using the seasonal produce chart as our guide, here are our top three recipes to wow your friends and family with:

Winter

Winter is a time when many of us want to cook warm, hearty meals most especially on those cold evenings. Here are a few of our favourite winter warmers to try this season.

Mince-Stuffed Cabbage Rolls in Tomato Sauce

Broccoli, Spinach and Pea Omelette with Blue Cheese Dressing​

​Butternut and Cauliflower Pasta Bake with Crispy Breadcrumbs

Spring

As spring rolls around in September, most of us begin to feel lighter thanks to the warmer weather and longer days. Here are some of our spring favourites to try:​

One-Pot Mac and Cheese with Baby Marrows​

BBQ Chicken Wings

Summer

Summertime means good food and outdoor entertaining. Try these seasonal recipes this summer:​

Grilled Ribeye Steak​

Quinoa and Rice 'Meatballs' in Tomato Sauce​

​ Cheesy Mushroom Rarebit with Toasted Sourdough Bread​

​ Autumn

By the time autumn has turned, we’re all in the mood for a little more luscious home cooking. Why not try these recipes on for size next autumn?​

Citrus-Baked Chicken with a Herby Bulgur Wheat Salad​

​ Spicy Chickpea Chana Masala​

What are the Benefits of Eating Seasonal Produce?

There are a few great reasons to eat seasonal food, not the least of which is that you’re guaranteed the produce you want will be available. Other great reasons to eat according to the seasons are:

• It’s better for the environment, climate control and lowering your carbon footprint

• It’s more cost effective in that more local farmers will be producing the fruit and vegetables that are seasonal and the price will be more affordable.

• It’ll be tastier. Fruits and veggies grown at the right time of year will taste better, be nutrient dense and generally be of a better quality.

As consumers, we’ve become accustomed to having everything we want available all year round. However, if we think more sustainably, we should be cooking according to the seasons and using fruits and vegetables in season. Rather than putting pressure on farmers to produce everything all year round, why not give seasonal cooking a chance? We promise it’ll become your new way of meal-making in no time.