Seasonal Produce Guide: What to Buy Throughout the Year

This seasonal produce guide will help you figure out the best time to buy produce throughout the year, and at the best price. Get the most bang for your buck with seasonal produce.

The more you cook, the more you’ll realize the benefits of cooking with produce that’s in season.

And honestly, you likely do this more than you’re even aware of.

Let me guess…

• You eat and buy pumpkin-everything in the fall until you can’t even stand to look at another pumpkin until next year because you went all out.
• You load up on citrus during the wintertime to boost your immune system.
• When the weather starts to warm back up in the spring, you choose fresh green vegetables to add to salads or put on the grill.
• Fresh berries, melon, and stone fruits are always on your grocery list during summer because it’s practically a crime otherwise.

Why Buying Seasonal Produce Is Worth It

Seasonal produce can seem like a lot of hype, but if you want to greatly improve the flavor of your meals with minimal effort, it’s absolutely worth it.

Let’s look at tomatoes as an example.

If you buy tomatoes during the summer and early fall when they’re in season, they’re juicy and can often taste as sweet as candy. Now, if you buy a tomato in the wintertime, its texture is drier and the flavor falls somewhere between mild and bland.

This explains why many winter recipes call for canned tomatoes, which were picked in peak season at their ripest stage.

If you’re not a big fan of fresh tomatoes, you’ve likely had them in the wrong season. I challenge you to try an in-season tomato and taste the difference, it’s drastic.

When you’re buying produce that’s in season, the flavor is at its prime.

This helps you when you’re cooking because the flavor is so good on its own, you don’t have to do much to make it taste even better. All it really needs is a drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of kosher salt, and some freshly cracked black pepper.

If you’re buying produce that’s not in season, it takes more work to make it taste good. You have to cook it down to release the water and add tons of seasoning.

Make sense?

Perks of Buying Seasonal Produce

You’ll spend less money. Who doesn’t love that?

When you eat seasonally, the supply is high, which drives down the price and you spend far less money than you would if you bought it out of season. Plus, it doesn’t have to travel as far to get to you.

Misconceptions About Eating Seasonally

Eating seasonally doesn’t mean that you can’t ever buy what’s not in season. Depending on where you live, this may not be an option for you.

Instead of approaching seasonal produce as an all-or-nothing choice, focus on adding a few more seasonal ingredients to your meals each week.

Over time, the bulk of what you’re eating will be seasonal, but just know that you don’t have to eat seasonal one hundred percent of the time.

Fall Produce (Sept 22 – Dec 21)

VEGETABLES

• artichokes
• beets, bell peppers, bok choy, broccoli, broccolini, Brussels sprouts
• cabbage (green, red, savoy), carrots, cauliflower, celery, celery root, chard
• daikon radish
• fennel, frisée
• garlic, ginger, green beans,
• horseradish
• kale, kohlrabi
• leeks
• mushrooms (cremini, porcini, portobello)
• napa cabbage (aka Chinese cabbage)
• okra, onions
• parsnips, potatoes, pumpkin
• radicchio, radishes, romaine lettuce, rutabagas
• sorrel (leafy greens), spinach, sprouts, sweet potatoes
• turmeric, turnips
• watercress, winter squash (acorn, butternut, spaghetti, kabocha)
• yams

FRUIT

• apples
• coconut, cranberries
• dates
• figs
• grapefruit, grapes, guavas
• kiwi fruit, kumquats
• lemons, limes
• mandarin oranges, mangoes, meyer lemons
• nectarines (early fall)
• oranges
• papayas, passion fruit, peaches (early fall), pears, persimmons, plums (early fall), pomegranates
• quince
• tomatillos, tomatoes

Winter Produce (Dec 21 – March 19)

VEGETABLES

• beets, bok choy, broccoli, broccolini, Brussels sprouts
• cabbage (green, red, savoy), carrots, cauliflower, celery, celery root, chard, collard greens
• daikon radish
• endive
• fennel, frisée
• garlic, ginger
• jicama
• kale
• leeks
• mushrooms (cremini, portobello)
• napa cabbage (aka Chinese cabbage)
• onions
• parsnips, potatoes
• radicchio, rutabagas
• sprouts, sweet potatoes
• turmeric, turnips
• winter squash (acorn, spaghetti, butternut)
• yams

FRUIT

• bananas, blood oranges
• cara cara oranges (late winter), coconut, cranberries (until mid-winter)
• dates
• grapefruit
• kiwi fruit, kumquats
• lemons, limes
• mandarin oranges, meyer lemons
• oranges
• passion fruit, pears, persimmons, pineapples
• tomatillos
• yuzu fruit

HERBS

• chervil (French parsley)
• marjoram
• oregano
• parsley
• rosemary

Spring Produce (March 19 – June 20)

VEGETABLES

• artichokes, arugula, asparagus
• beets, bibb lettuce (also called Boston or butter lettuce), bok choy, broccolini
• carrots, celery, chard, collard greens, cucumbers
• endive
• fava beans, fennel, fiddlehead ferns, frisée
• garlic, ginger
• horseradish
• jicama
• kale
• leeks
• mushrooms (cremini, morel, porcini, portobello)
• napa cabbage (aka Chinese cabbage)
• onions
• peas (late spring), potatoes
• radicchio, radishes, ramps, romaine lettuce, rhubarb (late spring), rutabaga
• snap peas, sorrel (leafy greens), spinach, sprouts, sweet onions
• turmeric, turnips
• watercress
• zucchini

FRUIT

• avocados
• blood oranges, blueberries
• cara cara oranges (early spring), cherries (late spring), coconut
• grapefruit
• kiwi fruit
• lemons, limes
• mandarin oranges, mangoes, meyer lemons
• nectarines (late spring)
• oranges
• passion fruit, peaches (late spring), pineapples, plums (late spring)
• strawberries
• tomatillos
• yuzu fruit

HERBS

• chives, chervil (French parsley), cilantro
• dill
• mint
• oregano
• parsley
• rosemary
• sage
• tarragon

Summer Produce (June 20 – Sept 22)

VEGETABLES

• artichokes, arugula
• beets, bell peppers, bok choy, broccolini
• celery, celery root, chard, chile peppers, corn, cucumbers
• eggplant
• fava beans, fennel, frisée
• garlic, ginger, green beans
• horseradish
• kohlrabi
• lima beans
• mushrooms (cremini, porcini, portobello)
• napa cabbage (aka Chinese cabbage)
• okra, onions
• radicchio, radishes, ramps, romaine lettuce, rhubarb,
• scallions (also called green onions), shallots, sorrel (leafy greens), spinach, sprouts, sweet onions, summer squash
• turmeric, turnips
• zucchini, zucchini blossoms

FRUIT

• apricots, avocados
• blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries
• cantaloupe, cherries
• figs
• grapefruit, grapes, guavas
• honeydew, huckleberries
• lemons, limes, lychees
• mangoes
• nectarines
• oranges
• papayas, passion fruit, peaches, pineapples, plums
• raspberries
• strawberries
• tomatillos, tomatoes
• watermelon

HERBS

• basil
• chervil (French parsley), chives, cilantro
• dill
• marjoram, mint
• parsley
• rosemary
• sage
• tarragon, thyme

Feel free to save this blog post and peep back to it anytime you need a refresher about what’s in season.