International Sales
Seasonal Vegetables
There is nothing quite like a dish made of vegetables that are at their very best. Rediscover a seasonal vegetable each month with Clearspring's seasonal veg series.
On this page:
> March: Radish
> February: Beetroot
> January: Carrot
> September: Leek
> August: Sweetcorn
> July: Courgette
> June: Asparagus
> May: Cauliflower
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Facts:
When you think of garlic, you may not have a specific season in mind, but just like anything else, garlic has its time. As spring gets underway, wild garlic leaves start to appear in woodlands all over the UK, and new season garlic also starts to crop up. Unlike the garlic you usually find in the shops, which is stored and aged, new season garlic is fresh. Rather than the familiar dry papery skin, it has thick leaf-like skin and is sweeter and less pungent. Whichever form of garlic you choose to cook with, it is a truly remarkable ingredient with many potential health benefits. As well as being high in vitamin B6 and C, garlic has a long history of use as a medicinal remedy. For example, it has been suggested that garlic consumption could help to reduce blood pressure and cholesterol as well as fighting viruses such as cold and flu.
Recipes:
Wild garlic is a little milder than the domestic kind and it is the leaves and flowers that people eat. It can be shredded and added to salads and rice dishes or cooked in soups and stir fries. As for regular garlic, it can be added to just about any savoury dish from stir-fries to sauces, pasta dishes and soups. For a true flavour celebration, roast a whole bulb of garlic. When the cloves become soft, simply squeeze them out on to crusty bread. They make a great snack or starter served with Clearspring Organic Aged Balsamic Vinegar and Clearspring Organic Tunisian or Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil. For a quick and flavoursome supper dish, try spaghetti with aglio e olio or express soup sprinkled with crispy garlic bits. For delicious garlicky dips add a clove to hummus, beetroot and walnut or creamy dill dip.
Facts:
Pink, red, purple, green, white - radishes come in many different colours and indeed shapes and sizes. The season for radishes is also varied. 'European' or 'spring' radishes, which are generally round, colourful varieties with a good dose of horseradish-like heat, appear around now and continue through to summer. The larger, paler and milder varieties, however, such as Asian daikon radishes are at their best in the winter months. Historically, radishes are known to have been eaten as far back as ancient Egyptian and Greek times; the name itself comes from the Latin word for root - radix. In one town in Mexico, Oaxaca, they love radishes so much that they have a radish festival just before Christmas, in which the long, red local radishes are carved into sculptures of anything from biblical scenes to conquistadors. In terms of nutrition, radishes are very low in calories and high in vitamin C - especially the leaves, so don't bin them, use them. They are also a good source of potassium and spring radishes contain a good quantity of folic acid, too.
Recipes:
Radishes are most nutritious eaten raw, but they can also be cooked. Add thick slices of daikon to nishime for a simple, warming soup. The radish takes on a beautiful, silky texture when cooked slowly. It can also be added to many other soups and stews. Another popular use for daikon in Japan is as an accompaniment to fried foods such as tempura, as it is believed to aid digestion and balance the oiliness of the dish.Simply grate it finely and squeeze out the excess moisture, and serve alongside a dipping sauce. Dried daikon is another interesting ingredient - it's great in stir-fries and stews. The drying process intensifies the flavour and you can use the soaking water as a stock. Any type of radish is great for pickling, try cutting spring radishes in half and salting them briefly. Rinse and then add Clearspring Organic Brown Rice Vinegar. Spring radishes are also the perfect addition to any salad; try quinoa salad or watercress and arame salad.
Facts:
For many, their first experience of the beetroot is as a slightly mushy, possibly crinkle cut, pre-cooked vegetable found swimming in harsh malt vinegar. This is neither a seasonal treasure nor a culinary delight. However, if you treat the beetroot with a little love and respect it can be something truly marvellous. The Neoliths and the Ancient Egyptians knew it, so perhaps it's time that we did too. Beetroot and beet leaves also have long been considered to have medicinal properties. They are principally known for their positive effect on the liver, as they can help to stimulate the detoxification process that is the liver's most important function. Beetroots are also rich in betacyanin, the powerfully purple pigment that gives this vegetable its distinctive colour and which is though to have anti-cancer properties. Various studies have highlighted other potential medical benefits, such as that of beet fibre in boosting antioxidant enzyme levels, and beet juice as an inhibitor of nitrosamines, a cancer-causing compound. The root also contains vitamin C, fibre, potassium, magnesium, manganese, and folic acide while the leafy tops have iron and calcium.
Recipes:
Our purple friend is great raw or cooked. When boiling whole, it is important to keep the skin on. If you remove it, the colour and nutrition will seep out into the boiling water leaving you with something rather unappetising looking. After boiling the skins slip off very easily and the beetroots are ready to eat as a side vegetable or part of a salad. In Scandinavia, they love to mix apple and beetroot together for a tasty sweet and sour salad. Mix raw, grated beetroot, cabbage and green apple with Clearspring Brown Rice Vinegar, Clearspring Safflower or Avocado Oil and a few poppy seeds. Make sure you serve the salad soon after preparation, otherwise the apple and cabbage will turn bright pink. Another classic beetroot dish is Borscht, which can be found all over Eastern Europe. Simply cook peeled, chopped beetroot and potato in Clearspring Miso Bouillon with sliced onion and a little cabbage. Once it is ready, blend to a smooth soup, serve with a good squeeze of lemon juice, some chopped chives and a twist of black pepper. Beetroot is also great with nuts, try Beetroot and Walnut Dip.
Facts:
"If you eat plenty of carrots you'll be able to see in the dark" is a phrase commonly used round the British dinner table in the nightly struggle to get kids to eat their veg. But is there any truth in it? Actually, yes ... well sort of. It is certainly true that carrots are good for your eyes as they are full of beta-carotene. This is converted by the body to vitamin A, which is known to reduce the risk of eye disease. Equally, a deficiency in vitamin A can lead to difficulties seeing in dim light, so carrots can help maintain your ability to see when its darker. It doesn't sound quite as exciting, but it has to be a good thing. Carrots also contain vitamin B and C as well as being low in sodium, fat-free and a good source of fibre. A lot of the nutrition is just below the skin, so try to eat them with the skin on.
Recipes:
Carrots are great raw or cooked. For an extra vitamin C kick, serve them with oranges in either a salad - Tunisian Carrot Salad - or a soup. The combination gives a delicious sweet and sour flavour. Carrots can be the star of the show or a complement to the other ingredients in dishes such as Miso Soup or Burdock Kinpira. They also make fantastic desserts, juices and, of course, carrot cake is an absolute classic. Try Orange Amazake Dessert, or substitute the apple in our Dutch Apple Cake recipe for grated carrot. Add a little orange zest and a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg too if you fancy.
Facts:
Leeks are a member of the alliaceae family which also includes onions and garlic. Since as early as the second millennium BC they have been a part of the human diet. Archaeologists have even found dried specimens on Ancient Egyptian excavation sites. They were brought to Europe by the Romans and were a favourite soup ingredient of Emperor Nero. Still in modern cuisine they are a popular ingredient across the world which is commonly used in soups such as vichyssoise, most classical French stocks, various garnishes and stews. The white part of the leek is more highly prized than the green as it is mellower in flavour. Nutritionally speaking the leek is low in cholesterol, saturated fat and sodium and high in vitamin A, C, folate, iron, dietary fibre and vitamin B6.
Recipes:
Julienne leeks and carrots, mix them with tempura batter, deep-fry and serve with tempura dipping sauce for a delicious snack. Alternatively, add some leeks to our hearty baked vegetables recipe for a delicious autumn dish. Try using baby leeks as an alternative to spring onions in stir-fries and miso soup or turn them into a chunky soups with other autumn vegetables and drizzle with Clearspring Pumpkin Seed Oil and Clearspring Traditional Sea Salt for a rich finish.
August: Sweetcorn
Facts:
As with so many of our fruits and vegetables, corn - a grain which comes from the maize family – originated in the Americas. It has been cultivated for more than 2000 years and formed an important part of the Aztec, Inca and Mayan diet. Although it is still an important factor in Latin American cuisine, it is also enjoyed all over the world in all sorts of different ways. The different varieties can be made into flour, sweeteners, pop corn, corn flakes and (of course) eaten fresh.
In terms of nutrition corn is low in fat, high in dietary fibre, folate and antioxidants. According to American scientists , also reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. As part of a macrobiotic diet, it is also said to increase our capacity for happiness.
Recipes:
Enjoy eating corn on the cob with Clearspring Umeboshi Puree. It makes a great alternative to butter and its low in fat. Alternatively, give your stir-fry a bit of colour and crunch with some baby corn or, if you’re feeling a little more indulgent, sweetcorn fritters make a fantastic snack. Simply follow our Sweet Potato Fritter recipe but substitute the potato for corn kernels and sprinkle with Clearspring Traditional Sea Salt.
July: Courgette
Facts:
The origin of the courgette or zucchini - as it is known in America and Australia – is not entirely clear. Although it is a member of the squash family - which originates in the Americas, it has been suggested that the courgette actually developed in Europe in the late 19th century as a natural mutation of the squash. It was embraced by the Italians, who even eat the flowers, and the French, who came up with such classic dishes as ratatouille, but didn’t gain popularity in the UK until the late 1950s when the food writer Elizabeth David championed it. As well as being a tasty and versatile cooking ingredient, the courgette is low in calories, high in vitamin A and C and contains folate (folic acid), plenty of water and potassium – which is good for your kidneys. It’s great with pasta so why not try adding it to our creamy dairy-free sauce to make Pasta Primavera.
Recipes:
For a fresh and tasty salad, Clearspring recommend courgette ribbons with lemon dressing: Cut the courgette into long thin strips and arrange on a plate, squeeze lemon juice over the top and drizzle with Clearspring Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Add a twist of pepper and a sprinkling of Clearspring Traditional Sea Salt. Courgettes and their flowers are also a perfect tempura ingredient - click here for our recipe.
June: Asparagus
Facts:
Asparagus has been used both in cooking and for medicinal purposes for an extremely long time, and a recipe for cooking it actually appears in the oldest surviving cookery book known to man, Apicius’s third century AD ‘De Re Coquinaria’, Book III. Asparagus is a healthy vegetable which contains no fat or cholesterol and very few calories, but is a great supply of folic acid, dietary fibre, potassium and rutin, and has the legendary effect of improving the aroma of one’s urine, as noted by Marcel Proust. It even has an amino acid named after it, asparagine, which is found in rich quantities in the vegetable. Asparagus grows in maritime habitats and other saline environments, and the top three exporters worldwide are Peru, China and Mexico.
Recipes:
Fresh asparagus is delicious boiled or steamed and then served with a whole variety of dips and dressings. It is perfect combined with Creamy Dill and Miso Dip. On a summer’s day, chilled asparagus soup is deliciously refreshing, and it also tastes great stir-fried and tossed into a cold salad of tomatoes and baby spinach leaves. For an unusual twist, try garnishing with pomegranate seeds or honey.
The cauliflower is not generally thought of as a quintessential spring vegetable, but it is in fact at its best in May. A type of brassica, along with leafy greens such as cabbage, kale and broccoli, its name actually originates from ‘cole flower’, with ‘cole’ and ‘kale’ being variations of the same word. Low in fat and calories, but high in fibre, folic acid and vitamin C, it is a nutritionally ideal vegetable. The cauliflower and the warming classic 'cauliflower cheese' are traditional British products, but sadly, British cauliflower farmers are currently struggling to make a living due to an unwillingness on the parts of supermarkets to give them a proper price, which has led to the birth of the Save the Cauliflower campaign.
Recipes:
Clearspring's top recommendation is cauliflower with white miso vinaigrette. Cook and then allow to cool before pouring on Mellow Miso Dressing for a healthy, dairy-free and delicious salad. Alteratively, try adding into salads or other vegetable dishes, either raw or after frying in sesame oil with sesame, pumpkin or other seeds. Alternatively, mix into curries with coconut milk and cashew nuts, or try cooking with saffron to give it a really sunny feel.
