What's in Season Now
February - days are dull, but the season's veg is full of colour: orange carrots, red beetroot, white cauliflower, and dark green kale. Leeks and cabbages are at their best. Together they can cooked with oil and garlic into flavourful soup and stews. Alternatively roast carrots and parsnips, or mash carrots and swede, as accompaniments to pies and slow-cooked casseroles. Finely sliced winter veggies also work really well in a stir-fry. They are also delicious as a spicy curry. Look for for a beetroot curry by Hampshire Fare member Munch, to be found in the recently released Munch Lunch Brunch cookbook and in Hampshire Fare's Local Produce Guide 2024 - launching this month.
What it is its best for value and flavour right now.
Fruit: Apple; rhubarb.
Vegetables: Beetroot; broccoli; Brussel sprouts; cabbage; carrots; cauliflower; celeriac; celery; chicory; garlic; horseradish; Jerusalem artichoke; kale; leeks; mushrooms; onions; parsnips; potatoes; salsify; savoy cabbage; spring green cabbage; shallots; swede; sweet potato; turnips.
Colourful displays of fresh local vegetables can be found at farmers' markets, greengrocer's like Village Veg in Brockenhurst, and farm shops, among them Crow Farm Shop, Durleighmarsh Farm Shop, Heckfield Farm Shop, Sky Park Farm, Southbourne Farm Shop, Sunnyfields, Wellington Farm Shop, Westlea Farm Shop and Westlands Farm Shop. For veggie deliveries, box schemes include AG Axton & Sons, Bitterne Box Co, Hampshire Market Garden and Worthy Earth.
Game: Duck; goose; hare; mallard; partridge; pheasant; turkey; venison. Meat and poultry including beef, chicken, lamb and pork are available year round.
Seafood: Clams; cockles; dab; dover sole; flounder; grey gurnard; haddock; hake; herring; langoustine; lemon sole; lobster; mackerel; monkfish; mussels; oysters; pilchards and sardines; prawns; red gurnard; red mullet; scallops; sea bass; sea bream; skate; turbot; whelks.
Please check the Marine Conservation Society’s Good Food Guide and buy seafood from an independent fishmonger such as Hampshire Fare members Anyfish, Bishop’s Waltham; CE Evans & Sons, Alresford; JS Fresh Fish Shop & Deli; Thyme and Tides Deli, Stockbridge and Premier Fish, Salisbury. Stansted Park Farm Shop has a fish counter on Fridays.