Fruit and Vegetables in January

After the excesses of the holiday season, January in the UK is a quiet month in the kitchen; most families are reeling financially after splurging at Christmas and the kitchen cupboards are a bit bare. However, as the winter gets colder, it’s now that warming foods are needed - spicy foods to give a warm glow to the tummy.

Even if you are a bit skint after the festive season, if you know what to buy and where to get a bargain, the post-Christmas slow period is one of the best months of the year for shopping and cooking, especially if you are a citrus lover, since oranges simply don’t get any better than navel oranges from Spain and clementines and satsumas follow close behind and may even surpass their larger relations in sweetness and flavour. Kumquats are more of an acquired taste, but if you like them as much as I do, this is the best month to buy them. Any fruit from the southern hemisphere is likely to be good, since the depth of our winter is the height of their summer and the harvest is coming in down there. Big juicy grapes and apples from South Africa should be in top condition, as well as fruit like bananas and lychees. Fresh cranberries will also still be available after the Christmas festivities; I like to buy and freeze them for use in cooking and baking. Also look out for dried fruits such as dates and prunes; dried in the autumn, they should now be at their most tender.

While foreign produce dominates the fruit shelves, natives dominate the vegetables. Root vegetables began their season in the autumn, but they are at their best now and should be taken full advantage of for baking, roasting, mashing, soup and stews. Parsnips, turnips, swede, sweet potatoes, celeriac and carrots; these are all highly versatile, most of which can be used as alternatives for potatoes, or additives to mash potato. These vegetables take particularly well to a small but lively addition of something sharp, such as citrus, vinegar or mustard, or piquant such as spices or chillies. Celeriac, with its incredible sweet, nutty taste, a little like celery, may be the least known of these vegetables and certainly deserves a wider following.

The other great vegetable stars of the month include cabbages and their close relation, the Brussels sprout. These cruciferous vegetables are not just one of the best choices of the month, but are certainly among the cheapest. Tightly packed white and red cabbages are top choices for coleslaw or other salads, but the deep green Savoy is generally regarded as best if it’s going to be boiled, steamed or braised. Savoy has a somewhat shorter shelf life than white and red cabbage, both of which can be stored without refrigeration for a week or more. Their quality maintaining ability makes these good standby items when there are no other vegetables in the house.