what sort of fruit is best at this time of year?

[headfairy]

we're stuck in a bit of an apples/bananas/satsumas rut at the moment, and I'm struggling to think of any reasonably local (ie Europe - don't need it to come from the farm down the road, as lovely as that would be) in season fruit at this time of year. Most satsumas and similar small citrus (that ds will eat) are getting a bit grotty as I think the season is over and they've been in storage for quite a while. Ditto apples. Bananas have obviously been flown halfway across the world so ideally I'd like to minimize how many of them we eat (esp as dd is completely stuck in a banana rut). But what to get?

Southern Hemisphere grapes and pears are still excellent. Look out for South African citrus, apples and grapefruit this month. New Zealand kiwi are about three weeks away. Bananas don't fly anywhere btw... very energy-efficient sea-freight system so no need to feel guilty. Soft fruit is still Spanish at the moment but we should be getting into GB produce in the next few weeks.

Doesn't help you cut back on the food miles but the Indian alphonso mangos should be available soon. Best place to buy them is an Indian grocers but sometimes you do see them on regular markets. As well as the alphonso mangos, the other variety that I particularly like are the Kesar mangos, which I think may have a slightly longer season.

Had another thought, what about rhubarb? Grown in England and in season.

Oooh rhubarb, I love rhubarb. Thank you Karma. I am trying to cut down my food miles so perhaps I'll hold off on the mangoes and southern Hemisphere grapes etc Cogito but thanks nonetheless. I know in dem olden days people used to pickle and preserve fruit to last them the winter but spring is bloody hard for local in season fruit! Basically there is none. We're having lots of frozen fruit at the moment but sometimes it's a bit mushy, I'm very glad we dont' have to worry too much about bananas (and having seen how much Waitrose have invested in St Lucia I can assuage some of my middle class guilt :o)

Don't be fooled by food-miles. It's energy consumption that's the key. A slow-moving, refrigerated ship steaming up from Cape Town containing grapes that have been naturally ripened in the sun is using far less energy than, say, Dutch tomatoes that have spent months sucking down electricity in acres of glasshouses and then driven round Europe on trucks... even though they've only hopped a few miles across the channel.

we had british strawberries this week from tesco on BOGOF (just as well as they were £3.50 a box!

I didn't know that cogito, perhaps food should be marked according to the energy it's taken to produce it. I always think I'm being terribly clever buying things that are relatively local. Oops.

Were they any good Seona? I always think things like that grown out of season taste a bit bland.

There's a website called eat the seasons that will send you an e-mail each week telling you what's in season. Not just fruit, but veg, meat, fish, shellfish. I think recently it's been telling me to eat rhubarb.

Seona - me too and they were lovely

I know this isn't fruit, but carrot sticks are a good alternative fruit-sort-of snack IYSWIM.