During July and August in Fife we can harvest or buy a huge range of fruit and vegetables. Fife is well known as a producer of quality soft fruits and you can find a great selection at Farmer’s Markets (www.fifefarmersmarket.co.uk), pick-your-own farms and shops and if you look carefully in the supermarket you can find strawberries from Fife. My top tip for July and August is to get out and pick-your-own! It’s good fun, exercise and great value. You can make jam, summer pudding (see below for recipes) eat loads and store some in the freezer for a treat later in the year when local fruit is more scarce.
As a rough guide the following are in season at the moment:
Vegetables
- Beans – broad, French and runner
- Peas
- Globe artichokes
- Potatoes
- Salad leaves and rocket
- Spring onions
- Shallots
- Courgettes
- Carrots
- Beetroot
- Calabrese (summer broccoli)
- Tomatoes (I know it’s a fruit but it fits better with the salad veg)
- Cucumber
Fruit
- Strawberries
- Raspberries
- Blackcurrants
- Redcurrants
- Cherries
- Tayberries (delicious hybrid of raspberry and blackberry)
- Blueberries (in August)
Wild harvest
- Nasturtium flowers and leaves (add to salad for a peppery taste)
- Chamomile flowers (makes a calming herbal tea, steep a few flower heads in boiling water for 5 minutes then drain and serve with a little honey)
- Marigold flowers (calendula) also make a good herbal tea. Calendula has anti-viral properties so is good if you feel a cold coming on. Make as for chamomile.
