Food & Drink, Green

5 reasons why we should eat ‘in season’ (& eat rhubarb cake too)

April 17, 2014

Rhubarb PatchWe often hear the term ‘in season’ bandied about but I was asked recently why it was so important when food is readily available all year round – a good question in the age of convenience. The following post therefore gives five reasons why we should be thinking more carefully about the foods we buy and cook throughout the year. It’s followed by a few suggestions for rhubarb recipes as well as a very seasonal rhubarb crumble cake that I discovered this week after we found ourselves with a glut of duck eggs and ‘in season’ rhubarb stalks.

Rhubarb Crumble Cake CrumbsNumber 1. In season food that’s been freshly harvested has more nutrients and flavour than food that’s travelled hundreds of miles and/or has been stored before it reaches you.

After we pick fruit and vegetables they continue to breathe (known as respiration) which breaks down proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Warm air can speed this process up, as in the case of apples for instance. For the commercial market apples are generally stored at cold temperatures for long periods of time (for a year or more in some cases), with low levels of oxygen and high levels of carbon dioxide added to them. After a few months under these conditions, their nutrient levels begin to diminish.  Even without long-term storage, it might take a week or two between a fruit or vegetable being picked, to when it’s delivered to the shop we buy it from. It may then be another week before we eat it.

When we buy ‘in season’ and locally, the food is generally sold within 48 hours of being picked and we’re more likely to use it quickly, perhaps excited and mindful that it’s so fresh.

Number 2. Buying seasonal food usually means we’re supporting local producers, farmers, farmers markets, CSAs and co-ops which is great for local economies. I wrote a post recently about the various schemes and projects we can support here if you’d like to find out more about them.

Number 3. Buying seasonal food means it’s usually cheaper. Buying a punnet of strawberries in June should be much cheaper than buying a punnet at Christmas. If it’s not, we should ask ourselves (or the shopkeeper) why not. Are the farmers getting a good deal?

winter squashNumber 4. Some societies believe that ‘in season’ food provides nutrients and ingredients that our bodies crave or need at certain times of the year. Somehow juicy soft fruits such as red currents and raspberries seem much more appealing when the sun is warm on our skins than in the cold winter months. Likewise we enjoy eating warming vegetable stews and soups loaded with root vegetables, pulses and winter squashes in the autumn months when we’re tucked up in front of cozy fires.

Number 5. Eating in season is good for the environment. At a time when climate change and fossil fuels are uppermost in many of our minds thanks to the recent IPCC report, there are less air and road miles used when we shop for and eat ‘in season’ local produce.

Buying more local and ‘in season’ produce doesn’t mean that we have to give up buying imported produce altogether, but that we become more aware of what’s growing or on offer at any particular time and choose it as often as we can over imported fruit and vegetables.

rhubarb plantsRhubarb Recipes

As a result of a sudden rhubarb glut in the Greenside Up household, I learnt this week that if we don’t have time to cook it all, it freezes very well. Just wash, trim and cut the stalks into 25mm pieces then blanch them in boiling water for 1-2 mins. Drain them, dry them then pack them into containers on their own. They can then be used for stewed fruits, pies and cakes when you have more time.

However, it seemed a shame to be in possession of so much rhubarb and not make something with it! I therefore chose this particular rhubarb crumble cake recipe because it uses lots of eggs and now that our duck is laying, we have an abundance.

Not used to baking with duck eggs, I googled and found that we can just straight-swap duck eggs with hen eggs. So I did. The resulting cake was light, fluffy and went down a treat but it did take longer to bake than the original Good Food recipe suggested, probably as a result of the slightly larger duck eggs.

Ducky & Bob, best pals since the fox attack

Ducky & Bob, best pals since the fox attack

If you’re searching for other rhubarb recipes, I’ve one here that the lovely Mona Wise published in her newspaper column last year for rhubarb cheesecake and another from Sarah of Cake in the Country for rhubarb lemonade that’s very refreshing at this time of year. There are instructions on the latter post too for growing and caring for rhubarb if you have any questions about it.

duck eggsRecipe for Rhubarb Crumble Cake

250g butter
250g caster sugar plus 1 tbsp
2 tsp vanilla extract
5 large eggs (I used duck)
300g plain flour, plus 7 tbsp
2 tsp baking powder
300g rhubarb, washed, trimmed and sliced thinly
Preheat the over to 160°C/140°C fan/gas 3 and grease and line a 20cm deep cake tin.

Please note that since my old food mixer broke, I’ve been using a food processor for all my mixing and baking… 

Put the butter, 250g sugar and vanilla into a food processor and mix until the mixture is combined, light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time (I always break them into a cup first to check they’re fresh), and mix together before tipping the mixture into a large bowl. You wont need to do this if you use a food mixer. Sieve in the flour and baking powder and fold into the mixture.

For the crumble topping, remove about 85g of the mixture with a spoon and put onto a plate then stir in the extra 7 tablespoons of flour mentioned in the ingredients list. Use a knife and fork to mix and chop this up until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Add the chopped rhubarb into the large bowl of flour and eggs and fold in until combined. Empty the mixture into the prepared cake tin and sprinkle the crumble topping over the top before finally sprinkling the remaining tablespoon of sugar over the top.

Place the tin onto the middle shelf of the oven for 1 hr 35 mins if using duck eggs (the Good Food recipe recommends 1 hr 15 mins for hen eggs). If the cake begins to brown or burn but is still runny in the middle when checked with a skewer, cover the top with a piece of tin foil.

When ready, remove from the oven and allow to cool for a while before turning out of the tin and cooling fully on a wire cooling rack.

rhubarb crumble cake

Rhubarb Crumble Cake

I’ve plans to make a rhubarb and honey compote this weekend with honey from a neighbours hives, making it a truly homegrown dessert. Do you have any favourite rhubarb recipes? What are your thoughts on ‘in season’ shopping? Do you think we’ve forgotten what ‘in season’ really means?

16 Comments

  • Reply WiseMona April 17, 2014 at 10:03 pm

    Dee,
    I think so many people do not understand ‘in season’ … and it does not look like it is going to change anytime soon. Rhubarb is one of the best signs of summer in our garden and my goodness that cake is still one of my favourites. I think the grocery stores should label produce items by letting us know how many food miles it has journeyed to get to us.

    • Reply greensideupveg April 17, 2014 at 10:18 pm

      That’s a good idea Mona, or at least have to print the country of origin in much larger letters. We could do with more TV coverage that helps to highlight and inform too. This is our best year for rhubarb since we began growing it which means plenty of opportunity for baking your cheesecake recipe and Sarah’s lemonade in the very near future. Also hoping to make some jam but might have to save that for the quieter months and make sure to freeze enough.

  • Reply Lorna April 17, 2014 at 11:43 pm

    Agree – seems crazy what food miles some foods travel. I have a fab recipe for rhubarb cake too – must try your one too as have a good bit of rhubarb. Always freeze some here too.
    I was reading in ‘Money for Jam’ last week that duck eggs are better than hen eggs fro baking – make lighter cakes.

    • Reply greensideupveg April 18, 2014 at 6:56 am

      They have over twice the amount of cholesterol and fat which is alarming but given cakes are a treat in our household, I guess they’re okay! But yes, the cakes and batter puds have been fantastic since we started swopping them. We’ll have to exchange rhubarb recipes, always good to try a recommendation 🙂

  • Reply Marie Ennis-O'Connor April 18, 2014 at 3:12 am

    A great reminder of the benefits and the pleasures of eating in season and a wonderful recipe to try out too – perfect Dee!

    • Reply greensideupveg April 18, 2014 at 6:58 am

      Thanks. Marie. Growing our own really bought home to me the joys and anticipation of in season eating and cooking, something I don’t recall being so aware of before.

  • Reply matt care April 18, 2014 at 9:32 am

    I am told that if you spread the rhubarb leaves over the ground under your gooseberry bushes, this will deter the gooseberry sawfly

    • Reply greensideupveg April 18, 2014 at 9:47 am

      Now that tip I like having had an infestation last year! Thanks Matt. 🙂

  • Reply Rich Rennicks April 19, 2014 at 2:09 am

    Love rhubarb! Have a bunch coming up in my garden. Won’t be ready to pick for a couple more weeks, though. Can’t wait to try that cake recipe.

    • Reply greensideupveg April 19, 2014 at 5:20 pm

      I’m going to bake it again this weekend Rich, it was such a success. Enjoy 🙂

  • Reply Amanda Webb April 21, 2014 at 11:21 pm

    There is something special about in season foods. I remember my Granny getting very excited about Strawberry season. It started every year around my Birthday so I always have fond memories. It seems wrong that we have strawberries all year round, it’s less of a treat and they do taste pretty rubbish off season.

    Not a big fan of rhubarb but I might be tempted into this recipe if I can steal some from my Mother in Law 🙂

    • Reply greensideupveg April 22, 2014 at 7:56 am

      I think this recipe would work with other fruit Amnda, the sponge was lovely. Our youngest doesn’t like rhubarb either but there was no way she was going to miss out so she picked it out. I love the way food evokes memories, strawberry season for us used to mean heading out together as a family, dragging mum away from the shop for a couple of hours, and picking punnets full in the PYO fields close by.

  • Reply Naomi April 22, 2014 at 10:14 am

    My 8 year old does not eat any fruit but funnily enough he will eat berries in season off the bush… and always has done it this way. I think he might be more clued in the most of us 😉 …. I think it might be a good day for some rhubarb crumble cake… thanks for the recipe

    • Reply greensideupveg April 22, 2014 at 11:06 am

      I think we condition kids awary from their instincts Naomi. My youngest two will eat most vegetables raw, preferably straight from the garden but turn their noses up at almost all cooked varieties. Ian has been great at encouraging veg eating by ensuring there are always a pile of raw veg on the side of their plates at meal times rather than arguing that they have to have them cooked. Let me know what you think of the cake if you make it 🙂

  • Reply Kathryn Grace May 12, 2015 at 6:33 pm

    WiseMona, I agree about showing the point of origin in larger letters. I have to take off my glasses and squint to read them, but then my eyes are in their seventh decade.

    Dee, these are excellent reasons for buying in season, and well stated. Thank you. I shared this post today on my Facebook page, Cooking with Whole Grains & Real Foods. I had planned to bake a strawberry rhubarb crisp this morning, but now I’m torn. Hoping I can stretch my rhubarb stalks enough to make two desserts and freeze one.

    • Reply Dee Sewell May 12, 2015 at 8:40 pm

      Thanks for the message, and the reminder that I had the recipe on my blog. I’m now wondering if I have enough stalks to make it too, enjoy 🙂

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