Autumn

Autumn, the fall season, when many vegetables ripen, wild mushrooms appear, and game meats come back to the menu.

Fall season is synonym with harvest. The ideal season for canning and preserving. As summer turns into fall, there is still a great selection of fruit and vegetables which have ripened late, and the fall vegetables come into their best. Autumn vegetables are ideal to add texture and flavor to soups, stews or casseroles.

Vegetables

Best quality: fava beans, runner beans; beetroot; broccoli; Brussels sprouts; cabbage; carrots; cauliflower; celeriac; celery; corn; cucumber; leeks; lettuce; marrow; mushroom; mustard and cress; onions; parsnip; peas; peppers; potatoes; pumpkin; radish; shallot; spinach; sweet potatoes; squashes; tomato; turnip; watercress.

Available: asparagus; avocado; chicory; eggplant; endive; fennel; kohlrabi; pepper; zucchini.

Fruit

Best quality: apples, crab apples; cherimoya; cranberries; dates; figs; grapes; grapefruit; lemons; pears; pomegranate; quince; all nuts, almonds, Brazil, hazelnuts, pecan,  walnuts, and, later, chestnuts.

Available: bananas; coconut; pawpaw or papaya.

Meat

Ham, beef and pork tenderloins,.

Poultry

Best quality: duck; duckling; goose; turkey.

Available: chicken; Cornish hen; Guinea fowl.

Game

Best quality: grouse; partridge; pigeon; wild duck; hare; venison.

Available: pheasant; quail; rabbit.

Fish

Best quality: cod, dogfish, flounder, hake, halibut, mock halibut, red snapper, skate, sea bream, sole, white sea bass, whiting, as whit fish; carp, herring, mackerel, grey mullet, red mullet, perch, pike, as oily fish.

Available: haddock, plaice, turbot, as white fish; pilchard, sprat, rainbow trout, yellowtail tuna, as oily fish.

Seafood

Best quality: California lobster; clams; cockles; mussels; oysters; scallops; whelks; winkles.

Available: crab; lobster; prawn; shrimp.