In Season Vegetable Guide: Identifying The Star Cast & The Special Appearances

How many of you are still eating bhindi in winter? Bhindi Aloo, Bhindi Fry, Dahiwale Bhindi?

Don't. Coz although they look fresh and happy and very tempting there on that vegetable cart, they are not in season. At least not in winter.

Increasingly, we see most vegetables available across the year. Because now we have these fancy, high end storage devices that can freeze your veggies for months at a time. We have pesticides, fertilisers and chemical manure that can make veggies grow to twice their size, glossier, and against the will of nature. Of the weather too.

The only two ways to look at this is to either submit or fight back.

Why fight back? Because each veggie plays to your needs. When the temperatures are high, you need veggies that either cool you down or have high water content or allow you to digest and process nutrients that you need in that season. Similar logic for veggies in winter. Incidentally, winter and spring are the best times for veggie lovers - fresh produce, bright colours and loads of lovely leafies.

Notice how most veggies are off during rains? Mum says, and I do staunchly believe in passed-on wisdom, that things infect easily during the rains. Leafies and veggies are either being cultivated, in wait for winter, or rotting away. Mum recommends sprouts, pulses and the select few veggies we get during rains as a diet. To prove her point, she made me shell peas during rains once and a caterpillar crawled out. So, well, point taken. Same experience with a cauliflower, by the way.

The same goes for fruit. This post will be followed by a post on seasonal fruit in India so hold your horses.

If you are reading this, you are clearly looking at fighting back. This post will help you identify, with the help of a guide that you can bookmark, save on a Word doc or whatever other method suits you, to identify what veggies are in season when, which ones are perennial etc.

- Perennials:

Arugula / Rocket leaves
Asian veggies
Beets
Carrots (the yellowish orange kind)
Herbs (basil, mint, parsley, coriander, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme)
Cultivated mushrooms (not wild, mostly sold canned/bottled)
Spinach (no, not winters, although most of us think they are winter veggies, probably coz they are a little hot in characteristic)
Sprouts

- Summer Veggies:

a) Early Summer - March, April, May

Apricots
Spring onions

b) Late Summer - Early Rains For Us Desis - June, July

Okra / Bhindi
Potatoes
Garlic
Gherkins / Tondli

c) Throughout Summer - March to July

Avocado
Fresh basil
Corn
Cucumber
Eggplant / Brinjal
Bell peppers / Casicum (green, yellow, red)
Shallots
Tomatoes (yeah I know it's a fruit, but we all know how we use this one so don't bite my head off)
Zucchini

- Rain Veggies - For June-July, refer to the list above under b) and c) - August To October Here

Artichokes
Bok Choy
Eggplant
Garlic
Lemongrass
Mushrooms (wild)
Pumpkins
Shallots
Sweet potatoes
Turnips
French beans
Gherkins / Tondli

- Winter Veggies - November To Early January

Brussels Sprouts
Broccoli
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Celery
Radish
Lemon
Sweet potatoes
Red carrots
Green peas
New potatoes
Colocasia / Arbi
Methi / Fenugreek leaves

- Spring Veggies - January To February

Leeks
Lemons
Lettuce
Mushrooms (Wild)
Onions (stored throughout the year)
Green peas
Spring onions
Turnips
Methi / Fenugreek leaves

Now, I know this is not an exhaustive list. You will find things missing, I am sure. But what I am trying to do is here is compile a list of commonly and sometimes, slightly uncommonly eaten veggies, leafies etc. so we have a handy guide you can go back to.

But if you are somebody who keeps track of the rates of veggies in the markets, unlike me, my mum's advice will hold in good stead: buy veggies that are inexpensive. Those are the ones in season - everything else is not :) Happy eating and stay healthy.