Summer

All fruit is seasonal and there is not a better selection than during the summer, both locally produced and imported; when locally produced, fruit is at its best. Buy fresh, firm fruit and eat within a few days. Always store it in a cool dry place. Enjoy salad vegetables, also at their best, including a great variety of lettuces, with great flavor and firm texture.

 

VEGETABLES

BEST QUALITY: artichoke; beets; broad beans; carrots; corn; cress; cucumber; French beans; green beans; runner beans; lettuce; peas; peppers; radish; salad greens; tomatoes.

AVAILABLE: asparagus; avocado; broccoli; cabbage; cauliflower; celery; fennel; kohlrabi; mushroom; onions; turnip; zucchini.

 

FRUIT

BEST QUALITY: apricots and strawberries during the first half; all berries and soft fruits, bilberries, blackcurrants, blueberries, gooseberries, loganberries, raspberries, redcurrants, white currants; cherries; peaches; plums; melons; nectarines; watermelon; later, grapes, almonds and hazelnuts.

AVAILABLE: bananas; figs; grapefruit; mangoes; pineapple; there are also walnuts and Brazil nuts.

 

MEAT

Better to choose lamb or filet steaks. There is also mutton; veal, beef; pork.

 

POULTRY

AVAILABLE: chicken, duck, goose, guinea fowl, and turkey.

BEST QUALITY: duck, which is at its best from the second half of the summer.

 

GAME

AVAILABLE: pigeon, quail, and rabbit.

BEST QUALITY: venison.

 

FISH

BEST QUALITY: Freshwater bass, hake, sole, and turbot, as white fish; carp, herring, grey mullet, red mullet, perch, pike, salmon, sardine, brown trout, sea trout or salmon, albacore or yellowtail tune, and whitebait, as oily fish; mackerel from the second half.

AVAILABLE: cod, dogfish, flounder, haddock, mock halibut, plaice, whiting; mackerel, pilchard, rainbow trout.

 

SEAFOOD

BEST QUALITY: crab, lobster, scallops, whelks, winkles.

AVAILABLE : clams, cockles, prawn, shrimp.