What's Good Right Now: what's in season in the South West, November and December
Roots, brassicas and the last of the pressing - plus a Bristol orchard quietly keeping fifty varieties of apple alive.
Horfield Community Orchard Planting Horfield Community Orchard Wassail Horfield community orchard Bristol
The clocks have gone back and the cooking has changed with them. Here's what's in season in the South West through November and December, and what's worth knowing before Christmas.
First, a look back at October
October was all about apples. The cider harvest ran all month across Somerset and Devon, and the eating apples hit their peak alongside it - not the handful of varieties that make it into supermarkets, but the hundreds grown around here for centuries that never travelled further than the next village. Squash and pumpkin were everywhere, the wild mushrooms were up, and the first kale arrived.
Most of it hasn't gone anywhere. Pressing runs through to December. Winter squashes keep anywhere from 1-6 months in a cool cupboard. And the kale only gets better from here; sweetened by the winter frost.
What's in season in the South West this November
Parsnips, celeriac, swede, red cabbage. Low-maintenance ingredients that want an hour in a hot oven and almost no attention.
Leeks and beetroot are good all the way through. Sprouts arrive and immediately start dividing households. Pears come good. Chestnuts turn up. And the sea hands over the mussels at their best, which is the part of the season people forget about in a city thirty minutes from the coast.
What December brings
Not much is new, and it doesn't need to be. Everything on the November list has had its first frost by December, and frost levels up these veggies, giving them a sweeter taste and appeal. Sprouts, kale and cabbage are in their prime - more so than they were in the month before.
The last of the cider pressing finishes up. Game is at its best - pheasant and venison are some of the cheapest, yet best-quality meat you can buy. Right at the end of the month, forced rhubarb and Seville oranges turn up, which is the first proper sign the year has turned.
Cooking it
The rule for this time of year is that almost everything on that list wants the same treatment: high heat, a bit of fat, more time than you think. Roots and brassicas all improve with proper colour on them.
We'll be adding recipes from our demo stage chefs, partner restaurants and other Bristol spots through the year, with the story behind each one. First of those lands soon!
The orchard at the top of Gloucester Road
A mile and a half from the Downs, on a patch of land in Horfield at the top of Gloucester Road, there's an organic community orchard that's been going since 1998.
Horfield Organic Community Orchard is run by its members, who have planted more than a hundred fruiting trees, bushes and vines there. It's now home to more than fifty varieties of apples, eight pears, ten plums, plus grapevines, cobnuts, a medlar and a quince. Many were chosen because they were raised in the counties around Bristol - Ashmead's Kernel from Gloucester, Pomeroy of Somerset, Gilliflower of Gloucester, and Beauty of Bath.
Almost none of them are grown commercially. You won't find them in a supermarket. Growing them is how they survive.
The orchard isn't just a collection, though. It runs courses in pruning and fruit tree care, workshops and training for members, and it raises its own grafted fruit trees in a small nursery on site- which is how varieties like these end up in other people's gardens. It's one of the quieter, better things happening in Bristol food, and well worth knowing about!
Feast On returns in the summer!
Feast On returns to The Downs, 30th July - 1st August 2027.
First release tickets are on sale now, from just £8.
Comments