Buying Local Produce…What’s in Season?

It’s Summertime!! And the living is easy…warm weather, long, sunny days, and local produce is bountiful and delicious.

Our food choices directly affect the health of our planet. Buying season, locally grown food reduces our carbon footprint, checking global warming.

Most produce grown in the United States travels an average of 1500 miles to reach your plate. And that doesn’t account for the products shipped here from around the globe. Transporting produce (and other goods) from around the country and around the world racks up global warming emissions.

There are a handful of simple things we can do to make food choices that are more sustainable:

• Find a Farmer’s Market near you and support your local farmers.

• Buy produce only when it’s in season. It tastes so much better, it’s more nutritious, and it’s a real treat.Don’t know what’s growing in your area? Go to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Based on your location and time of year, it will give you a list of what’s in season near you.Let me give you an example. Here’s a just a sampling of the fresh produce growing in Washington state right now:

Apricots, Beans, Beets, Blackberries, Blueberries, Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Chard, Collard greens, Cucumbers, Currants, Eggplant, Hearty greens (bok choy, kale, mustard greens), Jerusalem artichokes, Leaf lettuce, Melon, Nectarines, Onions, Peaches, Peas, Peppers, Plums, Potatoes, Radishes, Raspberries, Rutabagas, Spinach, Strawberries, Summer squash, Sweet cherries, Tomatoes, Turnips.

What’s growing in your neighborhood?

• Learn to can, freeze, or dry some of summer’s bounty to enjoy during the winter when seasonal choices are limited.

• Be aware of where your food is grown. We often expect to be able to buy strawberries in January without even thinking about where in the world these strawberries are coming from. If in doubt of the country (or location) of origin, ask your grocer.

• Avoid the hotlist of produce that is flown in from around the world to satisfy our demand for “fresh” produce all year long. Again, it’s important to know where your food is coming from. The NRDC provides this list of “Frequent Fliers” including their country of origin:

Asparagus (Peru)
Bell peppers (Netherlands)
Tomatoes (Netherlands)
Blackberries (Chile)
Blueberries (Argentina)
Cherries (Chile)
Raspberries (Chile)
Peaches (Chile)
Nectarines (Chile)
Papayas (Brazil)

Be good to yourself and good to the planet…Enjoy the season and take in all it has to offer!

Be well,
Jess

Jessica Adlin, MS RD