After the unbelievable summer we’ve had, temperatures are now cooling, bringing warm days and cool nights. The market offering is changing, and autumn’s bounty is quickly becoming apparent. Many of summer’s green vegetables are giving way to classic autumn produce.

 

Squashes of many varieties are suddenly abundant, with Delica, Hokkaido and Crown Prince among the stars. Soon we will start to see root vegetables such as Jerusalem artichokes, parsley root, celeriac and parsnips. Brassicas also come into their prime over the next few weeks, with cavolo nero and Russian kale among the favourites. Beautiful rainbow chard and spinach also thrive throughout early autumn, while navets and carrots feature too.

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As for fruit, we will see the end of the brilliant peach and apricot season, along with the last of the berries. In their place come beautiful figs, blood plums and, of course, pears and apples. The pear season starts with fragrant Williams pears, while the apple season begins with Reine des Reinettes.

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It’s time to think about menu changes. Root vegetables will become more prominent and, of course, this is also the time for wild mushrooms. Girolles will finish in October, but from the second half of September we begin to see yellow chanterelles, trompettes de la mort, hedgehog mushrooms (pieds-de-mouton), maitake and, of course, ceps.

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Game seasons begin in October or November, depending on the species.

It’s the time when menus naturally change, and it is always exciting for chefs, with autumn’s abundance offering so much choice.