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Once you've got over the disappointment of not finding strawberries in November or oranges in August, you'll find your shopping basket adapting according to the harvest – and experts assure that the nutritional benefits of eating in-season fruit and vegetables are worth it.
Also, it's good for the planet and the local economy. When produce travels less distance to get to the shops or markets, less fuel is consumed and emissions are reduced, and farmers do not have to compete with other producers half a world away who can undercut them on price and still make a profit.
Plus, the quicker the produce gets to the shelves, the less time it has to lose quality or vitamin content.
“It's always better to choose in-season fruit and vegetables, since these are allowed to grow to their natural size within a natural length of time, and retain all their properties,” says one of Spain's leading consumer organisations, the OCU, which has produced a calendar of the various crops you can find in season at any given time of the year.
The Spanish Nutrition Federation (FEN), along with the ministry of agriculture, has drawn up a list of the beneficial elements found in produce in season to help you figure out how you're improving and maintaining your health and wellbeing by digging into what you find on sale from month to month.
And this month, May, is when some of our favourites start to ripen and fill the shelves – here's an overview of what you'll be seeing about now, or will be soon, when you go shopping.
Apricots
Spain is one of the main producers, and the best time for harvesting and consuming is between May and September. Compared with other fruit, apricots have a much lower energy content due to being largely water-based with limited carbohydrates, but they are rich in betacarotene, a powerful anti-oxidant, which transforms into vitamin A when the body needs it.
Apricots are also high in potassium, which helps enhance muscle strength, metabolism, the nervous system, and prevents electrolyte loss – the essential elements lost through sweating – and water retention, as well as being necessary to reduce the risk of stroke, heart and kidney disorders, high blood pressure, anxiety and stress.
Additionally, apricots are high in vitamin C, which boosts the immune system, and in flavonoids, which are said to help guard against cancer, cardiovascular disorders and asthma.
Cherries
The best cherries in Spain – and certainly the largest amounts – are, arguably, found in the Vall de Gallinera, a rural, breathtakingly-beautiful inland mountainous valley in the northern Alicante province, about half an hour's drive from the coast. Every year, during the harvest, this remote enclave that time forgot holds a cherry festival (first picture); but of course, not in 2020, although it hopes to be able to resume the event in May 2021.
Cherries typically start reaching the shops and market stalls towards the third week of May, and the ones from the Vall de Gallinera are the perfect balance between sweet and tart. Delicious just for nibbling at, you could also take a leaf out of the book of another Mediterranean country – Turkey – and juice them for a highly-refreshing and nutritious cold drink.
Their sugar content is fairly high, so they may not be suitable for diabetics, but are a good source of energy for everyone else, being replete with fructose, sucrose and glucose.
Cherries are also exceptionally high in fibre, which is great news for the digestive system, and they also contain vitamin C, high quantities of potassium, and are a source of folate (a B-vitamin needed to 'manufacture' red and white blood cells, convert carbohydrates into energy, and create DNA and RNA), thiamin (vitamin B1, which contributes to a healthy nervous system, brain, muscles, heart, stomach and intestines), and pro-vitamin A, which is good for eyesight, immune system, skin health and bone health.
The FEN says cherries contain monoterpenes, which are said to carry anti-tumour properties, and they are also full of powerful anti-oxidants.
Strawberries
You'll find these in two sizes – fresas, which are small to medium-sized, and fresones, which are much larger. Strawberry season starts in early April and continues until around June – earlier than in northern Europe, where summers are of a similar temperature to a Spanish spring. That said, they can still appear in supermarkets in Spain later in summer, since the northern region of Asturias is still growing them then, as its climate is cooler than on the Mediterranean or the south coast.
If you've ever found yourself binge-drinking orange juice in winter to ward off a cold by boosting your vitamin C content, you might be surprised to know that strawberries contain far more of this crucial nutrient, which is beneficial for joints and bones as well as for the immune system. So, next time you feel yourself flagging a bit and reach for the oranges to up your vitamin C, you might be better off munching some strawberries instead.
Vitamin C is also necessary for the absorption of iron, so it's a good idea to nibble some strawberries if you're taking iron tablets for anaemia or as a dessert following liver and onions – or, if you're vegetarian, a dish with beans and pulses, brown rice, quinoa, nuts and seeds such as cashew, sunflower, pumpkin seeds and pine nuts, or chard (acelgas in Spanish, and a popular ingredient for many cooked recipes).
Aubergine
In Mediterranean Spain, aubergine – along with red peppers, garlic and tomatoes – are roasted, peeled and chopped up, and eaten with smoked tuna and dried salt cod in a dish known as espencat – you can even find this as a topping for pizza. Aubergine is also an excellent meat substitute for vegetarian lasagna, is ideal roasted along with peppers, tomatoes and courgettes, or cooked and stuffed.
Whilst its energy content is low, this is ideal for those on a low-calorie diet, and the fact its content is almost entirely water means it is helpful for rehydration and as a diuretic.
Although the nutritional value of aubergines is not as full-bodied as other vegetables, it does contain a moderate amount of fibre and flavonoids, and its skin contains nasunin, a type of anthocyanin, which is a powerful anti-oxidant.
Green asparagus
High in nutrients but very low in calories, green asparagus is tasty, versatile, and a good source of vitamin C, rich in minerals and in flavonoids. It is replete with inulin, a type of prebiotic dietary fibre which can contribute to controlling diabetes, improving digestion and gut health – the latter by helping to increase healthy bacteria in the colon – and to lowering blood sugar levels.
Green asparagus also contains betacarotene, an anti-oxidant, is filling despite having negligible calories, and its high water content helps with rehydration and as a diuretic.
Carrots
You'll find carrots at almost any time of the year in Spain, although May is their optimum harvest month. Although the idea of 'negative calories' – food which burns more energy to eat than it provides – is said to have no scientific evidence to back it up, chomping on raw carrots is filling, satisfying if you just want to 'pick at' something rather than feeling hungry, and a small to medium-sized one only contains 20 calories.
The other tale you've been told all your life about how carrots help you see in the dark – and about how you'll never see a rabbit wearing glasses because they eat so many carrots – is in fact largely true: They are high in carotenoids with pro-vitamin A activity, which transforms into vitamin A once inside the body. As mentioned above, vitamin A is beneficial for eyesight, contributing to slowing down age-related vision loss and improving night sight, as well as strengthening skin and mucous membranes.
Carrots, despite being very low in calories, contain high levels of complex carbohydrates – the 'good' sort, which provide energy by slow release rather than giving a sudden high and then turning into fat if unused, like refined sugar and other simple carbohydrates.
In lesser levels, but still present, carrots contain vitamin C, iron, potassium, vitamin B6 or pyridoxine – which may contribute to alleviating symptoms of depression, improving brain health and reducing the risk of cognitive decline, heightening red blood cell production, preventing blocked arteries, and even treating pre-menstrual syndrome and pregnancy-related morning sickness – and also iodine, which the body needs to enable it to generate the thyroid hormones that control metabolism, growth, cell repair and energy levels.
Tasty and beneficial – but not a panacea
In theory, if you give your body exactly what it needs to function and keep it free from toxins, it should stay healthy and in good working order, depending upon your genotype; and a lot of what it needs to stay healthy is found in fruit and vegetables, particularly in-season varieties.
But no single fruit or vegetable, nor combination of these, or any other foodstuff is a 'cure' for serious medical problems, nor does anything edible, however packed with nutrients, stop you getting any ill-health conditions. You can't prevent a stroke by eating apricots, manage diabetes with asparagus, avoid getting Alzheimer's by munching carrots, or keep yourself safe from cancer by eating cherries; these foodstuffs contain varying levels of vitamins and minerals which contribute to good health in different ways as part of an otherwise balanced diet and, if you consume the correct amounts of these nutrients, you stand a better chance of feeling, and being, healthy. A much higher-than-necessary intake of any vitamin or nutrient can, however, be dangerous, so don't go and eat kilos of fruit every day thinking you're guaranteeing yourself a long life when, in fact, you might be doing the exact opposite. As an example, anti-oxidants work to keep you in good condition by clearing out free radicals, the toxins that cause cell damage that leads to ageing and age-related diseases, but your body needs a certain amount of free radicals to keep its immune system working well, so you don't want to clean all of them out of your system.
Likewise, no amount of fruit or vegetables or any other type of food is a substitute for scientifically-tested and proven medication or other medical treatment for a diagnosed illness.
Five a day is good practice, though
Dieticians recommend we all consume five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, but ideally five different ones – just eating five apples, for example, isn't going to do the job.
It's quite a lot, in most cases. But don't forget that the earliest humans lived largely on plant matter – and, however much we think we've progressed as a species in thousands of years, it seems that we forgot what we actually need to eat shortly after evolution. In fact, humans are the only species that do not know instinctively what it needs in its diet.
Three apricots is a portion, 14 cherries, seven strawberries, five green asparagus spears, one carrot, or half an aubergine – so, with this month's produce, you've already got six.
Some fruits and vegetables are easier than others to get a 'portion' from. Half a pepper, half an avocado, one medium apple, one medium banana, and one stick of celery will give you your five a day; a large slice of pineapple, a two-inch (five-centimetre) chunk of cucumber, two slices of mango, one nectarine and one large tomato (or seven cherry tomatoes) also does the job; a slice of melon, two artichoke hearts, two plums, a tablespoon of sultanas or raisins, and one parsnip will also be enough.
Try to mix up colours as much as you can – red, orange, yellow, green, purple and white fruit and veg all contain different nutrients which your organism needs, so mixing and matching is recommended.
Photograph 1: The Vall de Gallinera's annual cherry festival, by the Costa Blanca tourist board
Photograph 2: Rita E on Pixabay
Photograph 3: Antonio José Céspedes on Pixabay
Photograph 5: Peggy Greg on Pixnio
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