seasonal ingredients
Time-sensitive cooking materials
Seasonal ingredients are foods harvested or produced during a particular time of year when they are at peak freshness, flavor, and abundance.
Chefs and home cooks prize them because they typically taste better and cost less than out-of-season alternatives that have been shipped long distances or grown in artificial conditions.
The restaurant changes its menu to highlight seasonal ingredients.
The term appears frequently in discussions of farm-to-table cooking and sustainable eating.
- preservingProtecting from deterioration
- comfort foodEmotionally consoling dishes
- herbsPlants for seasoning
- fruitsEdible seed-bearing crops
- peak ripenessOptimal point of maturity
vegetables · fungi · grains · heirloom varieties · nuts · harvest · local produce · seeds · farm-to-table · menu planning · foraging · wild mushrooms · culinary traditions · seafood · dairy · chef · meat · winter squash
- Northwest cuisineDungeness crab, smoked salmon, cedar plank salmon, huckleberries, marionberries
- Japanese foodsushi, ramen, tempura, sashimi, miso