UK Seasonal Produce Glossary: Key Terms Explained
Navigate the world of seasonal eating with confidence — from allotments to zero waste, here’s your guide to the language of local food.
Whether you’re new to seasonal eating or simply curious about the terms you keep hearing at farmers’ markets, this glossary cuts through the jargon. We’ve gathered the words that matter most when you’re shopping, cooking, and living in tune with Britain’s growing seasons.
Growing & Farming Terms
Allotment
A small plot of rented land where people grow their own fruit and vegetables. Britain’s allotment tradition dates back centuries, and today’s plots are treasure troves of heritage varieties and seasonal wisdom. Many allotment holders grow what’s practical for preserving — think rows of runner beans in July and pumpkins sprawling by October.
Heritage Varieties
Old cultivars that have been passed down through generations, often pre-dating commercial farming. Purple Top turnips, Yorkshire Hero peas, and Cornish Yarg potatoes all tell stories of place and time. These varieties often have stronger flavours and better adaptation to local growing conditions than modern hybrids.
Polytunnel
A tunnel-shaped structure covered in polythene that extends growing seasons without artificial heat. You’ll spot these across British smallholdings, protecting tender crops from our unpredictable weather and allowing growers to start seeds earlier in spring.
Market Garden
A small-scale farm focused on growing diverse vegetables for local sale. Market gardens are the backbone of seasonal eating in the UK, supplying everything from muddy carrots in winter to delicate salad leaves in summer.
Smallholding
A piece of agricultural land smaller than a farm, typically between one and fifty acres. Smallholders often combine livestock with vegetable growing, creating diverse seasonal cycles from spring lambs to autumn apple harvests.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
A partnership between farmers and consumers where members pay upfront for a season’s worth of produce. CSA members share both the risks and rewards of farming, receiving weekly boxes that truly reflect the seasonal highs and lows.
Biodynamic
A holistic farming approach that treats the farm as a living system, following lunar cycles and using special preparations. Biodynamic farms often produce intensely flavoured seasonal produce, though the philosophy can sound mystical to newcomers.
No-Till
Farming without plowing, preserving soil structure and supporting underground ecosystems. No-till vegetables often have deeper, more complex flavours because the soil biology remains undisturbed through seasons.
Companion Planting
Growing different plants together for mutual benefit. Classic combinations include carrots with onions, beans with sweetcorn, and nasturtiums with courgettes. These partnerships often mirror natural seasonal rhythms.
Green Manure
Crops grown specifically to be dug back into the soil, adding nutrients and organic matter. Winter rye and crimson clover are common green manures, keeping allotments productive even in the quiet seasons.
Chitting
Pre-sprouting seed potatoes before planting, usually done on windowsills in late winter. Those pale green shoots emerging from tatties in February signal that spring planting season approaches.
Earthing Up
Gradually building soil around growing plants, particularly potatoes and leeks. This traditional technique creates longer white stems on leeks and prevents potato tubers from turning green.
Seasonal Timing
First Earlies
The earliest potato crop, typically planted in March and harvested from June onwards. Think Jersey Royals and Rocket potatoes — waxy, sweet, and perfect with just butter and mint. These signal the true start of the British growing season.
Second Earlies
Mid-season potatoes planted in April and ready from July to August. Varieties like Charlotte and Kestrel bridge the gap between new potatoes and main crop storage varieties.
Maincrop
Late-season potatoes and other vegetables grown for winter storage. Maincrop potatoes like King Edward and Maris Piper are planted in May but not harvested until autumn, when their thick skins make them perfect for storing.
Glut
When a particular crop comes into abundant harvest all at once. August means courgette gluts, September brings apple abundance, and October delivers pumpkin mountains. Gluts are seasonal eating’s gift and challenge — time to preserve, share, and get creative.
Hard Frost
The killing frost that ends the outdoor growing season, typically arriving between October and November across most of the UK. This frost transforms gardens overnight, blackening tender plants but sweetening parsnips and Brussels sprouts.
Hungry Gap
The challenging period in late winter and early spring when stored crops are running low but new growth hasn’t begun. Traditionally April to June, though modern storage extends many crops longer. This gap shaped British food culture for centuries.
Growing Season
The period between the last hard frost of spring and the first hard frost of autumn. In southern England, this might run from April to October, while Scottish Highlands have much shorter seasons.
Harvest Moon
The full moon closest to the autumn equinox, traditionally providing extra light for harvest work. Even today, many growers time their harvest activities around lunar cycles.
Lammas
August 1st, traditionally the first harvest festival marking the beginning of grain harvest. While few celebrate Lammas now, it reminds us that high summer marks the beginning of autumn’s gathering season.
Michaelmas
September 29th, traditionally when harvest should be complete and rents were paid. Michaelmas daisies bloom around this time, and stubble geese were traditionally eaten at Michaelmas feasts.
Martinmas
November 11th, when animals were traditionally slaughtered for winter preservation. This timing still influences seasonal meat availability, with fresh pork and beef more abundant in late autumn.
Storage & Preservation
Clamp
A traditional method of storing root vegetables outdoors through winter, covered with straw and earth. While most of us rely on sheds or cellars now, the principle remains — keeping vegetables cool, dark, and slightly humid.
Root Cellar
An underground storage space that maintains steady, cool temperatures year-round. Perfect for storing apples, potatoes, carrots, and other winter crops without refrigeration.
Sand Storage
Layering root vegetables in slightly damp sand to prevent moisture loss while allowing air circulation. Carrots, beetroot, and parsnips can last months stored this way in cool conditions.
Blanching
Briefly boiling vegetables before freezing to preserve colour, texture, and nutrients. Essential for making the most of seasonal gluts — blanched broad beans freeze beautifully from summer abundance to winter soups.
Dehydrating
Removing moisture to preserve food, from traditional apple rings hung on strings to modern electric dehydrators. Herbs, mushrooms, and fruit leather all capture peak-season flavours for winter use.
Lacto-Fermentation
Preserving vegetables using beneficial bacteria, creating tangy flavours and probiotics. Sauerkraut from autumn cabbages and fermented turnips provide vitamin C through winter months.
Forcing
Encouraging plants to grow earlier or in darkness to create tender, pale shoots. Rhubarb forcing under upturned pots gives us those pink, tender stems in February. Chicory forced in dark cellars produces delicate chicons for winter salads.
Curing
Allowing certain crops to develop tough skins for better storage. Onions, garlic, and squash are cured in warm, dry conditions before being stored for winter use.
Stratification
Exposing seeds to cold, moist conditions to break dormancy. Many tree fruits and perennials need winter’s chill before they’ll germinate in spring.
Wintering Over
Keeping plants alive through winter for early spring harvest. Broad beans sown in autumn, overwintered onion sets, and kale that sweetens with frost all use this technique.
Harvesting & Selection
Bolting
When plants rush to flower and set seed, usually triggered by stress or changing day length. Bolted lettuce turns bitter, but the flowers are edible. Understanding bolting helps you time harvests and choose the right varieties for each season.
Field Heat
The warmth retained in freshly picked produce. Sweetcorn loses sugar rapidly after harvest, which is why the best ears come straight from field to pot. Understanding field heat explains why seasonal, local food often tastes so much better.
Pick Your Own (PYO)
Farms that allow customers to harvest their own fruit and vegetables, popular across Britain from strawberry season through apple picking. PYO connects us directly with growing cycles and often offers better prices for seasonal abundance.
Thinning
Removing some young plants or fruits to give others space to develop properly. Thinned baby carrots and turnips make delicious early season treats, while apple thinning in June ensures larger, better-flavoured fruit in autumn.
Deadheading
Removing spent flowers to encourage continued blooming or prevent unwanted self-seeding. Regular deadheading keeps salad crops productive and herbs from going bitter.
Pinching Out
Removing growing tips to encourage bushier growth or prevent flowering. Pinching out tomato side shoots concentrates energy into fruit production, while pinching basil prevents flowers and keeps leaves tender.
Successive Sowing
Planting small amounts of fast-growing crops every few weeks to ensure continuous harvest. This technique works brilliantly with lettuce, radishes, and herbs for steady seasonal supply.
Cut and Come Again
Harvesting method where you cut leaves but leave roots intact for regrowth. Perfect for salad leaves, spinach, and chard — you can harvest the same plants multiple times through the season.
Truss
A cluster of fruits, particularly tomatoes, that develop together. Buying tomatoes on the truss often indicates fresher, more flavourful fruit that was vine-ripened.
Windfall
Fruit that has fallen naturally from trees, often perfectly good for cooking even if not suitable for fresh eating. September brings apple windfalls perfect for crumbles and chutneys.
Regional & Cultural Terms
Scrumping
The time-honoured tradition of picking apples from trees overhanging public land or with permission from friendly neighbours. While technically trespassing if done without permission, scrumping speaks to our deep connection with local fruit trees and seasonal abundance.
Brambling
Foraging for blackberries in late summer hedgerows. A quintessentially British activity that combines exercise, free food, and connection to the landscape. Peak brambling happens in September before the devil spits on the berries (an old wives’ tale about the first frost).
Wassailing
An ancient tradition of singing to apple trees in winter to ensure good harvests. Still practiced in Somerset, Devon, and other apple-growing counties, wassailing connects us to the spiritual side of seasonal living.
Harvest Home
Traditional celebration marking the end of harvest, also called Harvest Festival or Ingathering. These celebrations remind us that autumn abundance requires acknowledgment and gratitude.
Beating the Bounds
Walking parish boundaries annually, traditionally done in spring. This custom often revealed wild food sources like watercress beds, nettle patches, and fruit trees that supplemented seasonal diets.
Gleaning Rights
Historical rights allowing the poor to collect grain left after harvest. Modern gleaning projects continue this tradition, rescuing tons of perfectly good produce from commercial farms.
Common Land
Shared spaces where local people traditionally had rights to gather fuel, graze animals, and collect wild foods. Many commons still provide seasonal foraging opportunities for mushrooms, berries, and wild herbs.
Right to Roam
Legal access to certain countryside areas, including opportunities for seasonal foraging where permitted. Scotland’s right to roam is more extensive than England’s, but always check local regulations.
Drove Roads
Ancient routes used for moving livestock to market, often timed around seasonal patterns. These old paths frequently pass through areas rich in wild foods and traditional varieties.
Market Charter
Historical permission for towns to hold markets, often specifying which days and seasons. Many chartered markets still operate weekly, showcasing whatever’s in season locally.
Seasonal Worker
People who move with agricultural seasons, from fruit picking to Christmas tree harvesting. Understanding seasonal labour helps appreciate the human effort behind our food systems.
Crofting
Small-scale farming system traditional in the Scottish Highlands, combining crops, livestock, and sometimes fishing. Crofters developed incredible knowledge about surviving on seasonal resources in harsh climates.
Zero Waste & Sustainability
Nose to Tail
Using every part of an animal, though the principle applies to vegetables too. Beetroot leaves make excellent salads, broccoli stalks are perfect for stir-fries, and cauliflower leaves can be roasted like kale chips.
Root to Shoot
The vegetable equivalent of nose to tail eating, using every edible part of plants. Carrot tops for pesto, fennel fronds for tea, and radish leaves for soup all reduce waste while adding new flavours.
Gleaning
Collecting crops left behind after commercial harvest. Modern gleaning projects rescue tons of perfectly good produce that would otherwise go to waste, from potatoes in Norfolk fields to apples in Kentish orchards.
Food Miles
The distance food travels from farm to plate. British asparagus in May has minimal food miles compared to Peruvian spears in February. Seasonal eating naturally reduces food miles by choosing local produce when it’s naturally abundant.
Carbon Footprint
The greenhouse gas emissions associated with food production and transport. Seasonal, local eating dramatically reduces carbon footprint compared to year-round exotic imports.
Closed Loop
A system where waste from one process becomes input for another. Compost from kitchen scraps feeds next season’s vegetables, creating sustainable cycles that mirror natural systems.
Circular Economy
Economic model focused on eliminating waste through reuse and recycling. In food terms, this means using all parts of ingredients, composting scraps, and choosing reusable packaging.
Zero Waste
Lifestyle aimed at sending nothing to landfill through reduction, reuse, and recycling. Seasonal eating supports zero waste by reducing packaging needs and creating opportunities for bulk preservation.
Upcycling
Creative reuse of materials that would otherwise be discarded. Food upcycling turns vegetable scraps into stocks, stale bread into croutons, and overripe fruit into vinegars.
Permaculture
Design philosophy that creates sustainable food systems by working with natural patterns. Permaculture gardens often feature seasonal diversity, companion planting, and integrated preservation methods.
Rewilding
Restoring natural ecosystems, including food forests and wild edible landscapes. Rewilded areas often provide seasonal foraging opportunities while supporting biodiversity.
Regenerative Agriculture
Farming practices that improve soil health, sequester carbon, and increase biodiversity. Regenerative farms often produce more nutritious seasonal produce while healing the land.
Shopping & Markets
Farmers’ Market
Markets where producers sell directly to consumers, typically weekly in town centres or village halls. These markets offer the best connection to seasonal cycles, with stalls changing week by week as different crops come into season.
Farm Shop
Retail outlets selling produce directly from farms, often including on-site cafes and pick-your-own facilities. Farm shops excel at showcasing seasonal specialties and local varieties you won’t find in supermarkets.
Veg Box
Weekly or fortnightly deliveries of seasonal vegetables, usually from local farms. Veg boxes are seasonal eating made simple — you receive whatever’s abundant and learn to cook with the rhythms of local growing seasons.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
Partnership model where customers buy shares in a farm’s seasonal harvest. CSA members share both risks and rewards, receiving abundant summer boxes but learning to cope with leaner winter weeks.
Honesty Box
Self-service farm stalls where customers leave payment in secure boxes. These charming setups often offer the freshest seasonal produce at fair prices, operating on trust and community spirit.
Wonky Veg
Perfectly good vegetables that don’t meet supermarket appearance standards. Curved carrots, oversized parsnips, and split tomatoes all taste exactly the same but often cost less. Embracing wonky veg reduces waste and celebrates natural variation.
Seasonal Menu
Restaurant menus that change with available ingredients, showcasing whatever’s freshest and most abundant. Seasonal menus often feature foraged ingredients and local specialties you might not cook at home.
Artisan Producer
Small-scale makers focusing on quality over quantity, often using traditional methods. Artisan cheese makers, bakers, and preservers frequently work with seasonal ingredients to create products that taste of their time and place.
Local Food Network
Informal systems connecting producers with consumers, from WhatsApp groups sharing surplus garden produce to community fridges stocked with seasonal excess.
Food Hub
Central distribution points that aggregate produce from multiple small farms for local sale. Food hubs make it easier for restaurants and shops to source seasonal, local ingredients.
Seasonal Eating Group
Communities focused on eating with the seasons, sharing recipes, preservation tips, and group buying opportunities. These groups often organize bulk purchases of seasonal surplus for preserving.
Harvest Share
Community events where people share knowledge, preservation techniques, and seasonal abundance. Harvest shares might involve group apple pressing, communal preserve making, or seed swapping.
Cooking & Preparation
Seasonal Cooking
Adapting cooking methods and flavours to available ingredients throughout the year. Light spring salads give way to hearty autumn stews, while preservation techniques capture peak summer flavours for winter use.
Mise en Place
Having all ingredients prepared before cooking begins. This French technique becomes especially important with seasonal cooking, where ingredients might need different preparation methods or timing.
Batch Cooking
Preparing large quantities of seasonal ingredients when they’re abundant and cheap. August tomato gluts become winter pasta sauces, while autumn apple harvests turn into year-round crumbles.
One-Pot Cooking
Cooking complete meals in single vessels, popular for hearty seasonal dishes. One-pot meals make the most of root vegetables in winter and showcase tender spring greens without overcooking.
Slow Cooking
Long, gentle cooking methods perfect for tough winter vegetables and preserved foods. Slow cooking transforms autumn root vegetables into silky comfort foods while maximizing nutritional value.
Quick Pickling
Fast preservation method for excess seasonal vegetables using vinegar, salt, and spices. Quick pickles capture the brightness of summer vegetables and add tang to winter meals.
Seasonal Spicing
Adapting spice use to complement seasonal ingredients and weather. Warming spices like cinnamon and cloves suit autumn and winter dishes, while fresh herbs brighten spring and summer foods.
Blanch and Shock
Technique for preserving colour and texture in seasonal vegetables, involving brief boiling followed by ice water baths. Essential for preparing summer vegetables for freezing or serving bright green vegetables.
Confit
Slow cooking in fat to preserve and intensify flavours, traditionally used for garlic, tomatoes, and stone fruits. Confit preparations capture peak seasonal flavours in concentrated form.
Reduction
Concentrating flavours by simmering liquids until they thicken and intensify. Seasonal fruit reductions turn summer gluts into winter dessert sauces and meat accompaniments.
Foraging & Wild Foods
Foraging
Harvesting wild foods from natural environments, requiring knowledge of plant identification, sustainable harvesting, and legal permissions. Foraging connects us deeply with seasonal cycles and local ecosystems.
Wild Garlic Season
The brief spring period when wild garlic carpets British woodlands with white flowers and pungent leaves. Wild garlic season typically runs from March to May, providing intense flavour for spring dishes.
Mushroom Season
Autumn period when wild fungi emerge after summer rains, requiring expert identification for safe harvesting. Common edible species include field mushrooms, puffballs, and hedgehog mushrooms.
Nettle Season
Spring period when young nettle tops provide nutritious, spinach-like greens. First nettle harvests often happen in March, with plants becoming too tough and bitter after flowering.
Elderflower Time
Late spring to early summer when elder trees produce creamy, fragrant flower heads perfect for cordials, wines, and fritters. Elderflower season typically peaks in June across most of Britain.
Sloe Season
Autumn harvest of small, bitter fruits from blackthorn bushes, traditionally picked after the first frost. Sloes are too astringent to eat fresh but make excellent gin, jellies, and wines.
Rosehip Harvest
Late autumn gathering of vitamin C-rich fruits from wild roses, traditionally important during wartime rationing. Rosehips make excellent jellies, syrups, and teas when processed to remove irritating seeds.
Seaweed Foraging
Coastal collection of edible seaweeds during appropriate tides and seasons. Different seaweeds have optimal harvesting times, from spring samphire to autumn dulse and kelp.
Sustainable Harvesting
Ethical foraging practices that ensure wild populations remain healthy. This includes taking only what you need, leaving the first and last of seasonal crops, and never harvesting rare species.
Leave No Trace
Foraging philosophy that minimizes environmental impact through careful harvesting, proper identification, and respect for habitats. Good foragers leave areas better than they found them.
Foraging Ethics
The moral framework governing wild food collection, including respect for private property, landowner permissions, and ecological impact. Ethical foraging strengthens rather than depletes natural systems.
Wild Food Calendar
Seasonal guide to when different wild foods are available, from early spring nettles through autumn nuts to winter seaweeds. Understanding wild food timing helps plan foraging expeditions safely.
Getting Started with Seasonal Language
Understanding these terms helps you navigate farmers’ markets with confidence, ask better questions of local growers, and make sense of seasonal recipes. But remember — the best way to learn seasonal eating is by doing it, one season at a time.
Start simple: visit your local farmers’ market, ask what’s just come into season, and try one new thing each week. The language will follow naturally as you connect with the rhythms of British growing seasons.
The vocabulary of seasonal eating reflects centuries of wisdom about working with rather than against natural cycles. Each term carries stories of adaptation, celebration, and respect for the land that feeds us. Whether you’re planning your first allotment or simply want to shop more seasonally, this language connects you to a deeper understanding of food and place.
Ready to put these terms into practice? Download the Seasonly app to discover what’s in season near you right now, or find your nearest farmers’ market for a hands-on seasonal education.
Are you discovering new seasonal terms in your area? Tag us on Instagram @seasonly.uk with your local food words and traditions!
Meta Description: Master the language of seasonal eating with our comprehensive UK produce glossary. From allotments to zero waste, understand key terms for shopping and cooking seasonally in Britain.
