Why Seasonal Produce Tastes Better: The Benefits of Eating Local and In Season

Kevin: Hey, Michelle, it's summer and there is amazing, amazing food all around and I go to the summer farmer's market every Saturday and see what's fresh from the local farms. And I just, I love this time of year. It's so amazing.

Michelle: You know, every time I have come to visit you, I know you walk everywhere, right? Because you don't even really have a car, right?

Kevin: I don't own a car. No.

Michelle: And we're always walking past neighborhoods and it's like you see on the television, you know, in the in European countries, like there's all kinds of side markets and vendors selling stuff on the side.

Kevin: That's what I love about it. There's different markets all over the place and I have my choice and I have my my favorites and and it's amazing. I love my neighborhood.

Michelle: Even here, like we're a short drive and you can go right to a family farm where they have like a barn that has a little all of their local produce in it. And then we have a market on Saturdays and we have the Western Fair market. I even learned there's a really fantastic one in Kamoka that I didn't hear about. But every little small town, small community has that. And we're, of course, in southwestern Ontario. So we're surrounded by small local farmers and it's it's just really nice to support them.

Kevin: I love driving through there and stopping at a local farmers market, just a roadside concession and just seeing like, you know, the baskets of fresh tomatoes or cucumbers or berries or whatever happens to be local. I just love it. And buying whatever is available.

Michelle: Even though I grow like a fair amount of my food, some of it all year round in my indoor garden. But in the in the summer, I have raised beds and an outdoor tower garden and an indoor tower garden. I still love to go to the markets and get get the things that I'm I'm not growing. And, you know, I rarely, rarely darken the doors of a grocery store like my husband kind of does the grocery store run for the you delegate the boring stuff.

Kevin: Yeah. You delegate the boring stuff to him. I get that.

Michelle: Well, I think it's in his routine, you know, he's a creature of habit.

Kevin: Someone's got to do the dirty work. It's probably just to escape me for a couple of maybe we'll ask him that sometime. We'll have him as a guest.

Michelle: But growing up here, like going to those little local markets like that reminds me so much of being a little kid because I grew up right in the middle of it. Right. And, you know, we used to my neighbors used to grow strawberries and we'd run over and pick strawberries when strawberries were in season. And my my mom would take us to go apple picking. And that was those are really fond memories for me as a kid. And I just wanted to chat about this, you know, seasonal summer produce, not just about potentially the health benefits of eating those foods over, you know, conventional grocery store produce and not to slight our grocery stores. We need them. We're glad that we have them. But like the connections you can make as a family with your kids and the excitement we've gotten to be such a convenient society that we're disconnected from our food now.

Kevin: Oh, right. Of course. I remember being on a walk with my son and it was just in like a local conservation area and we passed by an apple tree that was just growing wild. It was on no one's property. It was just growing wild. And I said, oh, you know, it was a it was a nice autumn day, like, do you want an apple? And he looked at me like I said, well, there's an apple tree right there. And he looked at me. It's like, you can't just pick an apple from a tree. What do you mean? Like he just he didn't he didn't get the concept of connect like he knew intellectually that apples came from trees, but he'd never actually this was several years ago when he was younger. But he never had actually made that connection that if you see an apple tree, you can just reach up. So it's not anyone's private property and pick it and eat it fresh from the tree. Yeah. So I got him one and he was like, oh, this is so good. This is delicious. This is the best apple I've had.

Michelle: They taste so good. And they're smaller. Right. Like an actual apple that hasn't been like cultivated is smaller, but it's much more intense in flavor.

Kevin: Exactly. And so it was interesting to see him make that connection sort of in real time.

Michelle: Yeah. And as kids growing up in Ontario, we used to have to wait for things to be in season. We've talked about this before. But now you can find most things all year round. I wanted to just chat about this for a second. What are the benefits of seeking out and enjoying seasonal fruits and vegetables like aside from the fun of it?

Kevin: They taste better. That's my mic drop. They taste better. Bottom line. 100%, Kevin. 100%. I mean, my big bugaboo is strawberries.

Michelle: I know.

Kevin: And tomatoes. Like it's strawberry season now. And tomatoes. That's true. Strawberries and tomatoes, they're hard, they're woody, they're more like apples out of season. But when they're in season, it's like this symphony of like intense flavor. And it's just there's nothing better than that.

Michelle: Yeah. They're cultivated to be visually appealing on the shelf, but they don't provide the same taste that we get when we get them fresh.

Kevin: Taste, texture, nothing. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Michelle: So let's talk about June through August. This is our peak produce season.

Kevin: Yes.

Michelle: We can get locally grown field berries, tree fruits, and garden vegetables. And when we eat in season, we're getting not just those intense flavors, but we're also getting peak freshness. And we're supporting local agriculture, like local small scale farmers, which is great. So strawberries start appearing in June, and that kicks off Canadian berry season in general. Then follows by cherries, late June, July, especially in Ontario and British Columbia. Do you prefer sweet cherries or sour cherries?

Kevin: Sour all the way. I think sour cherries are my all time. If I had to pick one fruit that was my absolute favorite fruit in the entire world, I think it'd be sour cherries. Oh, I didn't know that.

Michelle: I love them that much. Now, have you ever got... Cherry picking is something I might have done it with my mom. I remember getting the little green baskets.

Kevin: I have done cherry picking before. I've done blueberries.

Michelle: I think I had to have gone, but I was very small.

Kevin: I've done currants. I've done strawberries. I've done raspberries, apples, of course.

Michelle: Blueberries and raspberries, I just, it takes a long time to self-pick those, but...

Kevin: Yeah, blueberries are a pain. But they're so good. And when I went blueberry picking, they had like a crow cannon, you know, those cannons that want to scare off the crows?

Michelle: Yes.

Kevin: So every like two minutes, there's a big boom behind me. And I hated that. It was like, oh, and it always scared me. I never got used to it.

Michelle: But do you ever find when you went out and you took the time and you did the picking yourself that you just enjoyed it so much more? Like it's just such a treat, right?

Kevin: Of course. You appreciate it more because you put the labor in.

Michelle: Yeah, exactly. And you get the connection to the local place where you got them. But my favorite season, as everyone probably already remembers from last season, is peach season.

Kevin: Yes.

Michelle: I love peach season. And that's the star of August. Also plums. Plums are around the same time. Yeah. And then it ends, the season ends out with melons. So those are our fruit. Cantaloupe and watermelon and cantaloupe in actual season, locally grown, is so different than the stuff that you find on every single random fruit tray ever done in a grocery store. They're not the same at all. Not even close.

Kevin: There's a huge difference.

Michelle: They're softer and they're more succulent and they're brighter in color.

Kevin: And the flavor is just so much more intense.

Michelle: Summer vegetables. What's your favorite summer vegetable besides the tomato?

Kevin: What is my favorite summer vegetable? I like when it's super, super fresh, the tiny, tiny, dainty little asparagus that you get early in the season. Not thick and woody stalks, but like the tiny, tiny stalks.

Michelle: And asparagus, they just, my dad used to grow asparagus in his garden and they just grow and grow and grow and grow and grow.

Kevin: Yeah. Yeah. And that's, again, I hate asparagus the rest of the year. I find it's woody and gross flavored. It's kind of got a bit of a bitter undertone. But in those like three days, so it seems, when they're super fresh and tiny and delicate, they just melt in your mouth and all the bitterness goes away and they're really quite tasty.

Michelle: To use the tea reference, you like first flush asparagus.

Kevin: Yes, exactly. I like the dainty little, tiny little, little thin asparagus.

Michelle: I love all kinds of asparagus. You're making me hungry right now. We're, we're famous in this part of the world for sweet corn, which I remember as a kid, we used to just, my uncle used to farm sweet corn and on the edge of our property. So we used to just walk over and pick it.

Kevin: That's my son's favorite.

Michelle: I think he loves sweet corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash and zucchini. You know, I don't do enough squash, Kev. That's something I have to set a goal for. I'm not a fan of squash.

Kevin: I never have been a big fan of squash.

Michelle: I like soup. I love squash soup. Yum, yum, yum.

Kevin: I like zucchini, like grilled zucchini on a barbecue. It's delicious.

Michelle: Yeah. And on skewers.

Kevin: Yeah.

Michelle: With other stuff. Yeah.

Kevin: Eggplant. And oh, yeah.

Michelle: And nice chunks of barbecue glazed tofu. Yeah.

Kevin: On there. Red onion for a little bit.

Michelle: Peppers.

Kevin: Yes. Peppers.

Michelle: I'm growing a whole bunch of peppers this year. We're experimenting with different varieties of hot peppers as well. Sweet peppers, green beans and peas. Snap and snow peas are grown early summer around here.

Kevin: Love snow peas. And snap peas, but snow peas are delicious.

Michelle: I'll bring on all the peas. I remember as a little kid just sitting in the garden and eating the peas and splitting them open and just tossing the shell. Oh, I'm sure. And I would get in trouble because I was eating too many of them.

Kevin: Yeah. Leave some for the meal.

Michelle: So let's just talk about produce grown locally versus produce that travels and ends up on your grocery store shelf. So during storage and transport, those foods will decrease in their vitamin C content and it will decrease in their B vitamin content. These are all sensitive to handling and storage conditions. And then there's other certain antioxidants and phytochemicals that will also decline over time. So you are going to get more nutrient density. That just stands to reason because the time from farm to plate makes a big difference. Imported produce also is often harvested. A lot of people don't realize this. It's harvested before it's actually ripe. Before it's ripe. Right. So they do that so that it can withstand these shipping over time and long distances. So the nutrients will continue to develop as the fruits ripen in the truck.

Kevin: Right.

Michelle: And so, I mean, this is what's wrong with the tomato, right? Vine ripened tomatoes develop higher levels of lycopene and other compounds. And we mentioned the lycopene is one of the compounds, you know, in a healthy whole food diet that can be very protective to the skin, right? For skin quality, fully ripened fruits will contain more flavor and higher antioxidant levels. And it just stands to reason that if the plant is given the time and the conditions to do what it's designed to do naturally, it's always going to result in more quality, more like better nutrient quality than if it was done in a truck. They often have to spray nitrogen in those trucks in order to, you know, inspire that ripening process. But you got to kind of hand it to whoever figured that out, like that that was even possible. In terms of we're going to get the most bang for our buck if we are looking at our leafy greens, if we can get those fresh, because the vitamin C is noticeably lower after extended storage. And that's why I love growing a majority of my leafy greens at home. And I grow them indoors year round, as everyone knows, because I only pick it when I'm going to eat it right away. And there's never any any waste. And I just love it so much. The antioxidants in berries in particular will decline over prolonged storage. So getting your berries as fresh as possible is important. Right. Anything that's high in minerals, iron, calcium, potassium is going to remain relatively stable. So that could apply to some of your like your brassicas that are sturdier, like your kale, your cauliflower, your broccolis or whatever, because they're they have more integrity like this. You know, they tend to be the crunchier ones. So they're they're a little bit better than the softer greens. Fiber content doesn't change from transport. Fiber is fiber. It's the undigestible cellulose that's so good for our gut. It's the food for our micro microbes in our microbiome. And the calories, the carbohydrates and the protein content is relatively unchanged. So it's protecting our exposure to the vitamin C and the antioxidants and the B vitamins. It's the biggest deal, right? That's the main impact. OK, interesting. So what's our practical takeaways? Buy local. Buy local, like locally grown fruit or vegetables in season is going to provide, I think mainly it's about that connection, that local connection, that connection to the to the land and just appreciating where our food comes from. Right. And and all of that. But, you know, if if that's a barrier, if you're a shift worker or like, I don't know, if you have those crazy constraints that just makes it really hard and really impractical, let's not lose the forest for the trees, so to speak. Like if your alternative is not eating fruits and vegetables at all, then there's nothing wrong with these imported produce.

Kevin: Exactly.

Michelle: Right. They're still very highly nutritious and provide many health benefits. The most important factor is being consistent at including these whole foods consistently and variety and making that at least 50 percent to your plate. Right.

Kevin: Exactly. Yeah. Well, thank you. That's that's interesting. Let's give a let's give a round of applause for our local farmers.

Michelle: Yeah. And, you know, it's like I know it's a simple topic and we've talked about this before, but it's just worth repeating and like get your get your kids, take them out to a berry farm, take them to the farmer's market. It's all so much fun. If you even if you just did that once a month or something like expose your kids to those wonders that we have available to us and make the like teach them to place a higher value on those foods over the bars.

Kevin: Exactly. OK, amazing. So time for the joke. Yeah, absolutely. You know, they say people pick their noses, but I feel like I was just born with mine.

Michelle: Oh, that's not the kind of local produce picking I was talking about.

Kevin: Oh, I didn't even think of that connection. Oh, no. What a horrible. Oh, maybe I should get a new joke. No, it's done now. It's a done deal. OK, well, I apologize to all of our listeners for the tastelessness of that joke. Oh, and I'd like to issue an apology for that apology.

Michelle: Oh, my goodness.

Kevin: OK, well, thank you, Michelle, for reminding us to eat local and most importantly, to take advantage of what's fresh and local when it's fresh and local.

Michelle: Yeah, and write to us or post on our Facebook page or our Instagram page if you have a favorite local produce that we didn't mention.

Kevin: Exactly. Or send us photos. I love photos of nice, fresh looking food. So share your bounty with us. And you can reach us at either Facebook or Instagram at At Nutrition, the number four noobs. Easy peasy. And you can always email us at nutrition. No, that's the wrong email. hello@nutritionfornoobs.com It would help if I give the right email address. So that's hello@nutritionfornoobs.com. And until then, don't forget to eat your greens locally. And be real. This has been Nutrition for Noobs. We hope you're a bit more enlightened about how your fantastic and complicated body works with the food you put into it. If you have a question or a topic you'd like Michelle to discuss, drop us a line at hello@nutritionfornoobs.com. If you haven't already, you can subscribe to the podcast on whatever your favorite platform might be. Also, please consider leaving a review or telling your friends. That's the best way to spread the word. We'll see you next time with another interesting topic. The views and opinions expressed on Nutrition for Noobs are those of the hosts. It is not intended to be a substitute for medical, nutritional or health advice. Listeners should seek a personal consultation with a qualified practitioner if they have any concerns or before commencing any actions mentioned in the podcast.