With 2011 drawing to a close, Madalene Bonvini-Hamel, owner of the British Larder pub and restaurant in Bromeswell, Suffolk, looks at the vast range of seasonal delights that can be found in December
The game season is in full swing, and with shoots happening every day, the choice of seasonal ingredients is vast. Seasonal favourites such as Brussels sprouts, cranberries and chestnuts are at their best, just in time for the festive celebrations.
The season for exotics such as avocado, pomegranates, Medjool dates, pineapples and passion fruit is peaking. Other seasonal favourites such as satsumas and clementines are also plentiful.
Tubers and roots that benefit from frost - such as celeriac, horseradish, Jerusalem artichokes, parsnips, salsify and swede - are doing well this time of the year.
The cold ocean is delivering a plethora of super-sweet oysters, scallops, mussels and clams along with turbot, halibut and brill.
The grouse season ends on 10 December, however, turkey and goose are plump and ready for roasting.
Look out for the season's pièce de résistance - fresh white truffles. Alternatively, opt for the less expensive black variety to add that final touch to your festive meal. Fresh white truffles are coming to an end but the black Périgord truffles are at their best.
Cranberries
Cranberries are a North American import and the tradition of eating cranberry sauce with turkey has also been adopted from a US tradition. The dark red fruithave excellent keeping qualities because they contain benzoic acid, a natural preservative.
The fruits are traditionally harvested by flooding the plains with water - the harvesters go through the sea of cranberries which float and are then scooped from the surface.
Cranberries are traditionally part of most festive tables in the form of cranberry sauce, a suitable accompanying sauce for roast turkey.
Chestnuts
Sweet chestnuts are widely used in sweet and savoury dishes and are available in plenty of different formats, from sweetened or unsweetened puréed versions to vacuum-packed, fresh, dried, ground, chestnut flour or frozen.
Chestnuts contain a higher amount of starch and water and less fat and protein than other nut species. For those reasons, chestnuts can be dried and turned into flour.
Salsify and scorzonera
Two closely related root vegetables, salsify has a white skin and scorzonera a black one. Both discolour rapidly and should be dropped into acidulated water or rubbed with lemon straight after peeling. In Belgium, young salsify leaves are blanched like chicory and sold as a salad.
Black salsify is also known as the black oyster plant, and gets this peculiar name from its resemblance to oysters once cooked.
Salsify roots are generally muddy and no amount of washing and scrubbing will remove all the sand. The best way to deal with salsify is a large, clean kitchen sink, a peeler and a large container with a lemon.
Salsify oxidizes as soon as the skin is removed, hence it should be kept in a high acidic solution. It naturally lends itself to pairing with fish, however, it adds an interesting flavour to vegetarian dishes and goes particularly well with white meats such as pork, chicken and turkey.
Jerusalem artichokes
Jerusalem artichokes are tubers. The raw taste is similar to water chestnut but when cooked it has a distinctive flavour, unlike other vegetables. It contains the carbohydrate inulin rather than starch, a polysaccharide that the body finds hard to digest - which is why it's often thought of as a gassy food.
However, it is a fascinating vegetable which pairs up well with many different ingredients. If eaten raw, the unwanted side effects that most people dislike about Jerusalem artichokes are decreased.
flavours of december
Apples (home-grown crop), avocado, beetroot, brill, Brussels sprouts, cabbages, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, chestnuts, chicory, clams, clementines, coley, cranberries, duck, goose, grouse (until 10 December), guinea fowl, haddock, hake, halibut, hare, hazelnuts, horseradish, Jerusalem artichokes, kale, langoustine, leeks, lemon sole, Medjool dates, monkfish, mussels, oysters, parsnips, partridge, passion fruit, pears, pheasant, pineapple, pollack, pomegranates, potatoes (main crop), pumpkin, rabbit, salsify, satsuma, scallops, sea bass, shallots, skate (on endangered species list), swede, turbot, turkey, turnips, truffles (black and white), venison (all breeds), walnuts, wild ducks (teal, mallard, widgeon), winkles, woodcock, woodpigeon
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