Seasonal calendar

A seasonal calendar shows, month by month, which fruit and vegetables are currently coming from the fields in Germany – and that's exactly when they taste best. Strawberries in June, tomatoes in August, pumpkin in October, kale in January: produce harvested ripe has more flavour and often more vitamins than produce picked unripe and transported over long distances.

A rough guide: spring brings asparagus (April until 24 June), rhubarb, radishes and spinach. Summer brings strawberries, cherries, berries, courgettes, cucumbers, and field-grown tomatoes and peppers. Autumn delivers apples, pears, plums, pumpkin, cabbage, carrots and beetroot. In winter, storage vegetables such as cabbage, root vegetables, potatoes and apples, along with lamb's lettuce, leeks and kale, carry you through. Germany's Federal Centre for Nutrition (BZfE) offers a seasonal calendar covering every variety.

Eating seasonally helps with weight loss almost in passing: because there's always something new, vegetables stay exciting, and the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day become easier. Ripe fruit is also sweet enough to replace dessert – strawberries in June don't need sugar.

It matters for the climate too: according to the German Environment Agency, locally grown outdoor vegetables cause significantly fewer greenhouse gas emissions than produce from heated greenhouses or flown in by plane. Strawberries in December are the best-known example. Frozen and tinned produce from the harvest season is a good bridge through the winter.

For families, the seasonal calendar becomes a game: “discover” a new vegetable every month, ask at the farmers' market what's being harvested right now, or go berry-picking together. Children who know where and when strawberries grow eat them with more enthusiasm.