Vegetables and fruits in season in May

Eating seasonal, cooking for the climate

This page helps you decide which vegetables and fruits to get in May. Which are best to use, because they are locally available and in-season. Next, it helps you with recipes you can make with these vegetables and fruits. Finally, we explain the impact of eating seasonally on the climate.

May offers a lot of variety in vegetables and fruits. You can use winter vegetables from storage. Versatile ingredients like spinach and cauliflower are at their best. And fresh from the land are exciting greens like brocolli and chinese cabbage, as well as reds like tomatoes and strawberries.

Want a physical reminder of fruits and vegetables to use in May?

Our seasonal calendar shows what's in season for each month. Here you see the page with all the seasonal fruits and vegetables in May.

page of the seasonal calendar from fork ranger showcasing which vegetables and fruits are in season and best to cook with in May

Which fruits and vegetables to use in May?

Last chance

Almost out of season

parsnip

Parsnip

pear

Pear

Great from storage

These products you can store and enjoy for a while longer

red cabbage

Red cabbage

white cabbage

White cabbage

picture of an apple for an overview of during which months this fruit is best to use

Apple

carrot

Carrot

potato

Potato

beetroot

Beetroot

Prime Time

When they're harvested and at their best!

asparagus

Asparagus

spinach

Spinach

cauliflower

Cauliflower

rapini

Rapini

radish

Radish

endive

Endive

rhubarb

Rhubarb

Starting now

Coming into season

chinese cabbage

Chinese cabbage

peas

Peas

broccoli

Broccoli

strawberry

Strawberry

kohlrabi

Kohlrabi

spring onion

Spring onion

bok choi

Bok choy

tomato

Tomato

rocket

Rocket

The following sources were used for the creation of the seasonal calendar:

Natuur&Milieu, Milieu Centraal, Velt, BZFE, British Seasonal Chart.

Hang a pretty overview of in-season ingredients for May in your kitchen!

Our seasonal calendar shows:

  • Products that are almost out of season categorize as last chance.
  • Some products are great from storage for several months.
  • Prime time is when products are harvested and are at their best.
  • Starting now shows you the new arrivals.
to have an overview of seasonal vegetables and fruits nearby in your kitchen, handy when you're cooking

What to make with fruits and vegetables in May?

Knowing what's in season is only half the job. Of course you also want to know what to actually make with these seasonal vegetables. In our seasonal calendar, we show four recipes for each month. This is one of our favorites for May:

Mushroom Coconut Rice

A simple and rich rice that you can add your favourite vegetables to. The soy sauce and mushrooms create awesome umami flavours while the coconut milk creates silky smooth rice.

Get 48 seasonal vegetable recipes with our calendar

Scan the QR code on each month to get 4 delicious recipes:

  • Make use of various in-season produce
  • No meat
  • Are filled with natural ingredients and herbs, no mixes or processed stuff
  • Exciting flavors, no standard salads or boring meals
use your phone to scan the QR code at the bottom of each month's page to get access to the recipes. You can also check in which other months you can make these recipes in with the same in-season vegetables and fruits

or shop at local stores in the Netherlands: Oogst in Leiden, Ekoto in Etten-Leur, De Poelboerderij in Wormer, De Gieterij in Wageningen and many more...

Why is it important to eat fruits and vegetables in-season?

We all know vegetables and fruits are most delicious when they're fresh.
But these days you can get anything at any time you want from the supermarket.

We've all gotten used to having a rainbow of produce being available always. Almost the only thing that we still have is 'pumpkin season' for Halloween 🎃

Who even knew anymore that spring-onions are not really at their best in spring? They're always in store. So it's not strange that you might not realize this has quite the impact on our climate.

When something does not naturally grow in season, it costs a lot extra to produce it,

  • in a greenhouse 🏭,
  • to freeze it to prolong shelf-life ❄️,
  • or to transport it from somewhere else 🚚.

In other words: convenience is costing us in energy and polution.

 

Just a simple example to visualize it, with spinach:

spinach seasonal

Luckily, it's easy to make a change. By cooking and eating what's in season and locally available, you can make a difference.

By choosing to make concious choices when shopping instead of going for convenience, you can already make a difference.

And as added benefit, eating in-season will also help you:

  • appreciate variation in veggies and fruits more. Better enjoy those now!
  • be more in-tune with nature - berries are best in spring and summer, kales come when it's cold
  • make it easier to support locally harvested from local farmers
  • often automatically reduce your shopping costs
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