The Valdichiana calendar, month by month

Eating seasonally has become a slogan, which is a pity, because underneath it there is something very concrete: a vegetable picked in its own month costs less, tastes more and has not travelled. In the Valdichiana the calendar runs roughly like this.

Winter — January, February

This is the time of cavolo nero, at its best after the frosts, and of dried pulses. On the table: ribollita, bean soups, the vegetables put under oil in autumn. Under the ground the aglione is growing, out of sight.

It is also carnival season, which in Tuscany means sweet fritters.

Spring — March, April, May

March brings asparagus and the first leaf vegetables. In April the thing people here wait all year for happens: the aglione flower scapes come up, and they last a few weeks.

May is the month of late artichokes, fresh broad beans, the first pods. Easter falls in this window and brings eggs, tortelli, lamb.

Summer — June, July, August

June and July are the aglione harvest: the bulbs are lifted by hand and the weeks of slow drying begin.

It is also the time of tomatoes, peaches and nectarines, melons. Everything that will become a preserve is born now: the jams, the juices, the peaches in syrup are all made in these months, because this is when the fruit is there.

In August people cook outdoors and cook little: salads, tomatoes, something over the coals.

Autumn — September, October, November

September is a month of transition: the green tomatoes arrive, the ones that will never ripen and that become preserve, and the grapes.

October is the month of pumpkin and porcini mushrooms. November brings the olives and with them the new oil — which in Tuscany is an event, not a purchase.

From here on the cavolo nero waits for the cold, and the round begins again.

What a calendar is for

Two things. First: at the market, knowing what to ask for. Second, less obvious: understanding why a preserved product makes sense. Peaches in Syrup exist because peaches last three weeks; Pumpkin and Lemon Preserve because pumpkin belongs to October and not to the rest of the year.

A preserve made in the right month is not a fallback: it is how that month reaches February.