Goodbye to watermelons and apricots! Hello pumpkins and cauliflowers!

Summer is behind and autumn comes. We have come back to routines, but the drop in temperatures leades us to eat less fresh, seasonal food. Like nature, with the fall of leaves, the shortening of the days invites us to introspecton. This, but, doesnt’ have to be at odds with a good diet and a consumption of local product, that helps a social and environmental sustainability, preserving the vital and hard work that farmers of our horticultural zones carry out in order to guarantee a fair and healthy diet, for younger and older.

Replacing sun hours with food

It is necessary that the body is prepared to adapt change, strengthening the defenses and being ready for the cold and the decrease of hours of light. Vitamin C is key to prevent catching a cold, but also to create collagen, it maintains the flexibility of cells and the absortion of iron. This nutrient is basic to not be decayed or exhausted, and we’ll find it in the first mandarins, oranges, grapefruits… delightful citrus that can help us start a good day, but that we can also combine in salads of legumes, to better assimilate the iron of vegetable origin and prevent anemia.

Avocados, which grow in the Maresme region, are delicious both for their components in healthy fat acids and vitamins. Creamy, they are versatile. From cooked zucchini creams with a touch of avocado, served warm, to toasts that are becoming more trendy everywhere, with a bit of tahini sauce on top to complement the contribution of calcium for the bones.

Also, the delightful nuts of Catalonia, provide us with necessary proteins. Among them stand out chestnuts, so autumn, that can be cooked in the oven, but that can also be found in flour to make healthy and low-sugar cakes.

Time for Baix Llobregat’s products

The season of sweet Brussels sprouts begins, and other brassicas such as cauliflower and broccoli. We highly recommend its consumption since it has an antioxidant agent that prevents many diseases. It can be cooked in different ways: steamed to maintain the maximum of vitamins; incorporated in salads and pasta dishes; accompanying fish and meat; or sautéed.

You can even make a combined gratin of white, purple and yellow cauliflower (we have all colors, produced in the area of Parc Agrari del Baix Llobregat). This way, we give color to the dish and cheer up and bring light and color to the short days. In addition, as we already know, the funniest recipes attract the atenttion of the little ones.

During this season, we also start seeing the first crops of artichockes, but in other blogs we’ve already talked about their various properties. Of course, the great queen of autumn, that actually we find throughout the year, is the pumpkin. Violin, rabequet, large, round… buy in municipal markets, in cuts or whole (not rabequet, which is too big!).

How do we make the most of pumpkin?

You can cook it in the oven: cut it in dices, dress it with spices and a little oil and put it in the oven preheated to 190ºC for 10-15 minutes, depending on the dice’s size. Once baked, you can accompany it with fresh cheese, ruca’s leaves or whatever you prefer.

It can be made in creams, with a touch of ginger to activate more defenses and a bit of orange juice incorporated at last minute to maintain more citrus vitamin. Sliced (for the violin type) made to the grill, round and round,with a tomato and onion sauce, and a touch of gratin cheese… or pumpkin and sweet potato truffles made in the oven. Make sure they are well cooked, crush the pulp with some dates and pure cocoa, and make delicious and healthy truffles! Thus, you’ll accomplish a dessert that will surprise everyone and that children will be able to eat without remorse of the older ones (we have to take care of the little ones diet, but also of the teenagers).