Fruits And Vegetables That Are In Season In October

` What’s for Dinner Franchise Logo View Series 18 Cozy, Comforting Winter Dinner Recipes You’ll Make on Repeat Our Favorite 20-Minute Dinner Recipes for When You Need a Home-Cooked Meal Fast What’s for Dinner This Week: Quick Chicken Puttanesca, Sheet-Pan Sausages With Squash, and a 15-Minute Vegetarian Meal What’s for Dinner This Week: Bacon-Wrapped Chicken, Beans-and-Greens Stuffed Peppers, and More Easy, Broiled Dishes

As you venture out to your local farmers’ market or grocery store this month, what should you buy? If you want to shop for seasonal fruits and vegetables, know that produce departments will be packed with leafy green vegetables like chard and kale, plenty of winter squash, some seasonal mushrooms like oyster and chanterelles, and fruits such as grapes and quince. Ahead, find all the best in seasonal fruits and vegetables to shop this October.

winter squash assortment on slate surface   Credit: Jonathan Lovekin

picked chard   Credit: Andrew Montgomery

Swiss Chard

Swiss chard (or just chard) never received the hype that kale did, but the sturdy green is just as much of a kitchen workhorse. With its earthy, slightly salty flavor, chard pleases the palate in two ways: first with its nutrient-dense leaves, then with its crunchy stalk. Don’t let its name fool you, though. This green originally hails from Sicily, not Switzerland, and is a staple in some Mediterranean cuisines. Chard has large green leaves that are either crinkly or smooth, depending on the variety, and thick stalks that can be white, pink, red, or yellow. Packed with vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber, it’s also one of the most healthful vegetables. Chard is wonderful raw in salads and slaws, makes an excellent simple side dish when boiled or sautéed, and enhances pastas, risottos, and egg dishes like quiche and frittata.

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Grapes

Although grapes are available at the supermarket year-round, they’re at their peak in autumn. The fruit comes in green (also called white), red, and blue-black, and in thousands of varieties. Among the most common: green seedless Thompson and Red Flame (both firm and mild), Muscat (sweet and fragrant, greenish gold), and sweet-tart, inky blue Concord grapes. For maximum health benefits, choose purple and red grapes—the plant pigments that give them their color also contain resveratrol and quercetin, two powerful antioxidants. While grapes always make a great on-the-go snack, they can also be added raw or cooked to all kinds of sweet and savory dishes, from salads and salsas to cakes and tarts.

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Quince

Here’s why you should give the quince, one of the most underrated fruits, a chance: When cooked this hard, strikingly sour fruit releases its honeyed sweetness, the firm flesh softens but the fruit retains its shape nicely, turning a tawny pink and taking on a flavor mildly reminiscent of spiced apple and guava. It’s also uncommonly fragrant; leave a bowl of quinces out to ripen and they’ll perfume a room. The fruit makes a short-lived appearance at markets—it’s only available through December—so now is the time to enjoy quinces roasted or poached, bake them into a pie, whip up a batch of jelly or butter, or braise them in a tagine. You can even glaze your Thanksgiving turkey with homemade quince syrup.

sea-wintersquash-001-med109135.jpg   Credit: Johnny Miller

Winter Squash

It’s an embarrassment of riches in the squash department when autumn comes around. Pumpkins are of course ripe for carving, but it’s the sugar pumpkins (also known as pie pumpkins) and their sweet, tender flesh that are especially good for cooking. There’s also a bounty of other squash to experiment with beyond pumpkin, from butternut and acorn to spaghetti and our test kitchen’s current darling, kabocha.

oyster-chanterelle-mushrooms-027.jpg   Credit: Janelle Jones

Chanterelle and Oyster Mushrooms

While you can find fabulous fungi year-round, both these varieties peak in the fall. Golden-hued chanterelles are usually foraged in the wild. Nutty and delicate, they should be added to dishes at the last second. We love using the luxe ingredient to elevate everyday foods like omelets, toasts, and even tacos. Oyster mushrooms are farmed or foraged and have a wonderful peppery flavor that mellows with cooking—try them seared or roasted. They also provide both protein and fiber and may lower cholesterol by inhibiting an enzyme that’s key to cholesterol synthesis.

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Kale

Bundles of this popular green are in market stalls this month, so snap up a bunch of any variety you please—the two most common are curly kale and Tuscan kale (also called lacinato, cavolo nero, or dinosaur kale), which has darker, flatter leaves. Kale lends itself to a variety of preparations. It’s sweet and earthy when raw, gets crunchy or caramelized when sautéed, and takes on the broth’s flavor in soup. And while kale chips may no longer be having their moment, they’re just as delicious as ever and super easy to make.

winter squash assortment on slate surface Credit: Jonathan Lovekin

winter squash assortment on slate surface

Credit: Jonathan Lovekin

picked chard Credit: Andrew Montgomery

picked chard

Credit: Andrew Montgomery

msl-jeff-cerciello-grapes-chef-road-trip-0432-md109521.jpg

mla101924_1007_quince_green.jpg

sea-wintersquash-001-med109135.jpg Credit: Johnny Miller

sea-wintersquash-001-med109135.jpg

Credit: Johnny Miller

oyster-chanterelle-mushrooms-027.jpg Credit: Janelle Jones

oyster-chanterelle-mushrooms-027.jpg

Credit: Janelle Jones

how_to_prep_kale_1.jpg

` What’s for Dinner Franchise Logo View Series

18 Cozy, Comforting Winter Dinner Recipes You’ll Make on Repeat Our Favorite 20-Minute Dinner Recipes for When You Need a Home-Cooked Meal Fast What’s for Dinner This Week: Quick Chicken Puttanesca, Sheet-Pan Sausages With Squash, and a 15-Minute Vegetarian Meal What’s for Dinner This Week: Bacon-Wrapped Chicken, Beans-and-Greens Stuffed Peppers, and More Easy, Broiled Dishes
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Swiss Chard#

Grapes#

Quince#

Winter Squash#

Chanterelle and Oyster Mushrooms#

Kale#