Indian Seasonal Produce- October



Here is the list of Fruits, Veggies, Grains and Sea foods in season this October month that give us the maximum health benefits needed to help us sustain all of the nutrition requirements the body needs, if cooked in a correct way. 

(Note: Read the list and know your local produces and consume them)

From September to January the Monsoon crops or Rainfed crops are harvested and consumed  in India. The crops sown in May- July are ready for harvest from mid September and lasts till January. 

This season has lots of grains, pulses variety like the kharif millet crops sown between May and July. 

Here’s the list to buy and eat sustainably this month.

Fruits:

Season special- Amla, Jujubes, Shimla Apples, Passion fruit, Star Fruit, Sweet lime, Paneer grapes, Custard apple, Elephant apple/ Chalta, Grapefruit/ Chakotara/ bumblimas, Ramphal/ Bullocks heart, Apricot.

Other common Fruits in season- Pear, Pomegranate, Papaya, Guava, Banana varieties. 


Vegetables:

Season special- Sweet potato, Brinjal, Corn, Tapioca/ Cassava, Capsicum, Lotus stem, Brinjal, Cluster beans, Broad beans, Normal Beans, Singhada/ Water chestnut, Raw/ Baby Jackfruit,Turkey berry/ Sundakkai. 

Other common Vegetables in season- Colocasia/ taro, Bitter gourdRidge gourd, Ivy gourd/ tendli, Cucumber, Bottle gourd, Ash gourd, Lady’s finger/ Okra, Carrot, Potato, Mushroom, Raw banana, Banana stem/ Plaintain pith, Banana blossom, Chayote/ Chow chow, Radish (hill variety), Cauliflower, Snake gourd, Kantola/ Teasel gourd, Cabbage, Beetroot, Suran/ Yam.

 

Grains: Millets like Foxtail, Ragi, Kodo, Little millet and Barnyard millet, Rice varieties (best season to store in bulk).

 

Pulses: Green gram, Black gram, Horse gram, Moth beans, Thuar dal, Bengal gram, Goa bean.

 

Seeds and Nuts: Groundnut, Sesame, Cotton seeds.

 

Green leafy vegetables: Most of the creeper and tree variety greens are consumed in this season like Moringa leaves, Thuthuvalai/ Climbing Brinjal, dhekia xaak/ Lingru, Mukkarattai/ boerhaavia, Hadjod/ Pirandai.

 

Herbs and spices: Turmeric, Ginger, Cardamom, Pepper, Clove, Pudhina/ mint, Lemon grass, Tulsi, Cinnamon.

 

Sea foods:

Sardine (Chooda, Mathi, Swadi, Patulda, Pedva), Tiger prawns and Ssmall prawns, Anchovy (Nethili, Poravallu, Maandheli), Emperor fish, King fish (Surmai), Indian Salmon (Raavas), Barramundi, Cat fish, Bomaby duck, Cobia, Coastal sharks, Barracuda, Croaker, Grouper, Milk shark.

 

Reminder: Though Grains, legumes, pulses can be consumed all through the year, the mentioned ones are in season and serve the purpose.

Similarly, Green leafy veggies are also grown throughout the year but the mentioned ones serve its purpose for this season.

 

Note: I have studied the Indian seasonal produces with the help of farmers network and various research articles following the guidelines of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) and based on the cropping seasons – Kharif, Zaid and Rabi. Thereby, I’ve curated the fruits & vegetables, food grains and rest mentioned that would be available to us based on the sowing- growing and harvesting time period calculations for each month.

Kinds of seafood were studied and curated based on its availability along the West Coast and East coast from CIBA (Central Institute of Brackish Aquaculture). 

I hope this information is helpful to consume local and seasonal produces thereby keeping the  check on health too. 

Kindly let me know your thoughts if this benefits you all through comments below. 

Thank You! 

Maria Jenita, PhD


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