Be it scorching summer or chilling winter, chirpy spring or moist monsoon, it is
always the time for your food allergies baskets to be filled with sensational seasonal foods.
Variety with time and flavoury with the season, this is the speciality of the new
occasional delights.
Seasonal foods may be common but with not-so-common flavours. Carrots are
carrots throughout the year, but, Oh, how bright and juicy do they appear in
February while being patchy at other times! That's the magic of seasons! The
taste of being natural is the secret of seasonal delights.
Boons that blossom Seasonally
Almost all fruits and vegetables are available throughout the year, that is because
they are imported from other parts of the country or world. The time lost in collecting,
transporting and preserving, is what causes the quality to start deteriorating. After
the produce is picked from the field, it starts to lose its nutritional quality. Thus over
the time, you can see fruits and vegetables getting overripe or rotten. Fresh picked is
the best picked! The seasonal produce is advantageous because it is
Rich in nutrients
When fruits and vegetables are harvested in their peak season, the levels of nutrients
are top notch. Consuming food in the same season they are grown means fresh food is
supplied to your table which is not adulterated with artificial sweeteners and
growth hormones.
Contributes towards a better environment
When food is grown in their ideal season, essential factors like temperature,
climate, growth conditions and supply of energy is taken care of by the environment
itself. There are fewer maintenance issues, along with fewer fertilizers and chemicals
required for its growth. That's the reason why food is as pure as it is formed in nature
consuming it in that very season will be like relishing the taste of nature.
Gives you in abundance
Eating same fruits and vegetables throughout the year makes it lose its essence.
But the joy of eating seasonal fruits and vegetables when they are at their best
helps you understand the variety of flavours and forms they are naturally available in.
In India, Mango is the delight that gladdens your taste buds in the season of
sizzling summer. Not only does the bright ripened sweetness enchant you, but
also the variety of mangoes that is served by nature is enormous and to our heart's
content. The zeal of savouring mangoes and their flavoured delicacies reaches a
level higher in summers.
Menu Right from Nature's Kitchen
The first come first served on the New Year Eve - Season Winter
Because the temperatures are lower than the normal during this season, nature
serves us foods that keep up our immunity and help us stay healthy and warm, such as,
Vegetables
Mushrooms, cabbages, potatoes, beetroots, turnips, carrots, green beans, radish,
spinach, cauliflowers, broccoli.
Fruits
Papaya, strawberries, apples, lemons, guava, pomegranate, custard apples, pineapples.
Nature's culinary weapons to beat the heat - Season Summer
Due to the blazing summers, the constant perspiration makes you feel heavy and full.
Yet also maintains your body temperature. So to have a cool twist, nature serves you with,
Vegetables
Cucumber, eggplant, bottle guard, bitter guard, zucchini, pumpkin, green peas, lettuce.
Fruits
Watermelons, peaches, mangoes, apricots, grapes, kiwi, raspberries.
To complement the showers of joy - Season Monsoon
Due to the moist and misty weather, our health becomes vulnerable to infections.
To help us shield our body and keep up our immune system, we are served a dose
of health with monsoon special, which includes,
Vegetables Sweet potatoes, corn, ginger, garlic, brusselsprouts, asparagus.
Fruits
Blueberries, apples, cranberries.
The Seasonal All Rounders
Because the joy of relishing nature's freshness should not be prevented from being cherished,
an abundance in the list of 365 days service of mother nature serves us with all-round-the-year
available farm fresh fruits & vegetables. These fruits and vegetables are as fresh & radiant in
January as in December. The food basket throughout the year should include
Vegetables
Tomatoes, eggplant, okra, chayote squash (vegetable pear), horseraddish, onions.
Fruits
Bananas, avacado, oranges, cherries, pears.
Fruits and vegetables are perishable, but to extend their availability in market all round
the year, they are harvested and stored in proper storage conditions. The temperature
of storage is important in maintaining the shelf life of the freshly harvested fruits and
vegetables. In order to maintain their marketable life, they undergo certain post-harvest
treatments such as injecting growth regulators, applying fungicides, bactericides, wax
emulsion, ethylene absorbents, etc. Although storing helps in the availability of occasional
fruits throughout the year, there is some amount of loss of freshness and quality.
Serves the best for-First come, First Take
Because your body is also a gift of nature, it is designed in a way which reacts to the
changing season and acts accordingly. Treating it with seasonal foods at the correct
time and correct proportion will only complement your health for better.
The occasional delights are natures gifts that you can take advantage in abundance
if only availed when nature's clock shows It's Time .
Foods that hydrate us
"If there is Magic on planet, it is contained in water."
Every living organismin this world is made up of water. Living a week without food is possible, but
without water, not more than 2 days. As water also contains certain minerals called osmolites
(compounds that maintain cell fluid balance) like calcium, potassium, magnesium and sodium;
it becomes water's responsibility to carry out vital cellular functions. However, the concentration
of these osmolites is decisive of how our body functions. When this concentration of osmolites,
increases due to lack of water, our body generates a physiological signal called Thirst.
There is always a need to maintain a positive water balance not only during medical conditions
like fever, pregnancy or gastroenteritis etc., but also to stay fit and healthy on a daily basis; and
avoid losing body fluids in the form of dehydration, extensive perspiration or loose motions!
Why only drink it...eat water!
Water in itself is not the only one that hydrates our body. This is a world full of foods (fruits and
vegetables) that provide us with much needed water. And what is more, unlike drinking plain water,
these foods are rich in water content and also very much tasty plus mouth-watering. So let us have
a look at what we have in store, to not lose the essentials and stay hydrated!
Apples and Pears: People conscious about weight share a special relationship
with apples because it imparts low calories. More significantly, 84% of the total weight of the
fruit is of water. Belonging to the same family as apples, pears are also one of the richest
sources of water, with about 87% water by weight
Oranges: A citrus fruit, with great source of vitamin C and dietary fiber, holds 87% of water
by weight. Apart from Vitamin C, it's packed with Vitamin B, Calcium, copper and Potassium.
Watermelon: Watermelon, a summer fruit, is made up of 96% of water. Each bite of
a watermelon provides us with lots of antioxidants, Lycopenes (a chemical that gives watermelon
its pigment) and amino acids. The redder the watermelon becomes, the higher is the Lycopene
concentration, which is known to prevent heart disease.
Strawberry: Widely appreciated for a charismatic aroma and juicy texture, strawberries
are made up of 92% of water.
Pineapple: Pineapple is a tropical fruit and a compulsory member of fruit salads.
With vitamin C loaded in it, 87% of its weight is because of the water in it.
Cucumber and Lettuce: The two most basic and mandatory members of a salad,
they are known for their fibrous content and low carbs. Another most important thing they
are known for is the amount of water they withhold, 96%!
Tomato: Botanically a fruit, Tomato is used worldwide in innumerably different
recipes. As far as the nutritional fact goes, a Tomato contains 95% water and 4% carbohydrate.
Spinach: A flowering plant, Spinach is very famous for its high Retinoic acid and
iron content. But least known and best cherished is its water content, which is actually 92%
Radish: Radish, an edible root vegetable, is mostly eaten raw as a salad vegetable.
It is an effective vegetable to cure jaundice, piles, constipation, urinary and kidney disorders.
However, what makes this vegetable feature in this list is its 95% water content.
Fruits and vegetables are nature's gift for sustenance. Meanwhile, water is the central axis
around which the entire life force revolves. It is the balance one needs to find between gifts
bestowed on humans and the life force, to lead a healthy hydrated life!
