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Winter Seasonal Foods: 9 Nutritious Produce In Season in December and January
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When the days get shorter and temperatures drop, you may think that finding fresh produce is impossible—but this isn’t the case. Many fruits and vegetables are well-suited to the cold, providing vital nutrients and flavors to brighten up the chilly months.
Winter also brings about more illnesses, such as colds and flu, thanks to the increased time spent indoors, elevated stress, and often increased alcohol and sugar intake. So, filling your plate with nutrient-rich winter seasonal foods can keep your immune system strong all season long.
As there is some overlap with fall seasonal produce—check out this recent article for the full list of autumnal fruits and vegetables—we’ll focus this article on foods in season in December and January.
Winter Produce in Season: Fruits
Grapefruit
Citrus fruits are famously winter foods—and grapefruit is no exception, with its seasonality peaking in December and January.
Grapefruit trees produce their best fruit during cooler months, especially in citrus-growing regions that don’t get overly cold, like Florida, Texas, and California.
Like all citrus, grapefruits are rich in vitamin C, providing immune system support in the colder months. They also impart a brightness (in both flavor and color) to contrast the rich, heavy, and often brown-beige stews and soups of wintertime.
One-half of a grapefruit provides 64% of your daily vitamin C needs, in addition to potassium, thiamin, and antioxidants like naringin, naringenin, and lycopene (in pink and red grapefruit varietals).
Lemons and Limes
As far back as the 1500s, sailors and captains knew the value of lemons and limes for preventing scurvy. Now, we know their vitamin C content supports immune health during cold and flu season.
Lemons and limes are quintessential winter fruits, providing vitamin C, antioxidants, and folate. Lemons grow well in the cooler months of temperate regions, like California, Arizona, and the Mediterranean, with their peak season running from November to March.
Limes can be grown year-round in tropical and subtropical climates (like Mexico and Florida), but they tend to peak in winter.
Unlike other citrus, it’s more common to use only the juice of lemons and limes (not the flesh).
Lemons provide almost double the vitamin C of limes—the juice of two lemons contains 88% of your daily needs, while the same amount of lime juice has 48% of the Daily Value of vitamin C. Both citrus fruits contain flavonoids and polyphenols that function as antioxidants.
Oranges
Oranges are also classic winter fruits. They have the greatest vitamin C levels out of the citrus fruit family, with one orange containing 92% of your daily vitamin C needs.
They also are the best source of the flavonoids naringin and naringenin, which are antioxidant compounds known for benefiting conditions like obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome.
Oranges thrive in subtropical and Mediterranean climates (like Florida, California, Mexico, and Brazil) and ripen during the cooler months of these regions. Navel and blood oranges are at their best from November to March, while smaller oranges like mandarins and clementines peak from November through January.
Beginning in 19th-century Europe, fresh oranges were a luxury gift due to their rarity in the winter. Although oranges are not as commonly gifted in Christmas stockings anymore, they are still a star of celebratory meals.
Now, oranges can be purchased year-round but tend to be sweetest in the winter—and they also provide a bright freshness to recipes and a cheery and colorful addition to holiday decor.
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Other winter fruits in season include apples, pears, cranberries, and pomegranates—read all about them here!
Winter Produce in Season: Vegetables
Cabbage
The humble cabbage has been eaten for thousands of years, with roots in ancient European and Mediterranean civilizations. By the Middle Ages, cabbage became a dietary staple in the winter, as it thrives in cooler weather and has a heartiness that stores well throughout the season.
Many cultures consume cabbage stews or boiled cabbage in the winter, while others utilize fermented cabbage (sauerkraut or kimchi) to preserve cabbage even longer.
Although many people rightly associate citrus with vitamin C and the prevention of scurvy on long 18th-century voyages, cabbage is often an unsung hero—Captain James Cook actually brought sauerkraut along on his ships to prevent vitamin C deficiency in sailors.
Just one leaf of cabbage provides 14% of your daily vitamin C needs, in addition to folate, vitamin K, and antioxidants like sulforaphane, kaempferol, and lutein.
Carrots
Carrots are another cold-hardy vegetable that is in season in winter (in addition to fall and late spring).
They can withstand colder weather and become sweeter if they are left in the ground and protected, with frost-enhanced sweetness occurring when they convert stored starches into sugars in the cold.
Carrots also store well for long periods of time—especially in root cellars—and provide vital carbohydrates and nutrients like vitamin A (as beta-carotene), vitamin K, and antioxidants.
With their sweet flavor, carrots are one of the few vegetables that work beautifully in both baked goods and savory dishes.
Kale
Kale thrives in cooler weather, making it a perfect hearty, leafy green for wintertime meals.
It can be eaten raw in salads (be sure to massage it for a few minutes to reduce its toughness), added to soups and stews, or even blended up into smoothies.
Kale is rich in many nutrients, including vitamins C and K, beta-carotene, and antioxidants like lutein, zeaxanthin, and quercetin.
Potatoes
Potatoes are well known for their hardiness, long shelf lives, and ability to withstand cold temperatures, which is why they’ve been consumed during the winter months for centuries.
Although potatoes originated in the Andes of South America, dating back to 8,000 BCE, they quickly became favorites of European farmers in the 16th century and beyond.
Potatoes can be stored for months in root cellars, making them a staple provider of starchy carbohydrates throughout long European winters in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Most people just associate potatoes with their high carbohydrate count, but they also contain plenty of vital nutrients. You can find healthy amounts of fiber, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin B6, carotenoids (yellow-fleshed potatoes), and anthocyanin antioxidants (purple and red potatoes).
In fact, potatoes contain more potassium than bananas—a medium Russet contains almost 900mg of potassium compared to 450mg in a banana.
Parsnips
Parsnips are a lesser-consumed root vegetable that grows in the cooler months and can store well throughout the winter.
They have a sweet flavor, often even sweeter than carrots, and are used mainly in soups and stews. You can also make mashed parsnips, parsnip purees, or roasted parsnips as a side dish.
Some key nutrients in parsnips are potassium, fiber, vitamin C, magnesium, and antioxidants like kaempferol and quercetin.
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Other vegetables you can find in December and January are beets, Brussels sprouts, squash, kale, rutabagas, and turnips—read more about their benefits and uses here!
Winter Seasonal Foods FAQs
What are seasonal foods?
Seasonal foods are consumed in the season they are harvested in. Seasonal eating involves consuming more fruits, vegetables, or other plants grown during specific times of the year when they are at their peak freshness. Each crop has different parameters that it grows best in, including preferences for sunlight, temperature, climate, or soil changes. Due to these seasonal differences, certain crops grow better in warmer weather, while others are best in damp, low-sun, or cold conditions. To practice eating seasonally, grow your own food or visit your local farmers market to see what’s in season in your area. Many grocery stores also have a local section that may have more seasonal produce.
Can you grow produce in the winter?
Yes, plenty of produce grows well in the winter months—especially if you live in milder climates or have access to a greenhouse. Some produce that grows well in cold temperatures include kale, carrots, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and often spinach.
What did settlers eat during winter?
Early settlers likely ate dried, preserved, canned, or hardy root vegetables during the winter. Salted or smoked meats were common, as were canned, pickled, or jarred fruits and vegetables. Hardy vegetables like potatoes, carrots, onions, turnips, and parsnips may have been stored in root cellars and consumed throughout the winter. Many grains, like wheat, corn, and oats, can be stored for long periods and were likely dietary staples. Settlers may have also foraged for nuts in the fall, storing them for winter. Some regions may have made their own butter and stored it in cool temperatures or preserved it with salt.
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