What’s in season in November? A UK produce guide for the start of winter

November is the month when the British stall stops changing. From here to the new year the same good things are there every week, which makes it the easiest month of the year to shop well: learn what to look for once, and it holds until February.

The orchard moves indoors

The picking is over. What you buy now is stored fruit, and that is not a downgrade — late apples such as Bramley, and whichever keeping varieties your county grows, are at their best after a few weeks in the dark. Choose by weight: a stored apple should feel heavy for its size, with taut rather than wrinkled skin around the stalk. Conference pears carry on, still best bought firm and finished on a windowsill.

Quinces and medlars are the month’s oddities, and worth asking about. Quince is never eaten raw; it wants long, slow cooking, and turns a deep pink when it gets it. Medlars have to be bletted — left until they are brown and soft, which sounds alarming and is simply how they are meant to be eaten.

Roots after the frost

This is the point of November. Parsnips, carrots, swede, celeriac and beetroot have all had a cold night or two by now, and frost genuinely does concentrate their sugars. Buy parsnips with the soil still on them if you can, and do not be afraid of large ones — a well-grown parsnip is not woody in the middle. Celeriac should feel dense for its size and sound solid when you tap it; a light one is hollow inside.

Jerusalem artichokes arrive this month, knobbly and cheap, and make the best soup of the winter.

Brassicas at their peak

Brussels sprouts, kale, cavolo nero, savoy and red cabbage. If a grower offers sprouts still on the stalk, take them: they keep far longer that way and you can cut them as you need them. Look for tight, squeaky sprouts, and leave anything yellowing at the base. Kale and cavolo nero are sweeter now than they were in October, for the same reason the parsnips are.

Game, and the cold-water shellfish

Pheasant is at its best value of the whole season this month, and venison is reliable right through the winter. British mussels come good now that the water is cold: buy them closed, cook them the same day, and throw out any that are still shut once cooked.

Storing what you buy

November rewards buying more than a week’s worth. Apples: wrap each one in paper, keep them somewhere cold and dark, and keep them well away from potatoes. Roots: twist the tops off, then store them in paper or a box of just-damp sand in a shed or garage. Winter squash wants cool, dry and dark, never the fridge. Chestnuts keep a fortnight somewhere cool, and want a cut in the skin before they go near a hot oven.

What has already gone

Outdoor tomatoes, runner beans, courgettes and sweetcorn have finished for the year. If you see them this month, they are not local.

For the whole year at a glance, the seasonal produce calendar at /resources/uk-seasonal-produce-calendar shows what is at its best month by month. To find who is lifting roots and cutting sprouts near you, start with /directory — and if you want the heavy winter staples by the sackful rather than the bagful, this is the month a village group-buy earns its keep at /group-buys.