May 21, 2026, by Manou Kooman

Seasonal vegetables: here's how to eat along

Homegrown
May 21, 2026, by Manou Kooman

Seasonal vegetables: here's how to eat along

Eating in season begins with what the land gives you.

Take Erloom in Hilvarenbeek, where the season runs from May through September: 22 weeks in which spring slowly transitions into summer and the landscape changes almost from week to week. They cook with what is growing at that moment, directly from local growers they know personally, such as Tuin de Es and Boerderij Landzicht. No ingredients from far away, no cold storage stocks. What appears on your plate simply follows the rhythm of the harvest.

And so we asked them what to eat and when. That is how this seasonal vegetables guide came about.

May: white gold

May revolves around asparagus. It is available every week until mid-June, and then it is gone until next year. Erloom combines it with what is coming up alongside it: turnip greens that are still young and fresh, the first rhubarb, and Swiss chard growing in abundance. As the month progresses, spring onions, pak choi, and the first full fennel bulbs join in. May shows that cooking with what is available now is often the very best.

June: everything at once

June is chaos in the fields, in the most beautiful way. Everything seems to happen at once. Broad beans are ready, snow peas hang heavily on the plants, marrowfat peas are climbing in all directions, and the first raspberries have appeared. Midway through the month, the first potatoes emerge from the ground: small, wafer-thin skins, and with such a flavour that you really don't need to do much more with them. Just boil them, add a little butter, and they're done. Towards the end of June, the first aubergines and pointed cabbage appear; summer is coming.

July: the sun does the work

In July, the kitchen has little to do. Cherry tomatoes from the field, courgettes that you have to harvest almost daily because otherwise they get too big, cucumbers and pointed peppers that slowly turn red in the sun. Malabar spinach appears for the first time, a climbing plant that grows well in the heat and continues throughout the summer.

August: abundance

August is the time of abundance. Everything arrives at once and is at its best. By early August, tomatoes, green beans, aubergines, bunch carrots, and new potatoes are already in abundance. Sweet corn, summer purslane, and beetroot need a little more time, but follow later in the month.

September: the transition

September marks the transition from summer to autumn. The tomatoes are still there, but you can tell the season is drawing to a close. The pumpkin is slowly taking over, firm, sweet, and full of flavor. Sweet corn closes out the season. The Malabar spinach continues to grow as long as the weather permits.

Erloom closes its doors at the end of September until May of next year. Then a new vegetable season begins, and we look forward to cooking once again with what the land provides, surprising our guests with it, and bringing it together at the table.

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