Even though Helsinki gets as little as six hours of sunlight a day in wintertime, we too try our best to eat healthy seasonal foods. In spring, summer and early autumn we are spoiled for choice, as we can indulge in all the delicious food that comes from our fields and forests and is delivered fresh to our shops and markets.
In summertime we Finns are especially proud of our strawberries, new potatoes and fresh cabbage, all of which seem to taste more aromatic than imported produce. We believe that it has to do with the exceptionally long days of sunlight during the peak season.
The season for our favourite foods, i.e. new potatoes and fresh cabbage, lasts just a month. Fresh cabbage arrives in our shops and markets at the beginning of June and new potatoes around midsummer holidays – “all” Finns eat new potatoes during the Juhannus festivities!
Throughout the summer we pack our shopping bags with fresh peas, potatoes, beans, root vegetables, mushrooms, berries and apples. Locals can often be seen carrying home big boxes of fresh strawberries, as freezing your own strawberries and blueberries is considered practically a civic duty.
If you walk around Helsinki in summertime you might come across urban gardens. There is plenty of cultivated land around the edges of the city, and even in the city centre the locals like to grow herbs, strawberries and even potatoes on their balconies.
The arrival of autumn means mushroom fever in Finland. We love to pick chanterelle and other mushrooms in the forests that surround Helsinki, and Finnish social media channels are filled with photos of what everyone has picked.
Whatever time of the year you happen to be in Helsinki, don’t forget our root vegetables – we’re very proud of them! There are two seasons for root vegetables: the early harvest and late harvest. Root vegetables from the early harvest can be eaten raw or lightly grilled, while those from the late harvest can be used in stews or cooked in the oven.
In wintertime locals rely not only on root vegetables but also on fruits and vegetables from warmer climates in the South. The carbon footprint of imported fruits and vegetables is not too bad, even if they have to be transported all the way to Finland.