Seasonal food is the quiet backbone of good cooking. Ingredients taste better, behave better and are usually kinder on the wallet when you catch them at the right moment. Over the course of a year the market shifts from sturdy roots and game to spring greens, soft herbs, fish in prime condition and the first proper summer fruit, then back again to the comfort of autumn and winter.

Here you will find Ian’s month-by-month guide to what is worth buying and cooking now. Each piece picks out the best of the season, with practical ideas, small nudges of chef’s advice and the odd opinionated aside. Dip into the month you are in, or read ahead and start plotting what you will cook when the next wave of ingredients appears.