Seasonal Ingredients
What chefs should be buying in September
The month where summer produce is still good and autumn produce has arrived early. Use both.
Sava Marević
Chef & Founder of savamander
24 August 2026 · 5 min read
The trap in September is buying autumn too early. Pumpkins are in the market from the first week and most of them are watery and flavourless until the nights get properly cold. Meanwhile the last tomatoes and peppers of the season are the best they've been all year, and half the kitchens I know have already taken them off the menu because the calendar says autumn.
In season
What’s in season — September
Figs
- Season
- Late August – early October
- Best regions
- Dalmatia, Puglia, Provence, Extremadura
- How chefs are using it
- Raw with cured meat, roasted whole with bay, or reduced hard into a paste for cheese service.
- Availability
- Widely available, peaks mid-September
- Storage tip
- Never in the fridge below 8°C. Single layer, stem up, use within two days.
- Suppliers
- Local market growers, Dalmatian smallholders
If a fig doesn't leak slightly when you press it, send it back. Firm figs are picked early and they never ripen properly afterwards.
Porcini
- Season
- September – November
- Best regions
- Bosnian and Croatian highlands, Piedmont, Bavaria, Slovenian forests
- How chefs are using it
- Sliced raw when perfect, grilled thick, or dried for stock. Do not overcomplicate them.
- Availability
- Depends entirely on rainfall — supply swings week to week
- Storage tip
- Paper, never plastic. Brush, don't wash. 2–4°C, use within three days.
Price will move 40% in a fortnight. Write them onto the menu as 'wild mushroom' and you can keep cooking when the porcini stop coming.
Grapes
- Season
- September – October
- Best regions
- Continental Croatia, Northern Italy, Rhône, Rhine valley
- How chefs are using it
- Roasted with poultry, pickled in verjus, or pressed for an acid component instead of vinegar.
- Availability
- Excellent, cheap at peak
- Storage tip
- On the stem, 4°C, unwashed until service.
Sea bass
- Season
- Year round, but firmer and fatter from September
- Best regions
- Adriatic, Aegean, Atlantic coast
- How chefs are using it
- Whole over embers, or cured briefly for a cold starter.
- Availability
- Consistent — wild supply improves after the summer tourist peak
- Storage tip
- Ice, belly down, drained. Change the ice daily.
Pumpkin
- Season
- Late September – January
- Best regions
- Slavonia, Styria, Loire
- How chefs are using it
- Wait. Roast whole once the flesh has dried out a little in storage.
- Availability
- Early stock is available but underripe
- Storage tip
- Cool, dry, off the floor. Whole pumpkins hold for months.
The first pumpkins of the year are a tourist trap for chefs. Buy them in October.
What to leave alone this month
- Asparagus of any origin — if it's on offer in September it has flown a long way.
- Stone fruit after the middle of the month. Texture goes first, then everything else.
- Truffle. It exists, it's expensive, and it will be twice as good in six weeks.
One practical note on ordering: September is when suppliers start rebuilding their books after summer. It's the best month of the year to have a proper conversation with a grower about what you want in spring. They have time in September. They will not have time in December.
Sources & further reading
- Eurostat — agricultural production statisticsStatistics
- Slow Food — seasonal produce and PresidiaOrganisation
Facts were researched from the public sources listed above and rewritten in savamander’s own words. No paragraphs are reproduced from other publications. Commentary marked as Sava’s take is opinion, not reporting. Facts last checked 29 August 2026.
