Cabbages, pumpkins, carrots, mushrooms and the first clementines: autumn markets are full of ingredients that happen to be very good for us. A chef’s guide to what to cook now, which vitamins deserve attention before winter, and how to cook them so you actually benefit.
Autumn ingredients · The market stall as a pharmacy, with better lighting and no queue.
There is a particular moment every autumn when the market changes. The tomatoes and courgettes start to look tired, and suddenly the stalls are full of heavy cabbages, orange squash, knobbly celeriac, dark leaves, mushrooms and crates of apples and pears. As a chef, I love this moment, because the ingredients finally ask for slow roasting, long simmering and a bit of butter. What I find even nicer is that nature seems to have planned the menu sensibly. Many of the vegetables that appear now are exactly the ones worth putting on the plate before the dark months.
A quick note before we start. I am a cook, not a doctor or a dietitian, so please read this as kitchen advice and not as medical guidance. Nothing on a plate guarantees that you will not catch a cold. What good seasonal cooking can do is make it easier to eat a varied, colourful diet when the weather is working against you.
Vitamin C: look at the cabbage family before the orange
Vitamin C is the one everybody remembers in winter, and the instinct to reach for citrus is fine. But the humble brassicas often do better than people expect. Depending on the source, raw Brussels sprouts contain roughly 80 to 85 milligrams of vitamin C per 100 grams, while an orange has about 50 to 55, and kale, broccoli and red peppers are in a similar or higher range. Ordinary green cabbage is more modest, at around 30 milligrams per 100 grams, but it is cheap, keeps for weeks and is eaten in generous portions. Parsley, which most of us treat as decoration, is surprisingly rich too.
The catch is that vitamin C does not like heat and water. Boiled Brussels sprouts lose a good part of it into the cooking water, and one source puts cooked sprouts at around 62 milligrams per 100 grams against 85 raw. So the kitchen rule is simple: cook briefly and gently. Steam, roast quickly or sauté, keep the vegetables slightly firm, and add something raw at the end. Shaved raw Brussels sprouts with pear, a kale salad massaged with lemon and olive oil, or a handful of chopped parsley over a soup all do the job. And when you do boil, use the liquid in a soup or sauce.
Autumn also brings the first citrus, such as clementines and mandarins, as well as persimmons, so there is no need to choose between the two camps.
Orange vegetables: carotenoids and a little fat
Carrots, pumpkin and sweet potato are the stars of the autumn colour palette, and the orange comes from beta-carotene, which the body can convert into vitamin A. Carrots are among the richest common sources, at roughly 8,000 micrograms of beta-carotene per 100 grams according to nutrition databases. The useful kitchen detail is that carotenoids are fat-soluble. Research on carrots has found that how they are prepared matters, and cooking tends to make more of the beta-carotene available than eating them raw, particularly when a little fat is present. This does not mean raw carrots are bad, as they remain a good source of fibre and crunch. It means that roasted carrot soup with olive oil, or pumpkin roasted with butter and seeds, is not just comfort food but also a smart way to cook.
My practical suggestion: roast pumpkin wedges with the skin on, if the variety allows it, finish the dish with a spoonful of good oil or toasted seeds, and do not be afraid of fat. A carrot salad without any oil or nuts is a missed opportunity.
Vitamin D: the one food alone struggles to fix
Here I have to be honest, because this is the one vitamin where the plate has limits. Between roughly October and March, sunlight at northern European latitudes is too weak for the skin to make much vitamin D, and few foods contain it naturally. The best sources are oily fish such as salmon, sardines and mackerel, egg yolks and liver, with some fortified products. Public health bodies in the UK, for example, advise that people consider a daily supplement of 10 micrograms during autumn and winter, because it is hard to reach the recommendation from food alone. Recommendations differ by country, age and personal circumstances, so the sensible step is to ask a pharmacist or doctor what applies to you, especially for children, pregnancy and older adults.
What the chef can do is make sure the table has the right foods on it: a grilled sardine or a gravlax, eggs for breakfast, and mushrooms, some of which are grown under UV light to raise their vitamin D content, though the label is worth checking.
The quiet supporting cast
Beyond the headline vitamins, autumn is generous with the ones nobody talks about at dinner. Leafy greens, kale and cabbage bring vitamin K and folate, and beetroot is also a good source of folate. Pumpkin seeds, walnuts and chestnuts add minerals and healthy fats, and mushrooms contribute B vitamins and selenium. Apples and pears supply fibre, which does its own work in the gut. Fermented cabbage, such as sauerkraut, has a long history as a winter vitamin C source and also gives you something sharp to cut through rich dishes.
A week of autumn cooking, without a spreadsheet
You do not need a plan with numbers. A simple rhythm works: a roasted carrot and pumpkin soup with seeds, a warm salad of kale or cabbage with lemon, a tray of roasted sprouts and beetroot, a fish dish once or twice a week, eggs and mushrooms when you want something quick, and fruit for dessert, which can be a baked pear. Eat the colours, vary the greens, add fat where it helps, and keep something raw on the plate.
Chef’s verdict
The best vitamin strategy for winter is not a miracle ingredient but a market basket with many colours in it and a kitchen that does not destroy the good parts. Cook vegetables briefly, use the liquid, add a little fat to the orange ones, keep a raw element for freshness and talk to a professional about vitamin D. If the result also tastes good, then you have the real secret: you will want to repeat it.
Stay curious. Respect the cabbage. And never boil a Brussels sprout into submission.
Jan · Online-Chef
Editorial note: Nutrient values quoted are approximate and vary between databases, varieties and preparation methods. Sources include public health guidance on vitamin D in autumn and winter (UK public health bodies and UKHSA), food composition tables for vitamin C and beta-carotene, and published research on carotenoid bioavailability from carrots. This article is culinary commentary, not medical advice.