Living calendar
August
Summer
August is the canning month. Tomatoes overflow, so you turn them into sauce, salsa and passata for the winter; you put up pickles and jam. Figs drop from the trees, late peaches hang on, blueberries and blackberries come in from the hills. The grill keeps going, but you diversify: salt-baked fish, tartares, grilled vegetables in Mediterranean marinades, antipasti platters. On the condiment side, it's the month to start the marinades that carry you to fall, bring out Hawaiian salts on the raw fish, and finish last year's olive oil before the new crop arrives. Holidays thin out in the US (the long pull toward Labor Day), but the cooking stays at its peak. Think ahead to fig jam for the fall cheese boards. In the UK, the August bank holiday closes out the summer with one last cookout.
Bring out of the pantry
Signature dishes
- Poke bowl · with Hawaiian Red Alaea Salt · see the pairing →
- Grilled pineapple · with Hawaiian Red Alaea Salt · see the pairing →
- Gazpacho with sherry vinegar · with Sherry Vinegar (Jerez) PDO · see the pairing →
- Sushi rice and sashimi with tamari · with Traditional Tamari · see the pairing →
- Greek salad · with Cretan Extra Virgin Olive Oil PDO · see the pairing →
- Roasted squash soup (early fall prep) · with Acacia Honey · see the pairing →
Culinary celebrations
- All month · Peak tomato and stone-fruit canning season
- Late August (Monday, UK) · Summer Bank Holiday (the last big cookout)
- Late August / early September · Back-to-school and the slide toward Labor Day
Chef's note
August is the month to work now and eat later. Make fig jam (two grated tonka beans into two kilos of figs, lemon juice, 700g sugar), seal it in sterilized jars, and wait for fall. Come the holidays you give it away with a wedge of aged cheddar and good bread, and you make people cry. Same with tomato passata and basil — put up ten jars and you've got Provence on your pasta in January. The rule of August: winter cooking is built in summer. And for the sashimi, retire the industrial soy sauce for good. Traditional tamari, $10, changes the game for two years.