The Market Note
Almería clocks off, UK tomatoes peak — girolles are here
Each August, the Almería greenhouse belt goes quiet. The main 2025/26 season closed in June and the new campaign won't start until September — a gap of ten weeks where Spanish greenhouse tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers drop to near-zero supply. That sounds like a problem. It isn't: British outdoor and glasshouse tomatoes are at their quality peak right now, vine-ripened and flavour-forward in a way that imported winter stock never reaches. Here's how to read the gap — and why Scottish girolles are the crop most chefs walk past when they should be stopping.
Region watch
Almería, Spain
Direction: Tightgreenhouse tomatoes, peppers & cucumbers
The 2025/26 Almería campaign closed in June — production down 4% on a season already marked by pest pressure and rising costs — and the new campaign won't start until September. That's a ten-week window where the greenhouse belt goes dark. Dutch glasshouse and UK outdoor crops carry the load: back them now.
As of season Sept 2025–Jun 2026
Source: hortoinfo.es, on greenhouse tomatoes, peppers & cucumbers (opens in a new tab)
UK (glasshouse & outdoor)
Direction: Plentifulvine tomatoes & cherry tomatoes
August is the peak window for British tomatoes — on-the-vine UK-grown fruit stays on the plant longer, building sugar and flavour that imported winter stock never reaches. Both outdoor and glasshouse crops are in full flow. Buy British now; the Spanish greenhouse window opens again in October.
Scotland
Direction: Tightwild girolles (chanterelles)
The girolle season runs July to October, with August the peak. Scotland's greater woodland cover creates the conditions these mushrooms need — prolonged ground heat followed by heavy rain bursts. New Covent Garden is stocking them now. Foraged supply, limited, at its best before the October taper.
Kent & South East, UK
Direction: Plentifuloutdoor courgettes
The summer heat has delivered a bumper outdoor courgette crop — New Covent Garden's August 2026 report calls out glut volumes from the heat. Buy in quantity now, before cooler nights later in the season thin the crop. Rarely do UK outdoor courgettes come this plentiful and this fresh at once.
In season now
- British vine & cherry tomatoes
- Outdoor courgettes
- UK runner beans
- Sweetcorn (European, UK crop following)
- Blackberries
- Discovery apples (first of UK season)
- Charentais & Galia melons
- Scottish wild girolles
- Flat peaches & nectarines
- Raspberries
On the way out
- Broad beans
- English cherries
- Green almonds
- Provence greengages (tailing off)
In the kitchen
Scottish wild girolles
Wipe clean, never wash — they turn grey and watery if wet. Get a dry pan ferociously hot, lay them cap-side down and leave for two minutes before turning: they need fierce heat to expel moisture, not a gentle steam. Finish with butter, thyme and a thread of cream. On toast, or alongside anything poached.
British vine tomatoes
At peak, they need almost nothing: halve, season with flaky salt and a little cider vinegar, and leave at room temperature for twenty minutes. The acid wakes the sugars. Add them raw to anything — they're the version that makes chefs remember why tomatoes matter.
Discovery apples
Discovery keeps less than a week once picked — sell them to your guests before they tip. Sweet-sharp with a faint strawberry note; slice raw onto a tart with blue cheese and walnuts. Don't cook them: they collapse to mush.
Worth buying
- British vine & cherry tomatoes — peak flavour, buy now
- UK outdoor courgettes — bumper crop, best value of the season
- Scottish girolles — limited, in season now
- Charentais melons — abundant, good value this month
- Sweetcorn — just starting, cut fresh
Hold off
- Broad beans — season done
- Imported Spanish greenhouse tomatoes — off-season gap, quality variable
- English asparagus — out of season
