Seasonal Food in Croatia in Summer: What Is Harvested from June to August

Neretva watermelons from 1 July to 15 August, marasca cherries at the turn of June and July, figs in August, sardines along the coast and Lika lamb until September. Regions, months and harvest figures, with sources.

In the Neretva valley watermelons grow on 250 hectares and yield about 15,000 tonnes a season, with the main harvest running from 1 July to 1 August (Croatian public broadcaster HRT, July 2022). No other Croatian food travels in such volume each summer from Opuzen, Metković, Komin and Rogotin to every market in the country. The rest of the summer calendar falls into place around it: cherries until the end of June, marasca cherries at the turn of June and July, figs from June to October, sardines all summer and Lika lamb from May to September.

The Neretva valley: watermelons and melons

Neretva watermelons weigh 8 to 14 kilograms, and melons are grown on some thirty hectares with a yield of around a thousand tonnes. According to HRT the watermelon harvest runs until 15 August and melons until 10 August, so a watermelon bought in the second half of August or in September is usually not from the Neretva. A simple check applies when buying: a ripe watermelon has a yellow, not white, patch where it lay on the ground, and a dry stem means it was picked ripe rather than ripened on a truck.

Cherries, marasca and figs

Home-grown cherries reach the markets at the end of May and the season lasts until the end of June (01portal, June 2021), so July cherries on a stall are usually imported. Right after them, in late June and early July, the marasca sour cherry is picked, a variety grown in the narrow coastal strip from Zadar to Makarska. The Zadar company Maraska harvests about 800 tonnes on its own plantation of more than 90,000 trees and buys another 200 from small growers, most of it going into syrups, jams and maraschino (tportal, July 2018). For cakes and compotes marasca beats sweet cherries because it keeps its acidity and dark colour.

Figs in Dalmatia are harvested from June to October depending on the variety. Two-crop trees give their first fruit, the petrovača, as early as June, and the second, main crop arrives in August, when figs are at their sweetest (Morski.hr). A fig for drying must be fully ripe, because that is when it holds the most sugar. According to the seasonal calendar of the Kreni zdravo portal, June also brings apricots, peaches and plums, while July and August bring raspberries, blackberries and blueberries.

Vegetables: tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and new potatoes

By the same calendar Croatian summer vegetables start in June with sweetcorn, aubergine and artichoke, and in July and August tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, courgettes and potatoes peak, with basil and oregano as the herbs of the season. New Istrian potatoes from the red soil around Pomer, Valbandon and Kaštelir are lifted from late May (Boje zemlje, 2020), and because of their thin skin and high moisture they do not keep longer than a week. Chard with potatoes, roasted peppers in oil and a tomato salad with capers are three dishes that can be made in these months without buying anything imported; there are more ideas among the summer recipes.

Sardines from the fishmonger and Lika lamb

Sardines are caught from early spring until the second half of autumn, and in summer the shoals stay shallower and closer to the shore (Sportski ribolov). An average landed sardine weighs about 30 grams, the largest reach 24 centimetres and 80 grams, and the legal minimum is 11 centimetres; anything smaller should not be on the fishmonger's counter. For the grill choose sardines that do not bend when lifted by the head and have a clear, bulging eye.

Lika lamb, protected by a geographical indication since October 2018, comes from lambs of the Lika pramenka sheep slaughtered at 90 to 160 days and 22 to 36 kilograms, and the ewes mostly lamb in February, March and April (product specification, Croatian Ministry of Agriculture). It follows that genuine Lika lamb on the spit runs from May to September, and a carcass of 12 to 18 kilograms feeds 10 to 14 people. The Istrian summer black truffle, harvested from May to August according to the Rovinj tourist board, is a cheaper alternative to the autumn white one and belongs with fuži pasta and cream, not with grilled meat.

Izvori

• HRT: Počela berba osvježavajućih lubenica i dinja (5. 7. 2022.)
• tportal: Završila berba višnje maraske (10. 7. 2018.)
• Morski.hr: Smokva, hraniteljica Dalmacije
• Ministarstvo poljoprivrede: Specifikacija proizvoda „Lička janjetina” (ZOZP)