July and August in the kitchen: Cucumbers, mushroom picking and fruit pies
In nature, in the woods and in the fields
The grasshoppers and robins are chirping in the pastures, the deer are rutting in the woods, mushrooms are growing, berries are ripening and the grain fields are turning from green to gold. Some deer are pulling out their antlers, plants are scattering their seeds and summer is peaking with harvest.
Which ingredients to enjoy?
July is the time to prepare your jars for jams, preserves, preserves , compotesor fruit vinegars and stock up for the winter.
Vegetables in season in July: Horseradish, leeks, spring onions, field greens, spinach, spinach, chives, dill, parsley, lettuces, turnips, radishes, kohlrabi, chard, peas, cauliflower, celeriac, kale, tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes and courgette flowers, also broccoli, red cabbage, beetroot, garlic, aubergines, green beans and squash.
Seasonal fruits apples, pears, melon, some varieties of strawberries, blueberries, peaches, apricots, cherries, mulberries, currants and mushrooms grow in the forest after the summer rains.
In August, the harvest is joined by mirabelles, plums, raspberries, blackberries, sea buckthorn, caraway ripens and the hunting season begins.
Before you start your seasonal cooking, we recommend further reading and recipes:
To help you enjoy the peak of the season to the fullest, we have collected recipes from our blog in which the season plays a major role:
- Cucumber special: How to grow cucumbers and what to do with them in the kitchen?
- Salad, zoodles or flowers in batter. What can zucchini do in the kitchen?
- Salted fruit?! Try mirabelle olives or currants with garlic
- Gooseberries for fish and blueberries for pasta. That's what summer tastes like!
- Stewed or fermented, cabbage has a firm place in Czech cuisine
- The ultimate recipe for fruit dumplings from Café Savoy
Traditions and folk customs
Our ancestors had already traced that if it rains on Procopius (4th of July) and Magdalena (22nd of July) the grain ripens well and there would be a large harvest. A Pavlovian summer was a period of alternating warm and rainy days, as we saw in June 2025.
The end of July is associated with cooler mornings, which symbolise the slow arrival of autumn. But first on the agenda is the so-called Harvest Festival - a celebration of Slavic folk culture rooted in Christian traditions. At South Moravia, in addition to grain, they also celebrate wine and other fruit harvests and farmers across the Czech Republic dig up the potato harvest for the winter.
