Or that celeriac is great foroven chips? How about using beetroot in your chocolate muffins? These are the sort ofthings you quickly learn if you setout to eat seasonal local produce in Scotland in the autumn andwinter months.

It’s an approach that is gaining ground, prompted by a growing sense of unease about the carbon cost of transporting fruit and vegetables around the world, orgrowing them out of season underglass.

The sight of supermarket display stands groaning under the weight of tropical fruit, when it’s not been properly light outside for weeks, encapsulates the problem.

Yet many potential convertsare put off a Scottish diet by the prospect of awinter of end less tatties, neeps and cabbage – the sort of food, in other words, that supermarkets delivered us from in the first place.

Happily, that it a misconception.

In reality, the Scottish diet between October and March offers a surprising abundance and variety of fruit and vegetables.

It might include runner beans, beetroot,broccoli, cabbage, carrots, celeriac, kale, leeks,mushrooms,onions, parsnips, potatoes, forced rhubarb, sprouts, turnip, watercress,apples, elderberries andpears, not to mention seasonalmeats like venison, and fish and cheese.

Those who live by it, swear by it.

Wendy Gudmundsson, 46, a part time teacher, lives near Auchtermuchtyin Fife with her daughters Lisa, 11, and Katie, four, and her husband Frank O’Hara, an engineer.

Far from bemoaning the colde rmonths,Mrs Gudmundsson says: “I would say this is probably the best time of year.

”The couple started to think more about the quality of the food they ate when their eldest daughter was born, and for the last four or five years they’ve been trying to eat local produce asmuch as possible.

Since getting involved in the Fife Diet network,a group of Fife residents who are trying as far as possible to eat locally produced food, they have redoubled their efforts.

The family eat about 80% local food, 20% from elsewhere.

They get aweekly veg box from Bellfield Organics,which always contains potatoes, onions and carrots, and at this time of year leeks, celeriac, parsnips, beetrootand pumpkin.

“We’re going into a time nowwhere we’re starting to get cold,so the vegetables you’re getting are warm, filling and comforting– exactly what youwant to be eating,”says Mrs Gudmundsson.

OK, so the food is tasty, but what about its nutritional value? It’s perhaps surprising that the only time this concerns Wendy is in May,when she worries about alack of vitamin C.

Last spring, thefamily craved oranges, so rather than be puritans about it, they went out and got some: after all,eating locally is a choice, not asentence.

But she feels that careful forward planning could make this unnecessary.

Making the most of seasonal foods is not just about eating them fresh each week, but about finding ways of preserving them for use later.

“I try to find ways that aren’t goingto use up energy,” she says.

“I squirrel things away in the storecupboard.

”For instance, she has just collected eight boxes of windfall apples from friends and is going to make them into apple juice,which she will pasteurise by heating,preserving it for 18 months.

The eight boxes should make 45 litres of juice.

She will also make dried apple rings by dessicating the apples in a cool oven.

Another way of preserving fruitis by making jams and preserves,vitamin C-rich rosehip jelly beingone ofMrs Gudmundsson’sfavourites.

She also makes plum juice in July and August.

Fresh pears, meanwhile, should be available until Christmas.

“It’s really not limiting to eat seasonally, though it’s not always convenient,” concludes Wendy.

She preserves a lot of food herself,and enjoys it, but recognises that isn’t an option for everyone.

For those who are short of time,eating local will mean sourcing prebottled, dried or frozen foods.

Mike Small,who along with his wife Karen, started the Fife Diet, says that relearning food preservation skills is provingto be an integral part of returningto a more locally inspireddiet.

He agrees with Wendy that“paradoxically,winter’s actually avery good time”, highlighting the traditional Christmas meal,with roast potatoes, parsnips, carrotsand sprouts, as a case in point.

“It’s one of the few celebrations where the food is in tune with the seasons.

”Is it healthy? The Smalls believe it is, highlighting the lackof processed food in their diet.

Besides, a nutritionist has studied the family’s diet and concluded that they were getting everything they needed.

The next step for the Fife Diet, says Mr Small,will be to promote a locally grown “fivea day”.

This is inspired by Sweden’s National Food Administration which has put forward the idea to the European Commission for consideration.

The Swedish proposal stresses the importance of making public healthy eating messages – the need to eat fiveportions of fruit and vegetableseach day – meshwith the drivefor sustainability.

“Choose seasonaland locally grown vegetables,”is its key message.

Prof Annie Anderson, directorof the centre for public nutrition ressearch at Dundee University,says it is important to start lookingat the carbon cost of healthy eating policies but stresses that it may not be as simple as eatinglocally.

You might get Britishtomatoes, for instance,whichhave been grown in highly heatedgreenhouses and therefore carrya heavy carbon cost.

She stresses that there areother reasons for supporting localfood producers, however.

“The main grounds for eating local food should be supporting local economies and giving some culturalvalue back to local fruit and vegetables,” she says.

Which brings us back to the Scottish winter diet.

So what do you do with celeriac? You go online, that’s what.

Youcan mash it, boil it, chip it andturn it into soups, salads and tarts– you just have to find a recipe.

So don’t be afraid.

“My main piece of advicewould be to get a veg box andthe next step is actually to eatwhat’s in the veg box,” says Mr Small.

You might get a pleasant surprise.