It’s always good to make the most of whatever fresh fruit and vegies are in season, but we often-just stick to our old faithful foods.

Here are three delicious foods that are in season right now, along with info about what you can do with them and their nutritional benefits.

Branch out and try these scrumptious ideas for something a little different this week... 

Beetroot
For most of us, our culinary experience with beetroot has been limited to the canned variety. However, there is much more to beetroot that that. Fresh beetrootis incredibly versatile and adds a great colour and flavour to many dishes. Nutritionally beetroot provides fibre, B vitamins plus small amounts of vitamin C and iron. Its brilliant red colour is from a group of pigments called betalains. These give beetroot strong antioxidant powers. Being beetroot season now, it's the perfect time to ditch the cans and try it fresh!

• Baked Beetroot: Trim off the roots and leaves, and wash off any dirt. Poke the beetroot with a knife a few times - otherwise they may explode and cleaning an oven is no one’s favourite job! Bake until soft enough to poke with a fork, cool a little and rub off skin with your fingers. Serve with some low fat sour cream - a very tasty addition to a meal.
• Coleslaw: Peel the raw beetroot, grate and add to finely sliced green cabbage and carrot. Mix in the juice from one lemon and some low fat dressing.
• Beetroot leaves: These can also be eaten and are nice added to a stir-fry. They can be used much the same way as spinach leaves.
• In a salad: Peel and boil till tender. Add chunks to a fresh salad with freshly boiled eggs. Both these give a nice flavour and substance to a salad.

• How to prepare: Trim off the top and tail; remove the strings on the side of the pod lightly with a potato peeler or knife. Beans are a versatile vegetable - they can be boiled, stir-fried, steamed or microwaved.
• As a side dish: For something a bit more special than just a pile of beans, steam until just tender and sprinkle with freshly chopped herbs and a small drizzle of olive oil.
• Raw or blanched: Add to a platter with dipping sauce or hummus. You could also add to a salad.

No corn tastes as good as fresh corn on the cob. A true summer vegetable, corn is in season from January to late March. There are a lot of nutrients packed into a corncob. Sweet corn contains zinc, iron, selenium, potassium, vitamin C and the B group vitamins folate, thiamine and riboflavin. The yellow colour of corn comes from its high levels of vitamin A. Actually to be more correct, corn contains a precursor to vitamin A known as provitamin A, which is converted to vitamin A in the body. Sweet corn also contains the phytochemicals lutein and zeaxanthin, which are known to be beneficial in eye health. It also has more
protein than other vegetables and is a good source of fibre and starch.

• Cook on the BBQ.
• Microwave: For an easy snack, cook a cob of corn in the microwave for 2-3 minutes on 100% power.
• Grate corncobs: Make your own creamed corn by grating corncobs. Cook and serve on toast or make into corn fritters and serve with sliced tomatoes, avocado and lean bacon as a weekend lunch.
• With olive oil: Serve fresh corncobs with a small amount of olive oil spread and fresh pepper. Because vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin, having a small amount of healthy fat on the corn helps you absorb the vitamin A.