September is where summer and fall meet in Alabama. Hot days can keep tomatoes, corn, peppers, okra, cucumbers, and squash in the kitchen, while apples, pears, sweet potatoes, and winter squash begin shifting meals toward fall.
Here are some fruits and vegetables to look for this month for school lunches, snacks, weeknight dinners, grilling, and football weekends.
Why Shop Seasonal Produce in September?
September gives shoppers a useful mix of warm-weather produce and early-fall ingredients. That means you can keep making salads, grilled vegetables, and fresh snacks while starting to work roasted vegetables, apples, pears, and squash into the weekly menu.
Growing conditions and harvest timing vary across Alabama. Produce that is in season in the state is not necessarily Alabama-grown at every store, so check signs or ask your local Piggly Wiggly produce team about current selections.
Fresh Fruits to Enjoy This September
Apples
Apples are especially useful in September, with Alabama’s apple season continuing into fall. Choose firm apples without large bruised or soft areas.
Pack them whole for school lunches, slice them with peanut butter or another favorite spread, or add chopped apples to oatmeal and salads.
Pears
Pears are another good September choice and continue into the fall season. Let firm pears ripen as appropriate for the variety before serving.
Pair sliced pears with cheese, add them to yogurt, or pack a whole pear for an easy snack.
Grapes
Grapes remain seasonally relevant through September and work especially well for school lunches and grab-and-go snacks.
Serve them chilled, add them to fruit bowls, or include them on a football-weekend snack tray. Prepare grapes appropriately for young children.
Figs
Fresh figs can still be available in September. Look for fruit that is soft but not leaking or badly bruised.
Use figs with yogurt, oatmeal, cheese, or a simple salad. Because ripe figs are delicate, plan to use them sooner than sturdier fruit such as apples.
Melons
Warm Alabama weather means melons can still feel right at home in September. Watermelon and other melons are useful for breakfast, after-school snacks, and late-summer cookouts.
Cut only what you expect to use and refrigerate sliced melon promptly.
Persimmons
Persimmon season begins around September in Alabama, making them a good “something new to try” fruit as fall approaches.
When available, ask the produce team about the variety and how to tell when it is ready to eat, since some persimmons are best enjoyed only after they soften.
Fresh Vegetables to Enjoy This September
Tomatoes work well in sandwiches, salads, salsa, and simple pasta dishes. Choose tomatoes based on when you plan to use them, with softer ripe fruit for immediate meals and firmer tomatoes for later in the week.
Sweet corn can still be useful for grilling, Southern-style sides, salads, or game-day dips.
Cucumbers are easy to slice for lunches, wraps, salads, or snacks with dip.
Bell peppers and hot peppers can go into fajitas, tacos, salsa, rice bowls, or grilled vegetable mixes.
Okra works well roasted, grilled, sautéed, or added to soups and Southern-style sides.
Green beans and lima beans make practical dinner vegetables and can be served simply alongside chicken, pork, or other family meals.
Zucchini and yellow squash can be grilled, sautéed, roasted, or added to sheet-pan dinners.
Bring On the Fall Favorites
September also starts introducing ingredients that work well in early-fall meals.
Sweet potatoes can be roasted, baked whole, mashed, or cut into wedges for an easy dinner side.
Winter squash, including varieties such as butternut and acorn squash, works well roasted or added to soups, pasta, grain bowls, and sheet-pan meals.
Carrots are useful throughout the week. Pack raw carrot sticks for lunches or roast carrots alongside sweet potatoes and squash for dinner.
Easy Ways to Enjoy September Produce
September produce can cover several meals without requiring complicated recipes.
- Breakfast: Add apples, pears, figs, grapes, or melon to oatmeal, yogurt, or a simple fruit bowl.
- School lunches: Pack apples, pears, grapes, cucumber slices, carrots, or bell pepper strips.
- After-school snacks: Serve fruit with cheese or yogurt, or vegetables with a familiar dip.
- Weeknight dinners: Roast sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, peppers, or zucchini together on a sheet pan.
- Late-summer grilling: Grill corn, peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, and okra while September evenings are still warm.
- Early-fall meals: Start working sweet potatoes and winter squash into soups, casseroles, pasta dishes, and roasted sides.
September Game-Day Produce
Football weekends are another easy place to use September produce.
Make salsa with tomatoes and peppers, add corn to dips or side dishes, grill zucchini and peppers, or set out apples, grapes, pears, and melon for an easy fruit tray. A simple vegetable tray with cucumbers, carrots, and bell peppers can round out the spread without adding much prep.
How to Shop September Produce Without Overbuying
A few simple habits can help you use what you bring home.
- Buy delicate fruit in smaller amounts. Figs and ripe pears usually need to be used sooner than apples.
- Plan summer vegetables into more than one meal. Peppers can go from tacos to omelets, while zucchini can move from the grill to a pasta dish.
- Keep lunch produce visible. Put apples, grapes, cucumbers, and carrots where they are easy to reach during school-morning packing.
- Use ripe produce first. Move ready-to-eat tomatoes, pears, melon, and other softer produce to the front of the week.
- Give roasted vegetables a second use. Extra sweet potatoes, peppers, carrots, or squash can become tomorrow’s bowls, wraps, or sides.
Enjoy Fresh Seasonal Produce at Piggly Wiggly
September gives Alabama shoppers both sides of the seasonal transition: tomatoes, corn, peppers, okra, and squash for warm-weather meals, along with apples, pears, sweet potatoes, and winter squash for the start of fall cooking.
Visit your neighborhood Piggly Wiggly Birmingham produce department throughout September to see what is available. Selection, growing region, and availability may vary by location and as the month progresses.
Before your next shopping trip, download ThePigBham App on the App Store or Google Play to browse weekly specials, digital coupons, and savings before you shop.