First Autumn Produce: Squash, Apples & Federkohl

Late August is the hinge of the Swiss produce year. As berries and stone fruit fade and climb in price, the first autumn crops arrive: Swiss squash (Kürbis), early storage apples such as Gala and Elstar, and hardy greens like Federkohl. The cheapest produce each week is whatever has just come into domestic season.

Switching your fruit bowl from imported stone fruit to newly harvested Swiss apples and grapes can save CHF 3–4 per kilo on the same weight of fruit, and a single storage squash bought around CHF 2.50 per kilo stretches across several autumn dinners.

What's actually in season in late August

The Swiss growing calendar does not flip overnight, but late August is when the balance tips. Zucchetti, tomatoes, sweetcorn and the last melons are still cheap and worth eating, yet each week brings a little less of them; the shelves make room for squash, apples, pears, grapes and the first hardy greens. If you spent July working through the high-summer vegetable glut, this is the handover week.

The table below lists the main crops coming into Swiss season now, with the rough entry price per kilo once each lands on Aktion. Entry prices are the ceiling: as each crop reaches its peak through September and October, expect them to drift lower, and a farm shop (Hofladen) routinely undercuts the supermarket.

When does Swiss squash season start?

Swiss Kürbis appears in volume from the third week of August, with Butternut and Hokkaido leading and muscat and spaghetti squash following into September. Entry prices open around CHF 2.50–3.50 per kilo and drift toward CHF 2 at the October peak. A whole, uncut squash is one of the best-value autumn buys in any Swiss supermarket: it keeps for weeks in a cool, dry room without a fridge, and a 1.5 kg Butternut roasts down into the base for two or three dinners — a soup, a traybake, a risotto.

Buy squash whole rather than pre-cut. The plastic-wrapped halves and cubes carry a steep convenience markup for a vegetable that stores perfectly on its own, and the cut surfaces spoil within days while a whole squash sits happily on the counter into October.

Are early apples really cheaper?

Yes, with one caveat. The new Swiss apple harvest opens in late August with early varieties — Gala, Elstar, Gravensteiner — and these fresh-picked apples come in cheaper and crisper than the cold-stored fruit that carried the shelves through spring and summer. Expect early apples around CHF 2.80–3.50 per kilo, easing lower as the main harvest of Boskoop, Braeburn and Golden Delicious fills in through September and October.

Two habits keep the price down. Loose apples are almost always cheaper per kilo than the pre-packed 2 kg bags, and a Hofladen or a Saturday market often beats both on price and freshness. Apples are also one of the crops where the organic premium is most debated — it is worth deciding whether Bio is worth it variety by variety rather than paying it by reflex.

Federkohl and the first hardy greens

Federkohl — Swiss kale — is one of the first cold-tolerant greens back on the shelves, alongside chard (Mangold), fennel and the early autumn cabbages. It arrives from late August and only improves as the nights cool, since a light frost sweetens the leaves. Expect around CHF 4–5 per kilo, or roughly CHF 3.50 for a bunch.

It earns its place in an autumn budget because it is dense and stretches a long way: a single bunch turns into a big pot of soup, a tray of kale crisps, or the green in a stew, and it holds in the fridge for the best part of a week without wilting. These hardy greens are the backbone of cheap autumn cooking once salad season winds down and lettuce prices start their climb back toward winter levels.

What summer produce should you buy before it goes?

The flip side of the switch: a handful of summer crops are having their last cheap weeks, and it pays to buy a final round before they revert to expensive imports. Swiss berries and the last Valais apricots are nearly done — buy them now to eat or freeze, because from September the punnets on the shelf are imported and dearer. Tomatoes, zucchetti and sweetcorn are still at or near their floor, but the volume is thinning; this is the week for a last batch of passata or a few bags of corn kernels in the freezer.

Melons get their final Aktionen before they disappear until next summer. None of this works against the autumn switch — you are simply clearing the summer shelf while it is still at its cheapest and easing into the new season at the same time.

Why does the season set the price?

Swiss retailers price domestic produce lowest when local supply is at its highest, because there is more of it and no import freight or long-term storage cost to carry. That is the whole mechanism behind why seasonal eating saves money: you buy each crop at the exact point the country has the most of it, which is also when it tastes best.

Eating with the season also trims waste. Federal figures put Swiss food waste at roughly 2.8 million tonnes a year, with households responsible for the largest single share — buying produce that is cheap, local and in season, in the quantity you will actually cook, is one of the simplest ways to keep food out of the bin. The Federal Office for the Environment publishes the data and practical guidance on reducing food waste.

How to shop the seasonal switch without waste

Turning the calendar into a cheaper trolley takes about five minutes of intent:

1. Eat down the summer stock first. Use up the last tomatoes, zucchetti and berries — or freeze them — before you buy into autumn, so nothing rots in the switch.
2. Move the fruit bowl to Swiss apples and grapes. They are now cheaper and better than the fading imported stone fruit, and they keep far longer on the counter.
3. Buy one whole storage squash. Uncut, it waits weeks in a cool room, so it is there when you want it rather than an impulse the week you cook it.
4. Roast a batch and freeze it. Half a squash roasted and frozen in portions is three head-starts on soup, risotto or a traybake later in the month.
5. Check a Hofladen or market for apples and squash by the kilo. Farm-gate prices routinely beat the supermarket, especially on the varieties grown nearby.

How much does eating with the season save?

Across an autumn, the seasonal switch adds up. A household buying 3–4 kg of fruit a week saves CHF 3–4 per kilo by moving off imported stone fruit onto Swiss apples and grapes — roughly CHF 10–15 a week. Swapping two imported-vegetable dinners for squash, kale or chard at their seasonal floor saves another CHF 5–8. Add the waste you avoid by buying what is cheap and in season, and CHF 60–100 a month is realistic through autumn, on the same volume of food.

Keeping track of which crop has just come into season and which chain has it cheapest is exactly what Eini's algorithm handles: it follows current prices across Coop, Migros, Lidl, Aldi, Denner and Aligro, matches them to your meal plan and builds the grocery list, so the seasonal switch shows up in your basket without you watching the shelves. Download Eini and let the season work in your favour.