Learn why eating seasonally is a good choice and get a list of the most delicious and nutritious spring produce.
Spring is here. The earth is waking up. With it comes nature’s bounty! Spring produce is a celebration of the return to warmer, longer days and the glorious growing season. Here’s your invitation to the spring produce party. Please join us!
The Case for Seasonal Produce
Due to refrigeration and globalization, almost any fruit or vegetable is available any time of year. While that’s quite convenient, it might not be best for our bodies and overall well-being. Eating seasonally has many benefits, including:
- Superior quality & nutrition: Fruits and vegetables grown in-season look better, taste better, and have optimal nutritional value. Off-season produce is either harvested half-a-world away or placed in cold storage for months. This creates a large time gap between harvest and consumption, which causes produce to lose nutrients. Seasonal produce doesn’t have this problem.
- A better price & a boon to the local economy: In the fall, strawberries are double or triple the price of in-season spring berries. Give your wallet a break – wait for produce to be in-season. And think about others’ wallets. By eating seasonally, you have more chances to reduce your food miles and buy directly from local farmers. Find a farmers market and buy the bulk of your fruits and vegetables there.
- Improved mindfulness & greater gratitude: Mindfulness and nature go hand-in-hand. Since food is part of nature, what and how we eat can be part of a mindfulness practice. To do so, try eating seasonally. It can help root you to the present and to your surroundings. Out of that will flow gratitude. If you enjoy strawberries just a few weeks per year when they’re in season you’ll never again take them for granted.
Spring Produce Must-Haves
Make these fruits and veggies the stars of spring recipes and the centerpiece of your plate.
Asparagus
Unlike other spring produce on this list, most of which go from seed to harvest in a matter of weeks, this perennial vegetable takes three years to harvest. It’s worth the wait, and it keeps on giving – you can harvest it for up to 15 years!
Nutritionally, asparagus is high in vitamin K, folate, and antioxidants. It’s very easy to prepare: just snap or cut off the tough, fibrous ends – about an inch or so – and saute, steam, or grill for salads, stir-fries, side dishes, pasta etc.
Fun fact: Asparagus goes beyond green. A sweet, tender, and ghostly-looking delicacy available only a few weeks per year, white asparagus grows covered in dirt so that it never photosynthesizes or produces chlorophyll. Purple asparagus has a slightly different antioxidant profile than the typical green variety. It contains high levels of anthocyanins, which reduce risk of heart disease.
Blackberries & Strawberries
Super nourishing blackberries and strawberries send a strong signal: the final days of spring are upon us and summer is just around the corner. Hooray! Strawberries are an excellent source of vitamin C and antioxidants. They are also linked to improved heart health, better blood sugar regulation, and cancer prevention. Blackberries are a vitamin C powerhouse, are high in fiber and manganese, and have antibacterial properties that benefit oral health.
Berries are a beloved baked goods and breakfast ingredient. Seasonal strawberry desserts might also include rhubarb, another spring produce darling. Thistle’s Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble with Vanilla Cashew Buttercream is a great example. Berries also go great in salads – both sweet and savory. Find blackberries and strawberries all over Thistle’s breakfast menu in items like chia jams, compotes, and smoothies.
Fun fact: Strawberries are often grown on a bed of straw, so that explains the name for this spring produce, right? Wrong. The name is thought to come from a modification of the phrase “strewn berry” – a reference to the many runners on a strawberry plant, which give the crop a strewn about appearance.
Cabbage
Humble, nutritious, and adaptable cabbage is the most budget-friendly food on this spring produce list. Often at its tastiest, sweetest, and most tender when harvested in early spring, you can eat it raw in salads and slaws, braised in a simple side dish, or in all sorts of soups and stews. Since one head of cabbage often contains enough for several meals, you can easily enjoy it many different ways and in many different dishes within just one meal planning period.
Cabbage comes in lots of varieties, including green, red, savoy, napa, and Chinese. It contains loads of vitamin C and vitamin K. And then of course, like any cruciferous vegetable, cabbage is rich in gut-friendly fiber and antioxidants and has anti-inflammatory properties. Thanks to anthocyanin – the food compound that gives it a vibrant ruby color – red cabbage packs an extra punch: it may help reduce risk of heart disease.
Check out the Thistle Thoughts blog for some cabbage recipes. You can quick-pickle it alongside other spring produce and use it as a slaw ingredient to top tacos. You can even use red cabbage leaves to make a natural food-based dye!
Garlic Scapes & Green Garlic
In the mood for something super green and mildly garlic-y? Try garlic scapes and green garlic, both of which are frequently found at farmers markets this time of year. While garlic bulbs are busy growing underground, scapes are the green stalks that sprout aboveground. Harvested before they bloom, garlic scapes are delicious in pestos, stir-fries, and vinaigrettes.
Green garlic, on the other hand, is an immature garlic plant in its entirety – tender stalk plus tiny bulb, all in one. When farmers thin their garlic crop, they pull several of these immature plants. Use them as you would green onion, which green garlic strongly resembles.
Green Peas & Snow Peas
Peas epitomize spring produce. Green peas, also known as spring peas, are tender and sweet – especially when just picked. Once hulled from their fibrous shell, they make a wonderful side dish, soup, or addition to pasta and salads. Find them on Thistle’s menu in dishes like Wild Rice & Lemon Mint Pilaf and Loaded Baked Potato Salad. Snow peas, which are eaten shell and all, shine in stir-fries and salads.
Of all fresh spring produce, peas have the highest protein content. With eight grams of fiber per cup, they’re an excellent source of plant-based protein. Peas are also high in fiber and heart-healthy antioxidants.
Leeks
Take a walk on the mild side of spring produce with leeks. They look like giant scallions and taste onion-like, but milder and creamier. As with practically any spring produce, leeks are a low-calorie, nutrient-dense food. They’re high in vitamin A, vitamin K, and manganese – the latter may help with PMS. Leeks also contain heart healthy, anticancer, and antimicrobial antioxidants like kaempferol and allicin.
If you find onions too overpowering, leeks are the aromatic allium for you. Next time a recipe calls for onions, try leeks instead. Slice the white and light green parts, then give them a really good soak and rinse to remove dirt and debris. Dishes that traditionally feature this spring produce include potato-leek soup, white pizza, and creamy pastas.
Fun fact: Wild leeks, known as ramps, have a stronger flavor than their cultivated counterparts. They’re delicious, high in vitamin C, and – thanks to their tell-tale onion aroma – are one of the easier wild foods to safely identify and forage in the spring.
New Potatoes
The first potato harvest of the season, new potatoes are uncured, tiny, tender, and enrobed in delicate papery skin. These are not the giant, cured, tough-looking russets you see at the supermarket year-round. New potatoes are a wonderful complement in dishes that feature other spring produce. Think: potato and asparagus hash, nicoise salad, or the New Potato Salad found on Thistle’s menu.
High in carbs, new potatoes are the most energy-rich spring produce on this list. New potatoes are also a good source of vitamin C and potassium. To reap the most nutrition, always eat potatoes with the skin on – that’s where most of the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants (especially in red and purple-skinned varieties) reside.
Tip: Since new potatoes are uncured, they won’t store as long as other potatoes. Cook them within a few days of purchase.
Radishes
If you want to add some peppery zest to your spring produce fare, turn to red radishes. Raw and thinly sliced, they give sandwiches and salads – such as Thistle’s Buckwheat & Radish Salad and Persephone’s Salad – some zing. Or treat them as you would any root vegetable by either sauteing, roasting, or grilling them. Cooking radishes subdues their peppery flavor. When you pickle radishes, they make an excellent taco topping.
Radishes are a good source of vitamin C. This zesty spring produce also has antifungal properties, and like all cruciferous vegetables, radishes contain compounds that are linked to reduced risk of cancer.
Tip: Minimize food waste by eating the whole plant. Radish greens can be prepared just as you would other strongly-flavored leafy greens in the cruciferous family, such as mustard greens and turnip greens.
Salad Greens
Spring weather and salad greens are a perfect match. Rainy weather, cool temps, and shorter days mean lettuces and other salad greens thrive. Where high summer scorches leaves and causes plants to bolt, spring keeps salad greens tender and sweet.
Salad greens are awash in nutritional benefits. Depending on the variety, they’re high in vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, folate, niacin, riboflavin, iron, potassium, beta carotene, lutein, and antioxidants. A big salad is one of the easiest and tastiest ways to get more raw foods into your diet, so eat up!
Count arugula, dandelion greens, leaf lettuces, baby kale, and spinach among Thistle’s favorite salad greens. In fact, salad greens sourced from wonderful partners like Jayleaf might be our favorite spring produce. The proof: Our menu features a hearty lunch salad every single day! For DIY options, check out this post about building a great salad.
Tender Herbs
Just as salad greens thrive in spring weather, so do flavorful tender herbs like dill, parsley, chives, mint, and tarragon. Fresh herbs make everything taste better. So the next time you prepare any of the above spring produce, add some herbs! Mint is an amazing addition to peas. Dill goes great with potatoes. And just about any variety of fresh herbs added to a green salad will have everyone asking for seconds.
While we count on culinary herbs for flavor, they also have a lot of nutritional benefits. Many of the benefits are similar to those of salad greens, including high amounts of vitamins A, C, and K. Tender herbs are also rich in polyphenols, which have both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Tip: To extend the life of tender herbs, put them in a jar with a bit of water, as you would a vase of flowers. Cover with a bag and place in the refrigerator.
Spring produce will catch your eye, nourish your body, and please your palate. Buy a lot, cook up a storm, and feast away. Because now is the time to celebrate spring produce.
Learn why eating seasonally is a good choice and get a list of the most delicious and nutritious spring produce.
Spring is here. The earth is waking up. With it comes nature’s bounty! Spring produce is a celebration of the return to warmer, longer days and the glorious growing season. Here’s your invitation to the spring produce party. Please join us!
The Case for Seasonal Produce
Due to refrigeration and globalization, almost any fruit or vegetable is available any time of year. While that’s quite convenient, it might not be best for our bodies and overall well-being. Eating seasonally has many benefits, including:
- Superior quality & nutrition: Fruits and vegetables grown in-season look better, taste better, and have optimal nutritional value. Off-season produce is either harvested half-a-world away or placed in cold storage for months. This creates a large time gap between harvest and consumption, which causes produce to lose nutrients. Seasonal produce doesn’t have this problem.
- A better price & a boon to the local economy: In the fall, strawberries are double or triple the price of in-season spring berries. Give your wallet a break – wait for produce to be in-season. And think about others’ wallets. By eating seasonally, you have more chances to reduce your food miles and buy directly from local farmers. Find a farmers market and buy the bulk of your fruits and vegetables there.
- Improved mindfulness & greater gratitude: Mindfulness and nature go hand-in-hand. Since food is part of nature, what and how we eat can be part of a mindfulness practice. To do so, try eating seasonally. It can help root you to the present and to your surroundings. Out of that will flow gratitude. If you enjoy strawberries just a few weeks per year when they’re in season you’ll never again take them for granted.
Spring Produce Must-Haves
Make these fruits and veggies the stars of spring recipes and the centerpiece of your plate.
Asparagus
Unlike other spring produce on this list, most of which go from seed to harvest in a matter of weeks, this perennial vegetable takes three years to harvest. It’s worth the wait, and it keeps on giving – you can harvest it for up to 15 years!
Nutritionally, asparagus is high in vitamin K, folate, and antioxidants. It’s very easy to prepare: just snap or cut off the tough, fibrous ends – about an inch or so – and saute, steam, or grill for salads, stir-fries, side dishes, pasta etc.
Fun fact: Asparagus goes beyond green. A sweet, tender, and ghostly-looking delicacy available only a few weeks per year, white asparagus grows covered in dirt so that it never photosynthesizes or produces chlorophyll. Purple asparagus has a slightly different antioxidant profile than the typical green variety. It contains high levels of anthocyanins, which reduce risk of heart disease.
Blackberries & Strawberries
Super nourishing blackberries and strawberries send a strong signal: the final days of spring are upon us and summer is just around the corner. Hooray! Strawberries are an excellent source of vitamin C and antioxidants. They are also linked to improved heart health, better blood sugar regulation, and cancer prevention. Blackberries are a vitamin C powerhouse, are high in fiber and manganese, and have antibacterial properties that benefit oral health.
Berries are a beloved baked goods and breakfast ingredient. Seasonal strawberry desserts might also include rhubarb, another spring produce darling. Thistle’s Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble with Vanilla Cashew Buttercream is a great example. Berries also go great in salads – both sweet and savory. Find blackberries and strawberries all over Thistle’s breakfast menu in items like chia jams, compotes, and smoothies.
Fun fact: Strawberries are often grown on a bed of straw, so that explains the name for this spring produce, right? Wrong. The name is thought to come from a modification of the phrase “strewn berry” – a reference to the many runners on a strawberry plant, which give the crop a strewn about appearance.
Cabbage
Humble, nutritious, and adaptable cabbage is the most budget-friendly food on this spring produce list. Often at its tastiest, sweetest, and most tender when harvested in early spring, you can eat it raw in salads and slaws, braised in a simple side dish, or in all sorts of soups and stews. Since one head of cabbage often contains enough for several meals, you can easily enjoy it many different ways and in many different dishes within just one meal planning period.
Cabbage comes in lots of varieties, including green, red, savoy, napa, and Chinese. It contains loads of vitamin C and vitamin K. And then of course, like any cruciferous vegetable, cabbage is rich in gut-friendly fiber and antioxidants and has anti-inflammatory properties. Thanks to anthocyanin – the food compound that gives it a vibrant ruby color – red cabbage packs an extra punch: it may help reduce risk of heart disease.
Check out the Thistle Thoughts blog for some cabbage recipes. You can quick-pickle it alongside other spring produce and use it as a slaw ingredient to top tacos. You can even use red cabbage leaves to make a natural food-based dye!
Garlic Scapes & Green Garlic
In the mood for something super green and mildly garlic-y? Try garlic scapes and green garlic, both of which are frequently found at farmers markets this time of year. While garlic bulbs are busy growing underground, scapes are the green stalks that sprout aboveground. Harvested before they bloom, garlic scapes are delicious in pestos, stir-fries, and vinaigrettes.
Green garlic, on the other hand, is an immature garlic plant in its entirety – tender stalk plus tiny bulb, all in one. When farmers thin their garlic crop, they pull several of these immature plants. Use them as you would green onion, which green garlic strongly resembles.
Green Peas & Snow Peas
Peas epitomize spring produce. Green peas, also known as spring peas, are tender and sweet – especially when just picked. Once hulled from their fibrous shell, they make a wonderful side dish, soup, or addition to pasta and salads. Find them on Thistle’s menu in dishes like Wild Rice & Lemon Mint Pilaf and Loaded Baked Potato Salad. Snow peas, which are eaten shell and all, shine in stir-fries and salads.
Of all fresh spring produce, peas have the highest protein content. With eight grams of fiber per cup, they’re an excellent source of plant-based protein. Peas are also high in fiber and heart-healthy antioxidants.
Leeks
Take a walk on the mild side of spring produce with leeks. They look like giant scallions and taste onion-like, but milder and creamier. As with practically any spring produce, leeks are a low-calorie, nutrient-dense food. They’re high in vitamin A, vitamin K, and manganese – the latter may help with PMS. Leeks also contain heart healthy, anticancer, and antimicrobial antioxidants like kaempferol and allicin.
If you find onions too overpowering, leeks are the aromatic allium for you. Next time a recipe calls for onions, try leeks instead. Slice the white and light green parts, then give them a really good soak and rinse to remove dirt and debris. Dishes that traditionally feature this spring produce include potato-leek soup, white pizza, and creamy pastas.
Fun fact: Wild leeks, known as ramps, have a stronger flavor than their cultivated counterparts. They’re delicious, high in vitamin C, and – thanks to their tell-tale onion aroma – are one of the easier wild foods to safely identify and forage in the spring.
New Potatoes
The first potato harvest of the season, new potatoes are uncured, tiny, tender, and enrobed in delicate papery skin. These are not the giant, cured, tough-looking russets you see at the supermarket year-round. New potatoes are a wonderful complement in dishes that feature other spring produce. Think: potato and asparagus hash, nicoise salad, or the New Potato Salad found on Thistle’s menu.
High in carbs, new potatoes are the most energy-rich spring produce on this list. New potatoes are also a good source of vitamin C and potassium. To reap the most nutrition, always eat potatoes with the skin on – that’s where most of the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants (especially in red and purple-skinned varieties) reside.
Tip: Since new potatoes are uncured, they won’t store as long as other potatoes. Cook them within a few days of purchase.
Radishes
If you want to add some peppery zest to your spring produce fare, turn to red radishes. Raw and thinly sliced, they give sandwiches and salads – such as Thistle’s Buckwheat & Radish Salad and Persephone’s Salad – some zing. Or treat them as you would any root vegetable by either sauteing, roasting, or grilling them. Cooking radishes subdues their peppery flavor. When you pickle radishes, they make an excellent taco topping.
Radishes are a good source of vitamin C. This zesty spring produce also has antifungal properties, and like all cruciferous vegetables, radishes contain compounds that are linked to reduced risk of cancer.
Tip: Minimize food waste by eating the whole plant. Radish greens can be prepared just as you would other strongly-flavored leafy greens in the cruciferous family, such as mustard greens and turnip greens.
Salad Greens
Spring weather and salad greens are a perfect match. Rainy weather, cool temps, and shorter days mean lettuces and other salad greens thrive. Where high summer scorches leaves and causes plants to bolt, spring keeps salad greens tender and sweet.
Salad greens are awash in nutritional benefits. Depending on the variety, they’re high in vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, folate, niacin, riboflavin, iron, potassium, beta carotene, lutein, and antioxidants. A big salad is one of the easiest and tastiest ways to get more raw foods into your diet, so eat up!
Count arugula, dandelion greens, leaf lettuces, baby kale, and spinach among Thistle’s favorite salad greens. In fact, salad greens sourced from wonderful partners like Jayleaf might be our favorite spring produce. The proof: Our menu features a hearty lunch salad every single day! For DIY options, check out this post about building a great salad.
Tender Herbs
Just as salad greens thrive in spring weather, so do flavorful tender herbs like dill, parsley, chives, mint, and tarragon. Fresh herbs make everything taste better. So the next time you prepare any of the above spring produce, add some herbs! Mint is an amazing addition to peas. Dill goes great with potatoes. And just about any variety of fresh herbs added to a green salad will have everyone asking for seconds.
While we count on culinary herbs for flavor, they also have a lot of nutritional benefits. Many of the benefits are similar to those of salad greens, including high amounts of vitamins A, C, and K. Tender herbs are also rich in polyphenols, which have both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Tip: To extend the life of tender herbs, put them in a jar with a bit of water, as you would a vase of flowers. Cover with a bag and place in the refrigerator.
Spring produce will catch your eye, nourish your body, and please your palate. Buy a lot, cook up a storm, and feast away. Because now is the time to celebrate spring produce.
