What seasonal food are you eating this month?

245

Replies

  • French_Peasant
    French_Peasant Posts: 1,639 Member
    I love rhubarb pie. I can't make pie crust if my life was on the line. Lol

    I used this recipe. https://allrecipes.com/recipe/232732/mulberry-preserves/amp/
    Mulberries are just coming in season and it just so happens the hiking trail I use has three trees. I got the thumbs up from the park ranger to pick. So, I'm making mulberry jam.

    I have never made anything with mulberries, although I have access to a couple of trees, so maybe I should give it a try. Do you have any particular jam recipe recommendations? I am super-jealous of all those assorted citrus marmalades you have been making!

    Last night I brought in a bundle of fat and sassy, vibrantly red rhubarb stalks and made my first rhubarb-buttercrunch-crisp of the season (so called because I follow my grandma's butter crunch recipe, but I double the oats, which makes it close to my husband's grandma's crisp recipe). DA BOMB.

    Thank you! I also found a Serious Eats recipe involving just 2 cups of mulberries and sugar to make 2 half-pints. When mulberries roll around in June I will have to try one or the other; thank you for the idea!

    I definitely hear you on the pie; an official Rhubarb Pie would probably have been a better welcome to spring, and I can assemble one just fine, but it takes a lot of time to roll out the bottom, roll out the top, painstaking weave the lattice, sugar the lattice, etc. Thank god for crisps--melted butter, oats, flour, salt, brown sugar, all assembled in the time it takes me just to measure out the lard and get it scraped out for a pie crust.
  • ValeriePlz
    ValeriePlz Posts: 517 Member
    I've got a CSA box subscription from a local farm (Illinois), and so far the only items have been greens, cabbage, and asparagus. Got some overwintered carrots, too, and some shelled pinto beans from last season.
  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,754 Member
    I love rhubarb pie. I can't make pie crust if my life was on the line. Lol

    I used this recipe. https://allrecipes.com/recipe/232732/mulberry-preserves/amp/
    Mulberries are just coming in season and it just so happens the hiking trail I use has three trees. I got the thumbs up from the park ranger to pick. So, I'm making mulberry jam.

    I have never made anything with mulberries, although I have access to a couple of trees, so maybe I should give it a try. Do you have any particular jam recipe recommendations? I am super-jealous of all those assorted citrus marmalades you have been making!

    Last night I brought in a bundle of fat and sassy, vibrantly red rhubarb stalks and made my first rhubarb-buttercrunch-crisp of the season (so called because I follow my grandma's butter crunch recipe, but I double the oats, which makes it close to my husband's grandma's crisp recipe). DA BOMB.

    Thank you! I also found a Serious Eats recipe involving just 2 cups of mulberries and sugar to make 2 half-pints. When mulberries roll around in June I will have to try one or the other; thank you for the idea!

    I definitely hear you on the pie; an official Rhubarb Pie would probably have been a better welcome to spring, and I can assemble one just fine, but it takes a lot of time to roll out the bottom, roll out the top, painstaking weave the lattice, sugar the lattice, etc. Thank god for crisps--melted butter, oats, flour, salt, brown sugar, all assembled in the time it takes me just to measure out the lard and get it scraped out for a pie crust.

    The reason I used this recipe with added jello and pectin instead of the other is I wanted it to set like jam. I was reading the comments on the recipe with just the berries and sugar, it did not set and was more syrup. Hey, nothing wrong with syrup. Great on ice cream or waffles.

    I've made a bunch of preserves this year and every so often I end up with syrup. Yummy, no matter what.
  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,754 Member
    @French_Peasant

    You made me do this. Haha

    Strawberry and rhubarb pie

    I leave in San Diego county and the strawberries are heavenly at the roadside stands here.
  • French_Peasant
    French_Peasant Posts: 1,639 Member
    @French_Peasant

    You made me do this. Haha

    Strawberry and rhubarb pie

    I leave in San Diego county and the strawberries are heavenly at the roadside stands here.

    Wow that is gorgeous!! I am glad to be an inspiration for all that is good, pure, annoying to make, and delicious!

    I tore out most of my strawberry beds but still have a few plants scattered around--just little flowers right now, though--but have bags and bags in the freezer still, and pints and pints (15 to 20?) of strawberry-rhubarb and plain strawberry jam, which I no longer eat like I used to, alas. I may try canning a strawberry-rhubarb sauce if I can get motivated.

    You know, I can't believe we are having a strawberry-rhubarb discussion without @lemurcat12 who is a true afficianado.

    Thanks for the heads up on the jam...I was a little leery of a pectinless recipe, and don't want sauce, unless it is rhubarb sauce, LOL!
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,400 Member
    Here we're eating aspargus and strawberries.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    @French_Peasant

    You made me do this. Haha

    Strawberry and rhubarb pie

    I leave in San Diego county and the strawberries are heavenly at the roadside stands here.

    Wow that is gorgeous!! I am glad to be an inspiration for all that is good, pure, annoying to make, and delicious!

    I tore out most of my strawberry beds but still have a few plants scattered around--just little flowers right now, though--but have bags and bags in the freezer still, and pints and pints (15 to 20?) of strawberry-rhubarb and plain strawberry jam, which I no longer eat like I used to, alas. I may try canning a strawberry-rhubarb sauce if I can get motivated.

    You know, I can't believe we are having a strawberry-rhubarb discussion without @lemurcat12 who is a true afficianado.

    Thanks for the heads up on the jam...I was a little leery of a pectinless recipe, and don't want sauce, unless it is rhubarb sauce, LOL!

    That is a lovely thing to be thought-of for, and thanks for bringing this great thread to my attention!
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited May 2017
    My seasonal foods seem similar to French Peasant, which makes sense, geographically.

    I haven't planted yet (going to this weekend), but from the green market I am getting leeks (lots of leeks), asparagus, radishes and turnips (plus their greens, which are tasty), spring onions and garlic, lots of greens of all sorts (I've been eating swiss chard, collards, spinach, and arugula, as well as the ones mentioned above), rhubarb (no strawberries yet here!), celeriac, and various herbs.

    I didn't see any fennel yet, but it's all over the grocery stores so I expect to see it next week (I love fennel so much and it goes well with leeks). My favorite green market is every other week and indoors through April and then goes outdoors in May, so I'm hoping weather will be nice (or okay, at least) this weekend!

    The last two days I have had delicious morning omelets with leeks, asparagus, greens (spinach yesterday, chard today), and some sheep's feta I also picked up at the same market. So good.
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
    I live in Ohio. Many of the restaurants around here are using fresh ramps, which are totally yummy. I think they are very popular in the Appalachia region of the country this time of year.

    This weekend I intend to go hiking to check some known spots for Morel mushrooms, which should be popping up around now.

    Later in the month the fresh strawberries should be out, which I like to stock up on for jam and shortcakes.

    Our grocery stores have been featuring asparagus, which is in season, but I doubt their inventory is local.
  • French_Peasant
    French_Peasant Posts: 1,639 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    My seasonal foods seem similar to French Peasant, which makes sense, geographically.

    I haven't planted yet (going to this weekend), but from the green market I am getting leeks (lots of leeks), asparagus, radishes and turnips (plus their greens, which are tasty), spring onions and garlic, lots of greens of all sorts (I've been eating swiss chard, collards, spinach, and arugula, as well as the ones mentioned above), rhubarb (no strawberries yet here!), celeriac, and various herbs.

    I didn't see any fennel yet, but it's all over the grocery stores so I expect to see it next week (I love fennel so much and it goes well with leeks). My favorite green market is every other week and indoors through April and then goes outdoors in May, so I'm hoping weather will be nice (or okay, at least) this weekend!

    The last two days I have had delicious morning omelets with leeks, asparagus, greens (spinach yesterday, chard today), and some sheep's feta I also picked up at the same market. So good.

    What is your fennel and leek recipe? I don't think I have seen if for sale here in Not-Chicago (maybe if I check out the fanciest grocers) but I have 10+ pounds of leeks I need to use! And more to pull...

  • agbmom556
    agbmom556 Posts: 694 Member
    waiting for strawberries. :)
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    What turned me on to leeks + fennel (+ potatoes) is someone's (Julia Child's? can't recall) twist on Vichyssoise that added fennel. So good. Which reminds me of the other basic twist that I love, which is to add watercress, and that is something else you can get now and I need in my life, I love it so.

    (http://blogs.denverpost.com/food/2012/08/10/julia-childs-cold-watercress-soup-recipe/13387/)

    But now mostly I mix leek and fennel as seems appropriate -- sauteed with other spring veg or just together as a side or with eggs. I bet they'd be great in a quiche or savory pie, but I never bother, since I'm lazy.

    Is fennel not available yet or just not something common in your groceries? I saw a bunch of it at Jewel on Sunday, so not just WF or the like here.
  • French_Peasant
    French_Peasant Posts: 1,639 Member
    edited May 2017
    lporter229 wrote: »
    I live in Ohio. Many of the restaurants around here are using fresh ramps, which are totally yummy. I think they are very popular in the Appalachia region of the country this time of year.

    This weekend I intend to go hiking to check some known spots for Morel mushrooms, which should be popping up around now.

    Later in the month the fresh strawberries should be out, which I like to stock up on for jam and shortcakes.

    Our grocery stores have been featuring asparagus, which is in season, but I doubt their inventory is local.

    Oooh...good reminder. I transplanted some ramps into my garden...not enough to harvest, but enough to tip me off when they are ready to be harvested. I just take a few from my secret patch in the woods because they are, sadly, being over-harvested according to what I have read.

    My family found morels in Southern Michigan this past weekend, so yep, it's time to get cracking!

    Sometimes the most satisfying foods are the ones that can be foraged, from morels and ramps to blackberries and mulberries. I also have to recommend another delicacy that you can find while you are out 'shrooming: nettles. Pick the tips this time of year (with gloves), cook them like spinach, and they are like an especially awesome version of spinach. A classic spring tonic green: one cup cooked gives you 42% calcium, 24% fiber (6g), 35% Vitamin A, 2.4 g protein, 297 mg potassium, and 12% magnesium.

    ***For more on spring tonics, here is an interesting paper from 1977; I saw a pharmaceutical chemist present at an American Chemical Society meeting a few years ago, and this was a paper he did as an undergrad. Spring tonics were crucial for folks living off of winter storage veg for months on end; and many of the plants listed here are at their most potent nutrition-wise in early spring before they are spent from flowering.

    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225190265_Ascorbic_acid_and_Vitamin_A_content_of_edible_wild_plants_of_Ohio_and_Kentucky


    I have not tried fiddleheads as another poster mentioned above, but I have native ferns growing in my garden, currently in the fiddlehead stage, soooo.....hmmm.....
  • French_Peasant
    French_Peasant Posts: 1,639 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    What turned me on to leeks + fennel (+ potatoes) is someone's (Julia Child's? can't recall) twist on Vichyssoise that added fennel. So good. Which reminds me of the other basic twist that I love, which is to add watercress, and that is something else you can get now and I need in my life, I love it so.

    (http://blogs.denverpost.com/food/2012/08/10/julia-childs-cold-watercress-soup-recipe/13387/)

    But now mostly I mix leek and fennel as seems appropriate -- sauteed with other spring veg or just together as a side or with eggs. I bet they'd be great in a quiche or savory pie, but I never bother, since I'm lazy.

    Is fennel not available yet or just not something common in your groceries? I saw a bunch of it at Jewel on Sunday, so not just WF or the like here.

    Well, upon introspection, I realize 1) I did not grow up with it, 2) it has never caught my eye as a seed pack or a start, and 3) one of my great authorities on All Things Cultural in my academia years expressed a significant amount of hatred for it, so 4) it has just never been on my particular radar, despite seeing it referenced frequently in recipes I would enjoy making and eating. In fact, I have likely made recipes calling for fennel and probably just put in thyme and dill, which are *not* replacements, LOL!

    I will have to go to the grocery and take a look, because now I am curious!
  • norahkathleen
    norahkathleen Posts: 69 Member
    edited May 2017
    our farmer's market moved from indoor to outdoor this past weekend, so looking forward to the change over in produce, too! and i just posted about this in another thread, but i tried the strawberry rhubarb crisp recipe from confessions of a fit foodie and it is so good...and it uses the rhubarb that is coming up in our yard as well as the maple syrup we make (just a bit) so i feel pretty good about the ingredients as far as a sweet treat goes!
    (@Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink...sort of like pie) ;)
  • Blufae33
    Blufae33 Posts: 9 Member
    Made a batch of Honeysuckle Jelly yesterday! Yummy!!
  • daneejela
    daneejela Posts: 461 Member
    This month (May) we enjoyed:

    Lettuce

    24-Best-Benefits-Of-Lettuce-Kasmisaag-For-Skin-Hair-And-Health.jpg


    Swiss Chard

    jjctn3sb955w.png

    Dandelion greens

    dandelion-greens.jpg

    ScallionsJuly-11-Grilled-Garden-Scallions2.jpg

    Cherries

    qershia-1-720x340.jpg

    Strawberries
    strawberries-on-white-plate.jpg






  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
    Nothing right now. Strawberries in season but at $6 a pint? No thanks.

    If I find leeks I might make some potato leek soup.
  • pebble4321
    pebble4321 Posts: 1,132 Member
    It's the first day of winter for me, and there are mandarins everywhere so they are my default fruit at the moment.
  • J_NY_Z
    J_NY_Z Posts: 2,535 Member
    daneejela wrote: »
    I will start with mine.
    I am in South Europe, it's spring time now, and in spring we are having a lot of wild greens.
    I guess it was a natural detox for our ancestors before word detox was even made :)

    My spring favorites are:

    Wild asparagus
    c4vcho1dz2jq.jpg

    Wild dandelion
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    We eat them both boiled, drained, mixed with hard boiled eggs and seasoned with salt, vinegar and olive oil.

    Wild fennel & young fava/horse beans stew
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    iyxjm1n95o91.jpeg

    Usually I would be eating artichoke hearts, although this year frost took them.
    yw2fav2lof8b.jpg


    I eat normal food also :D Only in spring I eat so manny wild plants :)

    My absolutely favorite are asparagus and dandelion.



    All that looks wonderful!!