Written by Diann Leo-Omine & Lisa Lin, photos by Lisa Lin. This post was originally published in 2017 and has been updated to include product harvesting tips and more photos.
In Sacramento, early spring is marked by 70 degree temperatures and the onset of t-shirt weather, which easily peaks at around 90 degrees in late April. Spring gives way to summer here in no time at all. Talk about a short season! Thankfully, the local produce proves that no matter how hot it gets, it’s still April.
AVOCADO
Do I need to tell you why you should eat creamy and sweet avocados? let me count the ways Avocados are packed with vitamins K, E, D and A. In addition, avocados also contain monounsaturated fats, which are good for the heart. Aside from topping and smashing it in guacamole, there are plenty of creative ways to get your daily dose of avocado.
HOW TO SELECT AND STORE AVOCADOS
Choose heavy avocados without hollow spots. Keep your avocados at room temperature. To speed up the aging process, place in a paper bag until the skin just gives. They mature before you know it, so check every day! If you don’t want to use the ripened avocado yet, you can put it in the fridge. They can keep for up to 5 to 7 days, especially if you put them in the fridge before they’re fully ripe.
RECIPES WITH AVOCADOS
BEET
Nutritional value, nothing beats beets. Bad food puns aside, it’s no surprise why earthy yet sweet beets are touted as a superfood. They’re packed with vitamins and minerals, including vitamin C, folate, and potassium. Beets are also a natural source of nitrates.
Don’t forget the green leaves either – they’re packed with B vitamins. Sauté the veggies and their stalks as you would rainbow chard. You can even blend them into a smoothie – see below for a smoothie recipe that will make these beet greens work!
SELECTION AND RETENTION BEET
Choose beets that are heavy for their size and unblemished, preferably with the taproot intact. Store beets loose in a plastic bag in the fresh food compartment of your refrigerator. The beets should stay fresh for up to a month.
If you happen to find the beets with their greens, cut off the stems about two inches from the top of the beet. Store the veggies and stems in a bag in the fridge and use within a week.
RECIPES WITH BEET
ENGLISH PEAS
English peas, also known as split peas and garden peas, are the same peas you probably just kept in your freezer. If they’re the same, why are fresh peas worth the trouble of shelling? Fresh peas have more flavor! The sweet taste of these springtime treats doesn’t compare to frozen or canned peas.
Peas harvested earlier in the season are sweeter than those harvested later, as they become mealier and starchier the longer they sit on the vine. However, the earlier season peas are fantastic raw, while the later season peas are better cooked.
Unlike snow peas or snow peas, the pods of English peas are fibrous and very tough when cooked. So I usually compost the pods after extracting the seeds.
Some of you may have noticed at farmers markets that some farmers grow sugar snap peas until the peas inside are the same size as ripe English peas. Although the two types of peas look similar, only English peas taste sweet; The peas in the sugar snap pods taste pretty bland.
HOW TO CHOOSE AND STORE ENGLISH PEAS
Choose English pea pods that are unblemished, firm, and seeded. If you can’t cook them right away, store the pods in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. For longer storage, I shell the peas and store them in a vacuum sealed bag in the freezer to prevent freezer burn.
RECIPES WITH ENGLISH PEAS
GREEN GARLIC
Green garlic is essentially garlic that hasn’t fully ripened. This allium resembles a cross between a leek and a spring onion, with straight, flat green stems and a broad base. As the plant matures, the base will become more bulbous as the garlic bulb begins to take shape below.
Green garlic tastes much milder compared to regular garlic. You can thinly slice green garlic (green leaves and stems) and use in salads or stir-fries. When the green garlic stalk has a fully developed bulbous base, you can separate the individual garlic cloves from the bulb and use them like regular garlic. Note that you may need to use more garlic cloves in a recipe due to their milder flavor.
HOW TO SELECT AND STORE GREEN GARLIC
Choose green garlic clusters with strong, light green stems. Store green garlic in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to a week.
RECIPES WITH GREEN GARLIC
KOHRABI
Have you skipped turnip greens at the local farmer’s market just because the alien stalks look intimidating? No fear! This bulbous cruciferous vegetable is related to cabbage and, surprise surprise, tastes like cabbage and broccoli. Kohlrabi is rich in vitamin C.
Peel the thick bitter skin off the onion, and you’ve got a delicious peppery crunch for your salads, stir-fries, or a great candidate for oven roasting. Mama Lin loves to add diced turnip greens to her dumpling filling for a crunchy texture.
HOW TO CHOOSE AND STORE KOHLRABI?
Choose kohlrabi that still looks green (or purple) and is firm and unblemished. You can watch this video where Mama Lin shares her tips on picking kohlrabi. Wrap the kohlrabi in a plastic bag and store in the refrigerator for up to a week or two. If you find kohlrabi with its greens, cook the greens like you would kale or spinach.
RECIPES WITH KOHRABI
LETTUCE
Lettuce is a real welcome to spring, a break from the harder and heartier greens like kale or collards. Ice green, grass green, sea green with violet speckles, rich burgundy – lettuce spans the spectrum of color and shape. The nutritional value of lettuce varies by variety, but generally contains vitamins C and A, folic acid, and potassium.
Lettuce are lettuce varieties with more densely packed leaves and often have leaves that form a rosette pattern down the center. Examples of lettuce are romaine, iceberg, or butter/lettuce. (Note: Some people consider lettuce to be leafy lettuce because the outer leaves are looser.) In contrast, leafy lettuce is made up of looser clumps of leaves. Examples of leaf lettuce are red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce or oak leaf lettuce.
HOW TO CHOOSE AND STORE SALAD
Choose lettuce with vibrant color and crisp texture. Avoid lettuce with large brown spots. A wilted, worn-out head of lettuce will not improve on its own and may not even last the drive home! Lettuce lasts a week and then some in the fridge; Leaf lettuce tends to have a shorter shelf life and should be consumed within 5 days.
RECIPES WITH SALAD
MUSHROOMS
White button, cremini, portobello, oyster, shiitake, enoki and the list goes on. While nutritional benefits vary by species, mushrooms generally contain more protein and B vitamins than most other types of produce.
This versatile mushroom is well used in plant-based diets for its meaty flavor. In fact, mushrooms are a natural source of monosodium glutamate (MSG). I often use dried shiitake mushrooms as a great umami booster in my vegan recipes, like rice porridge or savory tang yuan.
CHOOSE AND STORE MUSHROOMS
In general, choose mushrooms with firm stems and tightly capped caps. If you bought mushrooms in a plastic clam shell, simply leave them in the clam shell and refrigerate. Similarly, keep shrink-wrapped packs of fresh mushrooms unopened in their packaging. If you bought mushrooms loose, store them in a paper bag. Then cover the paper bag with a cloth or mesh bag to keep it from drying out as quickly. Eat the mushrooms within a week.
RECIPES WITH MUSHROOMS
RHUBARB
The appearance of rhubarb at the farmers market is the surest sign that spring is here. Resembling a reddish-green celery stalk, rhubarb is officially classified as a fruit by the USDA, although its stalks and leaves botanically make it a vegetable. How confusing! Either way, rhubarb provides a good source of fiber and vitamin K1.
Rhubarb is so often baked with strawberries that it is considered a “pie plant”. However, the tart tartness of rhubarb also pairs well with proteins like chicken or pork.
HOW TO SELECT AND STORE RHUBARB
Choose firm and unblemished rhubarb stalks. Store rhubarb in a plastic bag in your refrigerator for up to a week. Cook’s Illustrated recommends wrapping rhubarb in foil to keep it fresh, but I haven’t tried this personally. IMPORTANT: Cut off any leaves you might find on the stems! The leaves are poisonous when consumed in large quantities.
RECIPES WITH RHUBARB
Swiss chard
Swiss chard is a relative of the beet and is nutritionally similar to spinach, with high levels of vitamins C, K and A. With stems of many colors you may have seen the silver (white stems), ruby (red stems) and rainbow varieties (red, yellow, green stems). As with the turnip, both the leaf surface and the crispy stalk are edible.
The raw leaves are slightly more bitter than spinach, but have a large surface area that’s perfect for wraps. The stalks of the rainbow variety in particular are packed with antioxidants! Note that the stems take a little longer to soften compared to the leaves.
HOW TO SELECT AND STORE CHARD?
Choose Swiss chard with crisp, light green leaves and sturdy stems. Wrap a damp paper towel around the chard and store in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. The chard should last a few days and up to a week this way.