Eat Seasonally This Spring

By Dan Clapson

Ah, spring. A time of year where you’ve tucked away all of your winter clothes and boots and start to prepare for the warmer days that lay ahead. As we bid adieu to squash soups, cheese-ridden potato dishes and the like, we eagerly await fresh, Canadian-grown ingredients on our dinner plates.

However, of the four seasons, spring is by far the most challenging to eat locally.

While writing my cookbook Prairie, my co-author Twyla Campbell and I found the spring section the most difficult. Even though we all crave bright, fresh-tasting food come mid-March, the majority of Canada won’t see fresh ingredients breaking ground until well into May.

So, what to do?

Here’s some tips I have learnt along the way for maintaining my locally-minded cooking mantra during a difficult time of year.

Head to the freezer section to find Canadian-grown frozen fruits and vegetables

While we won’t be enjoying a sun-kissed cherry or blueberry et al. until the summertime, you may be surprised to know that most of the frozen fruit and vegetables you’ll find in a grocery store’s freezer section will be from Canada.

Since most of us are macerating the berries, or adding them into something like a tart filling, muffin batter, cake batter…you get the point—frozen Canadian berries bring just as much joy in devouring a finished product than their fresh counterparts. And most fruits and vegetables are picked at peak freshness and flash frozen before traveling to the grocery store or market, which preserves all those good vitamins and minerals.

Buy ingredients like tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries from Canadian greenhouse growers

One thing that I have come to love about our country’s agricultural sector is the proliferation of greenhouse-grown vegetables and herbs that are available year-round. Lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, dill, bell peppers, and the list can go on and on.

Some provinces such as Alberta and Ontario even have greenhouse-grown strawberries these days, which I think is darn pretty amazing!

Now, this doesn’t mean that every tomato, cucumber and bunch of parsley is proudly Canadian, so the biggest tip here is to check the label. You may find Roma tomatoes from far, far away lurking beside some plump BC-grown cherry tomatoes.

I know you’ll make the right decision.

Try brightening up “winter” ingredients for spring

As much as quantities of cellared produce like squash, turnips and carrots may be dwindling by the arrival of spring, that doesn’t mean that can’t be cooked up in a brighter fashion. In a similar mindset, dried pulses such as white beans, lentils and split peas can be so much more than just nutritional filler in a soup or stew.

A perfect example of this is a recipe from my cookbook Prairie that uses split peas, fresh herbs and locally-grown asparagus to make a beautifully bright appetizer that tastes as pleasant as the springtime sun. Use a recipe like this as inspiration for reimaging a more comforting ingredient.

In-season spring produce comes and goes fast, so make the most of it

With the exception of rhubarb—which never, ever, ever stops growing, a commendable, but overwhelming attribute—many first crops of spring are fleeting. Fiddleheads, baby spinach and asparagus can feel like they’re gone in the blink of an eye. And the parts of Canada that are lucky enough to have strawberries in spring, well, best be enjoying those by the pintful in honour of the rest of us.

Follow your local farmers’ markets (or farmers!) on Instagram to know when fresh produce arrives

At times, social media can feel like the downfall of society, but other times, it’s an incredibly helpful tool that allows all types of businesses to connect with their customers. (I love that latter aspect, don’t you?)

Generally speaking, both farmers’ markets and many small-scale farming operations are active on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and even TikTok. Following markets and farmers and checking out their daily Instagram stories and static posts specifically can be a great way for you to find out that those fresh bundles of asparagus have just arrived at the market booth, or that the first wave of baby swiss chard is coming at the end of May.

For more information on what’s in season this spring across Canada, head here!

What’s in Season