Spring is in the air! With this unseasonably warm start to spring, it is hard not to get excited about all the vegetables that will be coming into season soon here in the Midwest. Springtime provides excellent opportunities to help children learn about seasonality of life. It is a time of awakening and rebirth not only for the plants and animals in the forest, but for people too, as fresh local food starts to become abundantly available again in our region.
We always take this time to celebrate with the children the first fresh green foods that become available in our yard. For us, due to our greenhouse, we are able to enjoy quite a variety of vegetables pretty early on in the season. But even for people who have no yard at all, there are many great vegetables that you can make a regular part of your local spring diet that will be available at farmers markets across the region. Here are two of our favorites:
French Sorrel
French sorrel is one of my all time favorite spring veggies. It is also one of the first things to start growing in early spring. It is a great plant for any yard due to the fact that it is a perennial. Plant it once and it will come back every season. French sorrel is a leafy green with the most amazing fresh lemony taste. It is always one of the first vegetables I let anyone try who comes to tour our yard.
I will always remember the look on one kid’s face when he saw me pick a leaf out of a plant growing on the ground and give it to him to taste. He reluctantly took a bite and then his whole face lit up! He absolutely loved it! We use French sorrel in a variety of ways, it can take light cooking as well as raw preparations. Some of our favorites ways to eat it are to throw it in salads, mix it with hot pasta, walnuts, and Parmesan cheese, or finely dice it and add it to tuna salad.
Asparagus
I know most people have had asparagus, but it is imperative to note that there are two kinds of asparagus: the kind that is available at the grocery store, which is usually grown on the other side of the planet, and the kind that is only available in the springtime, grown by local farmers and gardeners. The latter is what I am talking about here. If you have never tasted freshly picked asparagus, you are missing out on one of the best parts of spring.
When asparagus become available at our local farmer's market, we eat a great deal of it. So much, in fact, that by the time it is no longer available, we have had our fill. We then eagerly await its arrival next year, knowing all that comes along with it. We eat asparagus in many ways. Some of our favorites include sautéed in pasta with sun-dried tomatoes and feta cheese, grilled with a little olive oil and lemon, and pureed into creamy asparagus soups. When cooking with asparagus, remember to snap off the tough woody end and cook it lightly. Overcooked asparagus is better suited for the compost pile then it is for eating.
-Jeremy Arendt is head cook and co-owner of Sprouts Home DayCare, an organic, eco-healthy day care located in the Northwest Chicago Suburbs. He graduated from the University of Illinois Springfield where he studied sustainable food systems. When he is not cooking for the kids, you can usually find him tending to the gardens or hanging out in the greenhouse with his dog.
-photo credit: tiny banquet committee, Flickr
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