What is in season in April
64 ingredients with a short season — three months or less — are at their best in April in France. Not only fruit and vegetables: the fish, the mushrooms, the game and the cheeses have a season too.
Asparagus month, in all three colours, with the wild garlic of the woods beside it. Fresh almonds come in green and jellied, loquats behind them; the morels turn blonde and the mousserons appear in the grass. Conifers count now too — spruce tips, Douglas fir — and so do the honeys: rapeseed, rosemary, tupelo, orange blossom. The shad runs, and its roe with it.
New this month 27
In season now and not in March.
Allis shad Asparagus Blonde morel Douglas fir tips Fiddlehead fern Green almond Green garlic Gyokuro Hana-sanshō (sanshō flower buds) Kinome (sanshō leaf) Loquat Mozuku Oxalis Purple asparagus Ramps Rapeseed honey Reflexed stonecrop Rhubarb Rosemary honey Sencha Spruce tips St George’s mushroom Sweet cicely Sweet woodruff Tupelo honey Warabi (bracken shoot) White asparagus
Last month for 11
In season now and gone in May.
Balsam poplar buds Chinese toon shoots Desert truffle Hana-sanshō (sanshō flower buds) Hanawasabi (wasabi flower stems) Hop shoots Longjing tea Maple syrup Mekabu Silver Needle white tea Vineyard wild leek
Everything in season in April
Vegetables 23
Agretti Alexanders Ashitaba Asparagus Bamboo shoot Black bryony shoots Chinese toon shoots Dandelion greens Fiddlehead fern Fuki (butterbur stalk) Green garlic Hanawasabi (wasabi flower stems) Hop shoots Nettle Purple asparagus Ramps Tara no me Udo Urui Vineyard wild leek Warabi (bracken shoot) White asparagus Wild asparagus
Fruits 3
Gariguette strawberry Loquat Rhubarb
Herbs 13
Douglas fir tips Garlic mustard Ground elder Kinome (sanshō leaf) Mitsuba Oxalis Reflexed stonecrop Spruce tips Sweet cicely Sweet woodruff Wild fennel fronds Wild garlic Yomogi
Spices 2
Balsam poplar buds Hana-sanshō (sanshō flower buds)
Mushrooms 5
Black morel Blonde morel Desert truffle Morel St George’s mushroom
Seaweed 3
Nuts & seeds 1
Fish & seafood 3
Allis shad Japanese red seabream (madai) Japanese Spanish mackerel (sawara)
Roe & caviar 1
Condiments & ferments 1
Tea & infusions 4
Gyokuro Longjing tea Sencha Silver Needle white tea
Sweet pantry 5
Maple syrup Orange blossom honey Rapeseed honey Rosemary honey Tupelo honey
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