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What is in season in March

43 ingredients with a short season — three months or less — are at their best in March in France. Not only fruit and vegetables: the fish, the mushrooms, the game and the cheeses have a season too.

March is when the wild comes back all at once: thirty-three things arrive. Ramsons, nettle, dandelion, wild asparagus, garlic mustard, and the shoots — bamboo, hop, hosta, aralia. Morels with them, both kinds, and the first Gariguette strawberries. The same weeks bring fuki, udo and mitsuba in Japan, and in China the year's first teas, Long Jing and Silver Needle, picked before the rains.

New this month 33

In season now and not in February.

Agretti Alexanders Ashitaba Balsam poplar buds Bamboo shoot Black bryony shoots Black morel Chinese toon shoots Dandelion greens Fuki (butterbur stalk) Gariguette strawberry Garlic mustard Ground elder Hijiki Hop shoots Japanese red seabream (madai) Japanese Spanish mackerel (sawara) Longjing tea Maple syrup Mitsuba Morel Nettle Orange blossom honey Shad roe Silver Needle white tea Takana-zuke Tara no me Udo Urui Wild asparagus Wild fennel fronds Wild garlic Yomogi

Last month for 6

In season now and gone in April.

Forced rhubarb Fuki-no-tō (butterbur flower bud) Leatherwood honey Nanohana (rapeseed blossom) Poutine (Niçoise whitebait) Sweet violet

Everything in season in March

Vegetables 18

Agretti Alexanders Ashitaba Bamboo shoot Black bryony shoots Chinese toon shoots Dandelion greens Fuki (butterbur stalk) Fuki-no-tō (butterbur flower bud) Hanawasabi (wasabi flower stems) Hop shoots Nanohana (rapeseed blossom) Nettle Tara no me Udo Urui Vineyard wild leek Wild asparagus

Fruits 2

Forced rhubarb Gariguette strawberry

Herbs 6

Garlic mustard Ground elder Mitsuba Wild fennel fronds Wild garlic Yomogi

Flowers 1

Sweet violet

Spices 1

Balsam poplar buds

Mushrooms 3

Black morel Desert truffle Morel

Seaweed 2

Hijiki Mekabu

Fish & seafood 3

Japanese red seabream (madai) Japanese Spanish mackerel (sawara) Poutine (Niçoise whitebait)

Roe & caviar 1

Shad roe

Condiments & ferments 1

Takana-zuke

Tea & infusions 2

Longjing tea Silver Needle white tea

Sweet pantry 3

Leatherwood honey Maple syrup Orange blossom honey

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