March can be a difficult month…especially at the beginning.  It is a transition month, moving us out of winter and into spring.  It is also the most difficult seasonal transition we experience during the year – at least from a food perspective.  Products from winter have been stored a long time, which means they are tired, woody, and withered by the time March rolls around.  Fresh springtime fruits and vegetables are limited – especially if the weather was cold during February.  Furthermore, our desires instinctively search for fresh new flavors, and we can easily be driven toward out-of-season products like strawberries and asparagus – perhaps one key reason some late-spring and early-summer fruits and vegetables are so popular in late winter.

The paradox of spring can often make us feel gloomy.  The weather is often changing rapidly during the early spring months.  Conditions can shift from hot to cold, and from sunny to rainy in very short periods.  It can be extreme and confusing, and we often feel the same way.  We feel the warmer weather and crave the increased sunlight as the days grow longer and the nights shorter.  We want to wake up from our sluggish winter mood filled with dark days and heavy diets.  We want to breathe in spring’s revitalizing air.  Instead, we feel lethargic.

Moving from winter to spring is also challenging to our physical needs.  We continue to have an excess of sleeping hormones,  while lacking in serotonin -  an amino acid which affects our emotional state…or better said, our happy hormone!  The chemical reaction needed to create serotonin increases with exposure to direct sunlight.  As the days grow longer, we develop more happy hormones!  Serotonin intake can also be influenced by our diet.  Increased amounts of vitamins, minerals, and proteins along with additional increases in sunlight will help our bodies shake off winter.  Fortunately, seasonal spring products are filled with exactly the right amounts of vitamins, minerals and proteins we need in order to fill our bodies with these happy hormones.  Artichokes and green leafy vegetables wake up and stimulate new life into our bodies.  New young vegetables – garlic, onions, carrots, radishes, wild greens – provide us with minerals and vitamins, while fresh legumes help our protein intake and an abundance of citrus fruits fill our vitamin reserves.

Here are a few items to look for when shopping at the market in March…  

what to look for…
Shopping in March is all about product origin.  There are not many Swiss products available so the market is much more open to imports.  Products originating from Egypt, Cyprus, Morocco, and Israel are becoming more prevalent.  Fresh garlic, tomatoes, new potatoes, and various fruits from these countries are in abundance right now.  Spain, Italy, and France, however, continue to supply many of the best products.  It is also worth noting many of the fresh products available this time of year are mass-produced in greenhouse environments and contain high levels of pesticides – not to mention a general lack of consideration to the environment or worker rights.  There are, however, some very good opportunities to find excellent quality fresh products.

Look for Italian artichokes, which appear right now in three different varieties: the small carciofini, the purple-hued Toscana, or the very spiny spinosa.  Also from Italy are some fantastic tomatoes from Sicily and Sardegna.  They are often sold with quite a lot of green on them, but they will ripen into red beauties after sitting a couple of days at room temperature.  The year’s first potatoes are also showing up at the market.  Look for ‘new potatoes’ from Cyprus or Italy – and make sure there is still a good amount of dirt caked on the potato (dirt is a protection against light and heat exposure).  Potatoes from last year’s harvest can also be quite good as they have had enough ‘curing’ time to develop flavor and consistency.  They are excellent for making potato purées, but they do not keep very long – use them quickly!  Other considerations while shopping this month should include: Monk’s Beard from Italy – an unusual wild herb, new garlic from France (toward the end of the month), Broccoli Raab (Cima di Rapa) from Italy, France or Switzerland,  radicchio varieties from Italy, chicory from Switzerland, blood oranges from Italy, and lemons

from Sicily.  On the wild side, consider dandelion greens, young nettle shoots, and bärlauch.  From the storage bin, consider various cabbage varieties, broccoli, cauliflower, salsify, winter spinach, and beets.  Asparagus are also available at the market, but do avoid all non-European asparagus.  Early-season asparagus always comes first from Italy and France.  Look to Italy for green asparagus and Cavillon (France) for white asparagus.  Fresh fava beans from Spain and Italy will also begin appearing toward the end of the month.

what to avoid…
There are many products that come to market which are in season in other locations – especially from the southern hemisphere.  It is easy to think asparagus and strawberries are now in season, because there are numerous amounts available during February.  Stay away from these products!  Taste and nutrition is lost from shipping, or in some cases, from the production method.  Products to avoid include: green and white asparagus from Peru, California, and Mexico; strawberries from South Africa or Holland; new garlic from Egypt, and grapefruit from Florida.

on the wild side…
If you are a bit of a ‘gatherer’ rather than a ‘hunter,’ then you may want to consider looking for wild dandelion greens, bärlauch, young nettle shoots, wild chives/garlic (these are especially prevalent in canton Ticino…just follow your nose), and borage.

looking ahead…
There are certainly many more fresh choices in the month of April.  Look for Italian green and wild asparagus, French, German, Swiss and Austrian white asparagus, tomatoes from Sicily and Sardegna, new potatoes from Italy and France, shallots from France, various lettuce varieties from Switzerland, young Swiss chard and mangold leaves, plenty of bärlauch, and the beginning of rhubarb season.