Grab your basket, spring is upon us

THE end of March is one of those transitional times when it’s difficult to get a gauge on the season. But it’s a glorious time to hit the farmers markets. It’s still cool enough to walk around with a steaming latte, not too crowded yet with tourists out for the obvious treasures of summer. So get out your wicker basket and think about turning the clocks ahead -- figuratively as well as literally.

At the Hollywood Farmers’ Market on Sunday morning, strawberries were everywhere, studding the tables with crimson mountains fresh from the local fields. The season peaks for the fruit in mid-April, and for the next month they’ll be in every market across town: in small green baskets and wide flats, Chandlers or Seascapes, as tiny as your thumb or so plump and enormous they’re crowding out of their baskets.

It’s the moment for green garlic, which Douglas Powell of Powell Farms sells in his stall, fanned out in long tresses. Green garlic is not, actually, a separate species, but the tender baby shoots of the garlic plant. Harvested this early, you can eat the whole thing, bulb, leaves and all. Nutty in flavor, tender yet crunchy, they’re wonderful quickly sauteed or steamed. You can chop them up and add them to stir-fries or a fresh vegetable frittata, or for added depth, use them instead of leeks in a potato soup.

Also on the onion front, Powell has beautiful lavender spring onions. Alternatively called salad onions, these tender shoots add a lovely dimension to (you guessed it) composed or spring salads. And, with some farm fresh eggs and grated Gruyere, they make a wonderful simple omelet.

And then there are fava beans, which Larry Zamora of Zamora Farms is selling, alongside English peas and sugar snaps, all in season now until May. Of course you need an army of bored children to shuck the favas, but it’s worth it. Saute them with purple baby artichokes and slender spring carrots, or stir them into a perfect risotto. Even the English peas are worth risking carpal tunnel syndrome.

The beets are beautiful, and tender baby carrots come in orange and glorious purple. At Weiser Family Farms, new potatoes and the utterly compelling fingerlings are at their best -- just dug out of the ground, tiny and tender, their fragile papery skins a fine barrier between their earthy interior and the outside world above ground. They come in every size and in several colors including pale white, red and purple: Russian banana potatoes, ruby crescents and the glorious purple Peruvian potatoes, which are almost too pretty to eat and have a deep indigo that makes an astonishingly beautiful vichyssoise. “Springtime is a classic good time for potatoes,” says farmer Alex Weiser, who also recommends red scallions and Bloomsdale spinach, a delicious tender variety better known on the East Coast. And don’t forget the lilacs, which will be here in just a few weeks. “We’re flower people for a month too,” Weiser says with a laugh.

Blood oranges and Meyer lemons are still going strong, piled on tables next to surprisingly sweet Oro Blanco grapefruits, pale and enormous and absolutely perfect this time of year. Tangerines, clementines and local oranges are still good too, so consider laying in a batch of marmalade or leaving them out in bowls around the house as a gorgeous centerpiece or a handy snack for kids who don’t climb trees enough these days.

And what do we have to look forward to? In the coming weeks, keep your eye on the mushroom stand, Clearwater Farms. Right now there’s just boxes of beautiful shiitakes, but next month is expected to bring morels and porcini. Earthy treats such as ramps should be coming too, says Clearwater owner David West. And even, if the forests cooperate, fiddleheads. “It’s like the tree outside your house,” says West of the emerging season. “It’s bare, it’s bare, but one day you look outside and suddenly it’s got leaves.”