SPRING HARVEST: BRIGHTEN YOUR GROCERY STALLS
This season is an opportunity to enhance your stalls by giving special place to spring fruits and vegetables. When is spring officially declared? You might think of the first crocuses and daffodils, the soft green colour of the buds and first leaves on the trees.
More scientifically, spring is declared at the equinox, i.e. the date when day and night are exactly the same length. This generally occurs on 20 March. But in a leap year, the official date can be either the 19th or the 21st. In 2025, spring will officially begin on 20 March.
With longer days and more sunshine, it's a great time for fruits and vegetables. We're finally leaving winter behind, with its more limited choice.
Spring Vegetables in Season
A number of vegetables and fruit announce this season. In France, endive is probably the vegetable that best symbolises the arrival of spring. As do the emblematic artichokes from Brittany. Early spring also brings new carrots, cabbage, radishes, shallots and all sorts of salads to the market. In Germany, on the other hand, white asparagus, particularly from the Rhineland, really marks the return of spring in people's minds. Just like small potatoes with a slightly firm texture. Amandine', “Belle de Fontenay” and “Sirtema” are just some of the early potatoes from France.
Also in France, you can enjoy delicate white asparagus from Gascony, such as that offered by “Armoire à Conserves” on Gourmet Selection. As spring progresses, so do courgettes, cucumbers, spinach and other peas...
Spring Fruits: Colours and Flavours
As for fruit, apples and pears gradually give way to brightly coloured fruits that awaken the senses. In mid-April, the first strawberries and rhubarb give way to childhood flavours. June sees the start of the good times: cherries, raspberries, strawberries, redcurrants and the very first apricots.
Now is the time to create colourful baskets of fruit and vegetables in pastel or bright colours. Delicatessens can also work on themes related to spring production. For example, you can present jams, syrups and juices made from seasonal fruit (wild strawberries, redcurrants or cherries, for example). Drink the fruit juices from “Maison Bissardon”, strawberry, raspberry or apricot juices or nectars bottled just after picking. Or open a jar of “Epicurien” jam with pink Corsican grapefruit.
Fresh Spring Inspirations
Take up the theme of fresh vegetables by presenting mixed salads featuring radishes, small spring tomatoes and carrots. At Gourmet Selection, the “Saveurs de Normandie” stand had a list of the best market gardeners.
Awakening the senses also means delighting the eyes in spring. A sort of rebirth after the winter. And that's celebrated on the stalls and in the windows of grocery shops by playing with colours. We look forward to gourmet breaks on the stands of the Gourmet Selection exhibitors!