Welcome in spring with this New Zealand spring fruit and vegetable guide! For all the knowledge you need to enjoy some great produce and celebrate what the season has in store!
As we step into warmer weather, slowly emerging out from the cold, we’re introduced to some new seasonal produce starting to flourish.
And just like our previous autumn, winter, and summer seasonal editions, this also features a few infographics. Making it even easier to note what’s available as a visual reminder of all that’s happening in the next few months.
This season shall maintain a few fruits from last season and bring in some new treasures including pomegranate, tangelo and even strawberries!
We shall also see some great vegetables return and some new ones emerge, including asparagus. With a lot of produce reaching its prime in October and November. The perfect excuse to make all those recipes and try them out while you can, at a more affordable price!
Using the following Spring Fruit and Vegetable Guide and Infographics:
There are several ways to use these infographics as more than just a great display item!
Here are some suggestions…
- Save this post for when you need a guide and visual reminder
- Print out a copy and attach it to your fridge or somewhere in your kitchen. Like a new seasonal décor item.
- Pin it to a Pinterest board for referencing later, plus easy access wherever and whenever you need it. Even on the go!
- Share it with friends and family, so everyone is in the know. Plus it’ll give you some extra inspiration for all those upcoming cooking and baking adventures (share buttons are available at the top, bottom and side of this post for easy referencing!)
- You could even email it to others or yourself as a reminder.
In no time you’ll be on your way to enjoying an abundance of seasonal produce, planning out meals celebrating spring and diving into fruits and vegetables at their prime. Not to mention purchasing produce at their best price points too!
Spring Fruit
This spring, we start to see a few berries pop up, just before we enter summer, including strawberries and then boysenberries around November. Pomegranates are in, along with tangelos which reach their peak in October and November. Now is the time to make the most of those tangelos too! They’ll be gone before you know it when summer comes around.
We also see a few fruits continued from winter, including apples, avocados, grapefruit, green and yellow kiwifruit, lemon, orange, and tamarillos. With just a little less citrus in the mix.
Related: NZ Winter fruit and vegetable guide with infographics
Last chances…
This will be the time to eat all the kiwifruit as it slowly begins to phase out, come summertime. The same goes for grapefruit and tamarillos. And as mentioned previously tangelos too.
3 Tips for making the most of fruit this spring:
- Make fruit ice cubes! All you have to do is cut your selected fruit into cubes, slices, wedges or even leave whole (for berries), freeze in a single layer (making sure they’re not touching) and once frozen, store accordingly.
- Then, when you need a refreshing drink, pop in a few pieces. As a bonus, it won’t dilute your drink at all and it looks fancy too! Which also makes it perfect for any type of occasion.
- Boysenberries, strawberries and diced oranges will work particularly well for this!
- Serve up a cheese platter, accompanied by fruit! Include wedges of your favourite cheese varieties, an assortment of crackers and nuts and then a sprinkling of fresh spring fruits!
- You could include everything from sliced kiwifruit to apple or grapefruit wedges.
- Make cheesecake! With this white chocolate and boysenberry cheesecake recipe
Recipes with Spring Fruit:
- Refreshing homemade orangeade! To make use of all those navel oranges.
- Sweet potato salad with pomegranate, pecans and barley by Quite Good Food
- Tangelo tarts by Chew Town
Spring Vegetables
Some rather exciting new editions to the mix this spring including asparagus, globe artichoke, and fresh peas! October and November see the trend for many of the vegetables to reach their peak. This means an abundance of fresh produce available in plentiful amounts!
Yams, butternut, capsicum, celeriac, courgette, courgette flowers, turnip and witloof, are also all continuing from last season. Witloof, in case that is a little confusing, is also referred to as endive, chicory or Belgium endive, with radicchio being a type of red-leafed witloof (source).
Last chances…
Celeriac, turnip, witloof and yams are on the last-chance list for this season and won’t be returning in summer. Time to make all the salads, celeriac soups/ purees and baked yams while you can.
3 Tips for making the most of vegetables this spring:
- Prepare your own frozen peas! If you’re not using them fresh, freezing your own is a great way to store them. Cook up a batch, remove the peas from their pods and freeze. You now have your frozen peas!
- Follow this guide on how to cook an artichoke with OhDearDrea
- Prepare asparagus in 7 different ways thanks to Dolly and Oatmeal
Recipes with Spring Vegetables:
- Asparagus, halloumi, zucchini ribbon & quinoa salad from Kelly Gibney
- Make this Chinese turnip cake by Omnivore’s Cookbook, like the ones you can get at Chinese restaurants/ yum cha
- Sauteed endive with balsamic butter from NY Times (endive also known as witloof)
A note on these infographics:
*The information provided in this post has been summarised with research from several sources including:
I highly suggest checking out their sites if you are interested in more information about spring fruits and vegetables. There are a ton of useful tips including how to store your produce, how best to prepare and cook them as well as nutritional information.
The main purpose of the infographics included in this spring fruit and vegetable guide is to reflect the main months and seasons in which particular vegetables and fruits have a plentiful supply. Imported or limited supplies of produce are not included. This may mean you see items outside of these seasons or months available to purchase.
Use this merely as a guide to know what to look out for and eat during the months of spring! That way you can make the most of produce at the respective seasonality peak points, reduce food miles and support local growers.
Conclusion
That concludes this fabulous spring fruit and vegetable guide. Hopefully, this inspires you to get out there and cook up something exciting, whether that’s a salad, beverage, full-on meal or some delicious baked goods!
Don’t forget to be on the lookout for my next seasonal produce guide in the summer and an all-year edition coming at you real soon.
In the meantime, I shall see you back here again next week, more exciting content awaits…
Until next time, stay curious!
