Spring Special Ingredients and their benefits

Eating season wise is a great way to get fresh, flavorful produce, as local markets start filling up with early-spring vegetables! Here’s a guide to 10 springtime vegetables that you must try while they’re in season.

Since spring season is here! The days are getting longer, the air is getting fresher, and everyone seems to be in a happy mood. This change of season marks a time for all things to come alive and experience renewal.

This season leads to abundant growth in the form of grass, flowers, and delicious colorful produce. For our bodies, it leads to leaving behind the heaviness of grounding foods and embracing all things light and fresh.

Radishes

Radish being a healthy vegetable always adds a crunch to salad and burgers. When cooked it has a tangy flavor with just a hint of bite remaining.

One can eat radish sliced thin in raw salad, and you can also roast them, add them to a quinoa salad, or even have them in the form of juice.

Beetroot

Some food items give you a clear indication of their benefits and that’s the case with beetroot. Their intense and juicy color lets you know that they’re great for blood and circulation. If you make a habit of having beetroot regularly it will lower you blood pressure, boost your stamina, and support detoxification all because of being a unique source of betalains.

You can have beetroot in various forms like juice, smoothie, and side dish, peel it in salad, and many more.

Carrots

Everyone is familiar with this classic vegetable but when in season carrots are absolutely delicious. They are rich in vitamin A and other antioxidants, are great for maintaining healthy hair, skin, and nails, and are therefore considered an “anti-aging” food. I’m sure a lot of people might not know that they’re a powerful cancer-fighter.

One can have the carrots raw, can play around with it by chopping it in different ways, slicing it, or shredding it on anything from salads to sandwiches. Carrots are the perfect travel snack and taste delicious when dipped into nut butter.

Peas

Peas usually have a short growing season of just a few weeks and that makes them all the more special. Peas contain a wide variety of vitamins and minerals which includes vitamins C, B and K, plus manganese, phosphorus, and protein. This makes them an exceptional anti-inflammatory food.

One can eat sugar coated peas straight out of the pod for a light snack, add them to salads, smoothies, stir-fries, noodle dishes, and basically anything and everything! Fresh peas can be used to make a great snack for kids and can also be cooked and added in baby food.

Asparagus

One can ideally get “asparagus” the whole year, but the kind of “asparagus” you get in a grocery store in November comes with a warning label reminding you that it only resembles the real thing. Fresh asparagus which comes during the exact season has a delicate flavor and a light crunch that works perfectly with eggs and steak.

Asparagus is rich in vitamin K which is essential for blood clotting, heart and bone health, helps in cancer prevention. It also includes copper, selenium, vitamin B and other important nutrients. Asparagus can improve a person’s overall health.

It can be eaten by simply sautéing with garlic and sea salt in some butter, ghee, coconut oil, or vegetable or chicken stock.

Spring Onions

Onions are grown round the year, but spring onions are best grown in the earlier months – they are with the long green stems and white bulbs that are just barely thicker than the ends of the stems. They’re mild, and are great for people with a FODMAPs sensitivity, because many people can still eat the green stems, even if they can’t eat the white bulbs.

Spring Onions consists of a high amount of polyphenols, and especially flavonoids, which are the compounds which play a major role in prevention of disease and reducing stress that wears our body down when we don’t take good care of ourselves. They also have antibacterial and antifungal properties.

One can add raw onions to salads, tacos, or can simply sauté them with some sea salt and can be eaten as tasty caramelized onion side dish. They make the perfect base for your spring sauces and soups

Arugula

Arugula is rich in vitamins like A, K, and folate, chlorophyll, fiber and even water. They help in reducing inflammation while hydrating and detoxifying the body.

Arugula can be eaten raw by tossing raw greens in a bowl with other veggies, nuts or seeds and garnish the same with some extra virgin olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar or citrus juice

Strawberries

Is there anything better than biting into a fresh, ripe, and delicious strawberry in late spring/early summer? Strawberries are the early version of berries, by growing in the beginning of the season. Unless, you live in Florida, there the strawberry season comes in the late fall! Strawberries are tasty in desserts, but they can be added in salads or vegetables as part of a main course. They can also be added to smoothies, chia pudding, and oatmeal.

Mint

This herb grows like a weed and sometimes doesn’t get enough credit for its powerful healing properties. Mint contains an antioxidant called rosmarinic acid, which helps in relieving seasonal allergy symptoms, it also consists of menthol which is a natural decongestant, and it also soothes an upset stomach.

Rhubarb

Rhubarb has a bit of a wrinkle to it, to put it mildly. It’s not the kind of vegetable you just grab and chew down. But you also do not have to drown it in sugar, and in fact, it doesn’t even have to be like a dessert!