La temporada highlights what’s in season and how to enjoy it, emphasizing the ecological benefits of eating fresh, local produce—less fertilizer use and a lower carbon footprint from reduced energy in growing, transport, and storage. Seasonal foods are fresher, more flavourful, and more nutritious, with naturally ripened crops offering sweeter, richer taste and higher nutrient content than forced alternatives.
March in Mallorca marks the transition into spring, offering a mix of late winter citrus and the first tender green vegetables of the season.
Whilst cabbages, chard, spinach and endives remain in abundance, local markets will also have new season lettuces like escarole and oak-leaf, radishes, peas and broad beans.
Make a refreshing salad – add nuts, dried fruits and goats cheese or crispy lardons of bacon, jamon or chorizo and croutons with a simple dressing of olive oil, sherry vinegar, salt, dijon mustard and a little honey to enjoy the soft luscious leaves.
Its March - What's In Season?
Wild Asparagus (Espárragos Trigueros) will be popping up all over the place and you will see people scouring the roadside and open land to gather a basket or a handful of these thin, bright green spears. This is a very Mallorquin activity and even more delicious for being FREE!
The washed spears are often simply scrambled with eggs (revuelto) sometimes with addition of a little Jamon and garlic.
Artichokes
Try this simple recipe –
- Set your oven to 220ºc –
- Using the biggest artichokes you can buy – cut off the stalk and the top ⅓ of the leaves.
- Gently pull the leaves outwards a bit to open up the structure.
- Drench them with fresh lemon juice.
- Then drizzle olive oil into them with a good sprinkle of salt
- Loosen the centre leaves a bit with a knife and insert 2 whole cloves of garlic
- Wrap them tightly in 2 layers of strong foil
- Put them on a tray and roast in a hot oven for 80 to 100 minutes depending on size
- Remove from oven and when cool enough to handle, unwrap and serve with a hollandaise dip.
Peel the leaves away, dip and nibble the soft tender bases.
When you reach the middle remove the “choke” and eat the base too.
This is also the season for a great Catalan delicacy - Calçots
Romesco Sauce
Another gem of Catalan cuisine – which is utterly delicious when paired with grilled seafood, vegetables or light meats.
recipe:
- 3-5 deseeded dried ñora peppers (soaked in boiling water to rehydrate)
- 3 large tomatoes quartered
- 6 large cloves garlic
- 150g almonds or hazelnuts
- 1-2 tsp Smoked paprika
- 1 slice day old country bread cut into chunks
- 2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar
- olive oil
- Salt
- A little water
Start by frying the bread until browned, set aside.
Then fry the tomatoes on a medium heat, add the garlic followed by the nuts. Once everything has taken on some colour you can add a little water to keep everything moist.
Add the vinegar, ñora peppers and smoked paprika and simmer until all of the veg is soft. Add in the fried bread.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool until you can blitz it all together.
You may need to add a little more water to help the blades turn. Add salt and more oil and vinegar to taste. Best served warm.
One of the very best places to find and buy really good quality local products is your local Agromart store – The Calçots on sale here are grown in the area of Saint Joan near Palma, so you couldn’t get fresher or more local!
See them growing here https://www.instagram.com/p/DUU1jayDNDv/
La temporada – what’s in season and how to eat it
Steve French has been a Chef, restaurateur and food consultant in both the UK and Spain for over 35 years; most recently at Finca49 in Pollença and is currently running cookery experiences in Andalucia (www.finca49.com/experiences)
Finca49 snapshots of summer cookbook is available to buy from www.finca49.com
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