Fresh Prospects

It’s been said that we eat with our eyes. Particularly in spring, I would venture to add. As the snow melts, the world goes flat and drab. That’s when we pine most for color and dimension, in the landscape and on the plate.

In fact, we can scarcely wait for the first sprouts to nudge through the soil. Gardeners check their plots daily, eager to observe seeds on the rise. For them the merest wisp of a pea shoot visible through the dirt is reason enough to speed-dial a friend. Cooks, too, pluck needle-thin chives, diminutive curlicues of fiddleheads, and nearweightless sprigs of young lettuce. It’s not much, but it’s enough because in early spring, a little green goes a long, lovely way.

But the next thing you know, green is everywhere. Trees fill out and lawns go plush. Fields of green square off in a thousand hues— emerald, olive, ivy, grass, leek. We’re green-inundated and yet we can’t get enough. It’s as if our eyes want to reach out and envelop it, breathe it in like a scent, or taste it like a flavor.

Then, all too soon, weeds crowd into the vegetable patch. In the woods, foragers can barely see the forest (of morels) for the trees. At the table, we experience green in every conceivable form: voluminous tossed salads, fat spears of asparagus, high-rise spinach soufflés. Even beverages can go green—think minted mojitos and bee balm iced tea. (In fact, there are so many shades and shapes of green in this region we even name towns after it: Spring Green. Hazel Green. Greendale. Greenfield.)

Green reigns but the season offers other visual pleasures too, like party-red radish orbs and burgundy-stemmed ramps. Spring ingredients like these project a simplicity that is at once innocent and elegant. While there’s no need to gild the lily, we might set it off a bit—lay a spray of dill on a platter of rainbow trout, or fill etched wine glasses with rhubarb sauce and whipped cream.

It’s spring in Wisconsin. Looks count.

Visit our Eat Seasonal page to find out what foods are in season right now, and try these spring-inspired recipes by Terese:

Honey Rhurbarb Fool

Smoked Trout and Scallion Cakes

Spinach Souffle