Spring greens – isn’t it too early for spring vegetables?

After a long winter, when we long for fresh vegetables, we tend to look for fresh vegetables available at farmers’ markets as early as April. But it is early enough. Some lettuce, radish, cucumber or tomatoes indicate spring has arrived and the season for fresh products has begun. However, it is worth taking a moment to pause and consider whether it is time to enjoy the benefits of spring vegetables.

Spring greens are the first fresh spring vegetables, appearing even before the high season. Nutritionists and dieticians recommend maintaining some restraint when eating them.

Hungry for vitamins, we are tempted by red tomatoes in the middle of winter and then realise that they are hard, not very sweet and have no flavour. No wonder: between December and February, more than 80% of vegetables sold in Poland are imported from countries where the harvest season is underway.

Moroccan or Israeli tomatoes are picked while still white, bright and orange. They haven’t had time to produce sugars, organic acids, aromatic compounds, and thus everything that determines their taste and flavour. After arriving in the destination country, they undergo rapid ripening, which usually involves ethrel (the plant growth regulator)or carbon dioxide gassing. The vegetables thus acquire colours within 24 hours but do not have any taste, flavour or softness. They are also deprived of most nutrients.

Between March and May, domestic products are marketed, though cultivated in greenhouses. Fresh greens require long exposure to sunlight and the early spring day is insufficient for their needs. Farmers use intense nitrogen fertilisation to speed up the harvest, as nitrogen helps plants to produce biomass. As they correlate it with light, the shorter the day, the less time they have to absorb it. The surplus is deposited as nitrates, which are not harmful, but the transformation products can have a negative effect. During the transport and storage of vegetables, especially at high temperatures and low oxygen supply, the nitrates may change into harmful nitrates. These in turn contribute to the increased production of carcinogenic nitrosamines.

Due to their ability to accumulate nitrates, we divide spring vegetables into two risk groups. The first includes lettuce, radishes, spinach and other leafy vegetables, which easily store large amounts of the compounds. A lower risk occurs in plants that have fruit as the edible part. The fruit is the seed covering, it guarantees that the species will survive, so there are fewer harmful substances in tomatoes or cucumbers.

The healthy spring vegetables appear on the fields at the end of May and the beginning of June. However, if the crop grows in the field, it does not automatically have a health-promoting effect. Some farmers overuse pesticides, which are not harmful provided a few basic rules are followed: respecting periods of withdrawal and prevention, using the right doses, and not over spraying. As consumers, we cannot distinguish between a plant grown according to standards and one over-treated with agrochemicals. How should we deal with that? Every package should contain the producer’s details to check its reliability.

Tips:

When buying radishes, pay attention to their leaves: wilted and yellowed leaves indicate poor quality of the plant;
the same applies to tomatoes: the stalk should be soft and green;
cucumbers, lettuce and spinach sold in plastic wrap should be unwrapped as soon as possible, removed from the wrapping and placed in a colander or other container where they can “breathe”;
do not buy vegetables with even the slightest sign of mould;
all leafy plants should be consumed immediately on the day of purchase;
choose vegetables that are smaller in size and avoid those that are unnaturally large;
wash all vegetables thoroughly before use. Some substances dissolve in water, so it is a good idea to soak vegetables in fresh water for about half an hour.

The first spring vegetables appear on shop shelves and in market crates as early as the end of April or the beginning of May. Hungry for the flavours of summer, we eagerly reach for the appealing tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes and lettuce leaves. After returning from shopping and tasting the spring greens, we can be disappointed; they aren’t as tasty as those available in the high season. This is because it is still far too early in the spring for them. We must wait a little longer for the tastiest ones, they will appear in June.