That narrow window of opportunity is the time when the Alaskan salmon migrates to Washington state and is caught. Scott McGlinchey, chef-owner of Heaven City restaurant in Mukwonago, took another angle on fish as a signal of the season. It's not really a spring item anymore, but I still associate it with spring. But, like McGlinchey, many of us still make traditional seasonal associations. In part that's because prices remain lowest, and quality highest, for many commodities during the peak growing season.
Spring also means the arrival of tempting morsels from warmer climates.
That's considered the creme de la creme. Seemingly because Washington evenings are cooler than those in California, the asparagus has a hint of sweetness, said Grasch, partner in Grasch Foods. The availability of Vidalia onions, grown in Georgia and other Southern states, also is seen by some as a sign of spring. It's the Vidalia onion . . . For the uninitiated, fiddleheads have tightly coiled tops that are edible when they are tight and young.