A quick stroll through the market right now and you know it's MAY because tables are stacked with those quintessential Spring fruits and vegetables like asparagus, artichokes, and crisp snap peas. Use this list of what fruits and vegetables in season in MAY as your Guide to the BEST recipes and ideas to eat. Shall we?
Fruits and Vegetables in Season in MAY | Recipes and Ideas for MAY |
Fruits and Vegetables in Season Year-Round
What Fruits and Vegetables in Season in MAY
Here's the tl;dr list easy to copy and paste into your grocery list for the week ahead. Peep the following section for more details, and the best recipes that are fast, fresh, easy, and of course, healthy.
- Artichokes—year-round from California
- Asparagus
- Avocados
- Blackberries and Raspberries—new in MAY
- Blueberries
- Cantaloupe—other melons come later in spring and summer
- Carrots, especially babies!—it's the season for teeny tiny baby version of everything!
- Cherries and apricots, the earliest stone fruits
- Cucumbers
- Fava and other fresh beans
- Figs—new in MAY
- Garlic and onions—always in season but early spring brings tender green garlic!
- Grapes—new in MAY
- Lettuce and Leafy Greens—year-round
- Mushrooms, specifically morels which are foraged
- Peaches—new in MAY
- Peas and snap peas
- Peppers—new in MAY
- Radishes (year-round)
- Squash like zucchini—new in MAY
- Strawberries, in California year round in California, but everywhere else starting to peak!
Recipes and Ideas for MAY
ARTICHOKES and ASPARAGUS
AVOCADO
- How to Cut and Slice Avocado, Five Ways
- Avocado Hummus
- Avocado Citrus Salad
- California Roll Summer Rolls with Avocado
BLACKBERRIES and RASPBERRIES
BLUEBERRIES
Look, blueberries are in the category of food of "Why Mess with the Best?" i.e. just wash them and eat them fresh right out of hand. However, when blueberries are abundant in season, you might as well put them in everything for their extraordinary antioxidant profile.
CANTALOUPE
CHERRIES
Cherries are another fruit in the "Why Mess with the Best?" category, i.e. just wash them and eat them fresh right out of hand, especially if we're talking about eating the antioxidant-rich fruit as anything but a baked sweet treat. But since everything cherries—from jewelry to paint colors—will be trending in 2025, buy as many as you can and make these recipes:
- Cherry Tabbouleh
- Cherry Salsa for Grilled Salmon
- Cherry Pomegranate Smoothie
- How to Pit Cherries without a Pitter
- Summer Red Fruit Salad with Berries and Cherries
CARROTS
You probably don't pay that much attention to carrots the rest of the year except as a flavor base along with fellow NPCs onions and celery for soups or as a supporting ingredient. But in the winter, when other main character vegetables are off-duty, carrots can take center stage with their bright, crisp, subtly sweet, vitamin A-rich glory.
- viral tiktok trend Spicy Carrot Salad
- Spicy Carrot Lentil Soup
- Gochujang Glazed Carrots
- Pickled Carrots and Daikon
- Carrot Cake
CUCUMBERS
FAVA BEANS and other FRESH BEANS
FIGS
Fresh figs are usually considered a summer fruit because they are officially in season May to November. But technically, figs have two very short "seasons" on either end of summer. The first season can start as early as May, depending on the variety of fig and where you are located. Then, fresh figs sort of disappear during the height of the summer season and come back for their second season which starts in late August and can go as late as November.
MUSHROOMS
- Mushrooms Lentil Salad
- Mushroom Barley Soup
- Shiitake Mushroom Bacon
- How to Cook Lion's Mane Mushrooms
- Mushroom Stock
PEACHES
PEAS and SNAP PEAS
RADISHES
- Pickled Carrots and Daikon Radishes
- Korean Pickled Radishes, Chicken Mu
- Spicy Korean Radish Salad, Mu-saeng-chae
- Radish Kimchi aka Kkak-du-gi
SUMMERY SQUASH like Zucchini and Yellow Squash
- Viral Thomas Keller's Roasted Zucchini
- Zucchini Ghanoush, aka Baba Ghanoush with Zucchini
- Healthy Zucchini Bread
- Easiest One Bowl Zucchini Bread
STRAWBERRIES
Fruit and Vegetables in Season Right Now and Always
These fruits and vegetables are considered "always in season!" At least here in California!
Vegetables in Season Year Round
- Artichokes, you wouldn't believe it because they're so closely associated with spring, but California grows artichokes year-round!
- Beets
- Broccoli, cauliflower and fam, except brussels
- Cabbage
- Cabbage Apple Salad with Miso Mustard Dressing
- Carrots
- Garlic
- Herbs
- cilantro: Peruvian Green Sauce Aji Verde
- cilantro: Cilantro Lime Dressing
- dill: Dill Pickled Chopped Salad
- parsley: Olive Salsa Verde
- parsley: Italian Salsa Verde
- rosemary: Rosemary Olive Oil Cake
- rosemary: Rosemary White Bean Dip
- thyme: Meyer Lemon Thyme Olive Oil Cake
- lettuces and leafy greens
- mushrooms
- Onions
- Potatoes
- Radishes
- Pickled Radish
- Vietnamese Pickled Carrots and Radish Do Chua
- Soy Sauce Pickled Radish and Onions
- Spicy Radish Salad, aka musaengchae
- Radish Kimchi, aka "kkadugi"
- Sweet potatoes
- Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Feta and Pomegranate
Fruits in Season Year Round
- Lemons and Limes
- Mandarins and Tangerines
- Oranges
- Orange Olive Oil Cake
- for your Cheese and Charcuterie Boards: Candied Oranges
- for your cocktail garnishes: Dried Oranges
- Strawberries
- Edible flowers
- Dried Fruit
Coming Soon: In Season in June
Cherry tomatoes
Corn
Green beans
Melons
Okra
Nectarines and plums—June to October
What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season, by Month
Planning ahead? Here's what fruits and vegetables are in season for the months coming up:
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in January
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in February
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in March
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in April
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in May—we're here!
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in June
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in July
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in August
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in September
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in October
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in November
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in December
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