What to Eat in March in the Netherlands

Maart roert zijn staart ("March wags its tail") says an old Dutch saying, meaning that it can go either way in the Netherlands during March, with weather ranging from mild and sunny to snowy and blustery. Spring officially begins on March 21, but nature often doesn't keep to the calendar, sometimes beginning early and other times late. Therefore, March can be seen as the month that bridges winter and spring, and that's reflected in this overview, which focuses on Dutch-grown fruits and vegetables, venison and sustainable seafood varieties.

We've provided a list of recipes featuring seasonal ingredients for each section with the hope of providing you with some cooking inspiration this month.

Locally Harvested Winter Vegetables

Beet (biet)
Belgian endive (witlof)
Black radish (rammenas)
Black salsify (schorseneren)
Brussels sprouts (spruiten)
Carrots (bospeen, waspeen, winterpeen)
Celeriac (also known as knolselderij or turnip-rooted celery)
Celery cabbage (also known as Chinese kool, Napa cabbage or Chinese cabbage)
Curly Kale (boerenkool)
Daikon (rettich)
Jerusalem artichoke (also known as aardpeer, sunroot, sunchoke, earth apple or topinambur)
Lamb's lettuce (also known as veldsla, corn salad or mâche)
Leek (prei)
Onion (ui)
Parsnip (pastinaak)
Pointed cabbage (spitskool)
Potato (aardappel)
Purslane (winter) (postelein)
Pumpkin (pompoen)
Turnip greens/turnip tops (raapstelen)
Red cabbage (rode kool)
Radish (radijs)
Rutabaga (also known as koolraap, swede or turnip)
Savoy cabbage (savooiekool)
White cabbage (witte kool)
Also: pickled, frozen and tinned vegetables