23/02/2021

Spring ingredients that you can use in your menu

Loulis Mills_Spring ingredients that you can use in your menu

Welcoming March and Spring into Our Creations, Using All the Season’s Fresh Ingredients

While we can find all vegetables throughout the year, we prefer fruits and vegetables that are in season. This allows us not only to benefit from their freshness and nutritional content but also to offer our customers healthier options. Naturally, we also take advantage of the best prices at which we can source them!

It is therefore very important to select for your baked goods or snacks those fruits and vegetables that thrive in each season. For example, now that spring has arrived, nature generously provides the following fruits and vegetables:

MARCH

  • Fruits: Grapefruit, lemons, mandarins, oranges
  • Vegetables: Artichokes, chicory, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, lettuce, broccoli, beetroot, leeks, endives, radishes, chard, spinach, asparagus, spring onions

APRIL

  • Fruits: Lemons, oranges, mandarins
  • Vegetables: Broad beans, lettuce, beetroot, endives, asparagus, chard, spinach, spring onions, mushrooms

MAY

  • Fruits: Apricots, cherries, berries, medlar, oranges, strawberries
  • Vegetables: Chicory, cucumber, peas, amaranth, zucchini, lettuce, beetroot, endives, radishes, chard, spinach, asparagus, green beans, mushrooms, spring onions

Some of the most important nutritional properties of these include:

Orange: Known for its vitamin C content, the orange is also rich in over 170 substances with strong antioxidant effects, offering protection against the excessive production of free radicals.

Oranges are a rich source of pectin, a soluble dietary fiber that helps reduce cholesterol levels. Additionally, oranges are very high in potassium and low in sodium, making them beneficial for

individuals with hypertension.

Spinach: Spinach contains significant amounts of vitamins A and K. It is also an excellent source of manganese and folic acid, providing magnesium and iron (though in a less absorbable form),

vitamin C, and B-complex vitamins. Spinach is particularly rich in antioxidants and has strong anticancer properties due to the presence of flavonoids.

Beetroot: Beets are rich in a powerful plant pigment and antioxidant called betacyanin, which gives them their deep red color. Betacyanin can help limit damage caused by free radicals. Beets also

contain high amounts of potassium, phosphorus, calcium, sulfur, iodine, iron, and copper, as well as vitamins B1 and B2, carbohydrates, fiber, and protein.

Asparagus: An excellent source of vitamins A, C, E, K, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and folic acid. A good source of minerals and trace elements such as selenium, iron, phosphorus, potassium,

copper, and manganese. Also provides vitamin B6, calcium, magnesium, and zinc. Additionally, asparagus contains plant-based protein, offering 2 g per 100 g of vegetables.

Spring Fruit and Vegetable Ideas:

  • Orange pie

  • Butter cookies with strawberry jam filling

  • Country-style baguette with chicken fillets

  • “Zin” toast with roasted chicken and aromatic mayonnaise

  • Multigrain bread with Domokos soft cheese

  • Fruit tart

  • Beetroot breadsticks