Highlight the Best of Spring, Thanks to Food & Wine's Best New Chefs

"Spring is the time for favas. They're available for such a short period of time — use every part of them. At Taco María, we use the flowers first, and the leaves, the tender young pods, then the mature beans, and finally the dried beans later in the year."

Source: Anne Watson Photography, POPSUGAR Photography / Anna Monette Roberts

"Right before Spring/Summer begins, spend a rainy day putting together bulk batches of five or six of your favorite spice blends. That way when the markets become bountiful and the days sunny, you can simply pick up some fresh seasonal vegetables for the grill, and you have a quick, fresh, flavorful meal! And more time to spend enjoying the weather, family, and friends! These blends fit and keep well in jam jars or Tupperware and are pretty much interchangeable between vegetable, meat, or fish. Here are some of my favorite blends: ras el hanout, Chinese five-spice, mustard barbecue, harissa, Vadouvan, and fried chicken spice."

Source: Kelley Jordan Photography, POPSUGAR Photography / Susannah Chen

"My favorite Spring ingredient are ramps. These wild onions grow all of over our region of Western North Carolina, and every year we wait with anticipation for the wonderful, while short-lived, season for this delicious vegetable. At Cúrate, we serve them grilled with romesco sauce, and the reason we prepare them this way is a nod to a Spanish onion calcot. In Catalonia, this festival is called a Calcotada, where they are served grilled and dipped in romesco . . . hence our decision to cook them similarly at Cúrate."

Source: Evan Sung, Christopher Shane, Flickr user dano272

"Early Spring is when all the beautiful fresh fig leaves blossom. We have dozens of fig trees around the area, and we use it in multiple ways in the restaurant. It's best when used to help infuse and balance gamey meats. You can wrap meats and roast them or use them in a sachet for a braise. Even my wife, Genevieve, infuses the fresh leaves to make ice creams and custards."

Source: Sierra Prescott, Mary Costa

"Every Greek Easter, my dad and I cook a whole Spring lamb on the rotisserie over grape vines. He makes a brush out of long rosemary branches that we dip in a bucket of red wine and dried oregano and then periodically slather over the lamb as it turns. The smell is intoxicating. . . . We then gather as many people as possible and feast on the lamb and lots of traditional Greek meze, including tzatziki, taramasalata, feta, olives, dolmas, lemony potatoes, and of course ouzo and retsina. Best day of the year."

"There are so many beautiful edible flowers in the Spring. Ask the farmers at the farmers market what they have. Make those homemade dishes beautiful and delicious."

— Michael Fojtasek

"Blanch in big pots so all the beautiful spring produce stays vibrant."

— Grae Nonas

Source: Robert J. Lerma, POPSUGAR Photography / Anna Monette Roberts