What is in season in Rennes. and what to order when the market changes.
Spring
- Pommes de terre primeurs de Bretagne: Breton new potatoes from the Léon coast reach the Marché des Lices from May, thin-skinned and sold by the kilo, and the market bistros cook them plain in salted butter.
- Artichauts de Bretagne: Breton globe artichokes come in from the Léon plain from May, sold by the head at the Lices and cooked whole with vinaigrette rather than trimmed down.
- Fraises de Plougastel: The Plougastel strawberry season opens in May and is short; Rennes pastry counters build tarts around it while it lasts.
- Salicorne: Samphire cut from the salt marshes of the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel appears on fish counters and bistro plates through late spring, served briefly blanched with butter.
Summer
- Homard breton: Breton blue lobster peaks over the summer and turns up on the Halles Centrales fish counters and on the tasting menus of the city's better kitchens.
- Cidre nouveau on tap: Summer is when the crêperie terraces do most of their cider trade, and farmhouse producers from Ille-et-Vilaine sell bottles direct at the Saturday market.
- Melon and tomato from the Vilaine valley: Market-garden produce from the valleys south of Rennes fills the Lices from July, and it is the stretch of the year when the market bistros write the shortest menus.
- Sardines: Breton sardines land through the summer and are grilled whole; the tinned Breton conserves sold in the Halles are packed from the same season's catch.
- Coco de Paimpol: The shelling bean from the north Breton coast runs from high summer into October, sold in the pod on the Lices stalls for podding at home.
Autumn
- Huîtres de Cancale: The oyster months proper begin in September, when the beds in the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel firm up and the Cancale creuses and plates reach Rennes counters at their best.
- Agneau des prés-salés: Salt-marsh lamb from the bay is a late-summer to autumn animal, and it is the one Breton meat that Rennes kitchens treat as a seasonal event.
- Châtaignes de Redon: Chestnuts from the Redon country south-west of Rennes come in through October and November, roasted at market stalls and worked into pastry.
- Champignons du bocage: Wild mushrooms picked in the forests around Rennes, Liffré and Paimpont drive the autumn foraging workshops and turn up on the locavore bistro menus.
Winter
- Coquilles Saint-Jacques: The Bay of Saint-Brieuc scallop season runs from October to April under tight dredging quotas, and winter is when Rennes fish counters carry them live in the shell.
- Moules de bouchot: Bouchot mussels raised on posts in the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel hold through the winter and are the cheapest good shellfish on the market.
- Kouign-amann and far breton: The Rennes bakery competition sharpens in winter, when the butter cakes sell hardest and the Halles counters bake far breton in trays through the day.
- Andouille de Guémené: The smoked chitterling sausage is a cold-weather galette filling, served with apple or onion compote through the winter months in almost every crêperie in the city.