What is in season in Baltimore. and what to order when the market changes.

Spring

  • Soft-shell crabs: When the blue crabs first moult in late spring, soft-shells appear on menus citywide, pan-fried or fried whole and eaten shell and all. It is the first real sign of crab season.
  • Maryland asparagus and strawberries: Eastern Shore asparagus and the first strawberries fill the Sunday farmers' market under the JFX from April, the produce that signals the warm-weather table is opening.

Summer

  • Steamed blue crabs: Peak crab season runs through summer, when the blue crabs are heaviest. Brown-paper tables, wooden mallets and a heavy coat of Old Bay are the whole point of a Baltimore summer.
  • Snowballs: Shaved-ice snowballs run all summer from corner stands, the egg-custard flavour with marshmallow being the local default. Stands like Walther Gardens have shaved ice for a century.

Autumn

  • Heavy fall crabs and oysters: Autumn brings the heaviest crabs of the year and the return of R-month oysters, when the Chesapeake beds come back into season and raw bars fill up across Fells Point and Canton.
  • Maryland crab soup: As the weather turns, the two Maryland soups take over: a tomato-and-vegetable Maryland crab soup and a richer cream of crab, both heavy with lump and Old Bay.

Winter

  • Oysters and oyster roasts: Winter is prime oyster season on the Chesapeake, when raw bars and oyster roasts run strong and the bivalves are at their plumpest and brightest across the city's seafood rooms.
  • Sauerkraut at Thanksgiving: A German legacy, many Baltimore families serve sauerkraut alongside the Thanksgiving turkey, a regional quirk that traces to the city's old German butcher and brewing community.

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