Spring explosion: a culinary travel guide

Running low on vitamins is a real bummer, but in Lithuania, you don’t need to wait till summer! And everything you need is right on your doorstep. In a country, where forests and meadows are never more than thirty minutes from your door, a walk in the woods will deliver an ample harvest of such vitamin rich treats as sorrel (spinach’s distant cousin), and nettle (yes, you can eat it and yes, it’s tasty). And if all that foraging in the crisp spring air has built up a thirst, all you need to do is tap a birch tree to get a cupful of sweet birch sap nectar. Explore what tasty natural delights Lithuania has to offer from March to June every year in this article.

TOP 3 SPRING FLAVOURS

Birch sap - vitamin cocktail straight from the tree

In the early months of spring if you hear a tap-tap-tapping in a Lithuanian forest, it’s not a sign of a particularly early woodpecker. No. It’ll be an eager local out to get their yearly dose of birch tree sap. This delicious nectar can be collected straight into a bottle and drunk fresh from the tree. Alternately, it can be mixed with different fruits and herbs to produce a truly sumptuous brew. Rich in vitamins and minerals, birch tree sap is fast becoming a favourite in the artisanal food industry, and once you’ve experienced that burst of life on your tongue, you’ll understand why.

Rad, not trad. The little salad buddy that’s big on taste

Spring sees gardens across Lithuania burst into colour with the arrival of this bright red salad treat. Sweet, but with a little bite of spice, radish is a Lithuanian staple. Mixed with greens and a tablespoon of grietinė (Lithuania’s answer to sour cream), it makes a great accompaniment to any meal.

Lithuanians (even the kids) looove greeens

Imagine going three months without chocolate. Wouldn’t you want to go on a binge when it finally arrived at the store? Well, that’s how Lithuanians are with their greens come spring! Restaurants experience a 10x increase in salad sales each spring, with chefs putting every leaf they find on the plate.
Exploding with colour and natural goodness, sorrel and nettle are essential ingredients for any Lithuanian spring soup or salad. But you don’t need to wait in line at the supermarket to get them. Just open your door, take a walk to any forest or meadow, and you’ll find them growing in abundance. Foraging is such a thing here that, come spring, gathering greens is just as natural as a trip to the store.

TOP 4 SPRING EXPERIENCES

Enjoy the crunch of fresh veggies everywhere

For vegans or the vegan-curious, there’s a truly fresh green gourmet experience waiting each spring. The country’s restaurants are suddenly bursting with green salads stacked with flavour and vitamins. Fresh produce makes its way to the chefs directly from the farmers, making the dishes have a rich palette without any artificial additives. Once the weather gets even warmer, you can find luxurious vegetarian and vegan goodies in street food markets as well!

Take a shot of wheatgrass at a herbalist stall

In virtually every mall and food market you’ll find these neat stalls where they sell herbal teas, spices, flaxseed oil, dried gooseberries and other exotic goods. They also serve the only kind of shot you won’t be ashamed of downing at 11 AM in the morning - freshly pressed wheatgrass. Green and, let’s face it, a bit yucky, this vitamin cocktail will fire you up for the day.

Get your fingers green

Take a step back in time and source your food the way our ancestors did, via your fingers. With ample forest and meadow space, much of it located in easy reach of even the most populated urban centres, foraging can quite literally be a walk in the park. You’ll find wild nettle, sorrel and other vitamin rich greens growing wild all over, all you need to do is get your hands a little dirty. Have a go at making your own nettle soup or brew, and you don’t need to worry about the sting; if you pick them early enough they are safe and very, very tasty.

Lithuanian farmers’ market (turgus) is the place to be

If you’re short on time for a wander to the forest, you can just as easily forage at one of the many lively Lithuanian farmers’ markets. Here, you’ll find locals in abundance that have already done the work for you. And they’ll be happy to sell you lovingly tied bunches of nettle, sorrel, chives and countless other greens for a very reasonable price. You could say that this is a truly cottage industry.

Birch sap - vitamin cocktail straight from the tree

In the early months of Spring if you hear a tap-tap-tapping in the forest In Lithuania, it’s not the sign of a particularly early woodpecker. No. It’ll be an eager local out to get their yearly dose of Birch Tree Sap. This delicious nectar can be collected straight into a bottle and drunk fresh from the tree. Alternately, it can be mixed with different fruits and herbs to produce a truly sumptuous brew. Rich in vitamins and minerals, Birch Tree Sap is fast becoming a favourite in the artisanal food industry, and once you’ve experienced that burst of life on your tongue, you’ll understand why.

Rad, not trad. The little salad buddy that’s big on taste

Lithuanians (even the kids) looove greeens

Imagine going three months without chocolate. Wouldn’t you want to go on a binge when it finally arrived at the store? Well, that’s how Lithuanians are with their greens come spring! Restaurants experience a 10x increase in salad sales each spring, with chefs putting every leaf they find on the plate.
Exploding with colour and natural goodness, sorrel and nettle are essential ingredients for any Lithuanian Spring soup or salad. But you don’t need to wait in line at the supermarket to get them. Just open your door, take a walk to any forest or meadow, and you’ll find them growing in abundance. Foraging is such a thing here that, come Spring, gathering greens is just as natural as a trip to the store.

TOP 4 SPRING EXPERIENCES

Enjoy the crunch of fresh veggies everywhere

Take a shot of wheatgrass at a herbalist stall

Get your fingers green

Lithuanian farmers’ market (turgus) is the place to be

DIVING DEEP INTO SAP

Move over, kombucha, there’s a new cool drink in town… Tree sap! Packed with vitamins and amino acids, this refreshing beverage is like spring in a bottle. Lithuania Travel talked to Gintarė Didžiokaitė, Brand Manager of Straikas, a company that aims to bring this cherished drink to the masses.

Is drinking sap a completely new fad?: Oh, absolutely not, it’s an ancient tradition. It’s so old no one can tell you with certainty when it all started. However, we do know that already in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania tree sap was used as a beverage and the basis for making beer and even champagne!

Sap was an important culinary ingredient not only among peasants, but also among royalty. Over time, it became an important part of the natural lifecycles of the population. As you may know, sap, collected during March-April used to be the first harvest of the year, well before the harvest of wheat, potatoes, vegetables and other crops.
How to correctly collect sap?: The right time to collect sap is after the ground begins to thaw, when it’s still roughly 5 to 6 degrees Celsius below zero at night, and a few degrees Celsius above zero during the day. As the ground begins to thaw, all that water contained in the soil is taken up to the tree via its root system underground.

To collect sap, you need to drill a shallow taphole in the tree trunk, roughly one metre from the ground. The taphole should not be drilled next to the ground or higher up the trunk. Then you need to insert a sterilised tube used for collecting the liquid. The sap coming out the other end of the tube is then collected into a suitable receptacle. When fresh sap becomes murky, or when trees begin to sprout leaves, the sap harvest comes to an end. Once harvesting is over, the tube is removed from the taphole, and the latter is plugged with a wooden cork to prevent rot.

Proper collection of sap does not hurt the tree, and is regulated by many different rules and special legislation. Collecting sap in a way that violates the latter may even incur a fine.
Why is it good for your health to drink sap?: Tree sap is rich in minerals and amino acids that aren’t found anywhere else in nature. We like to say that we don’t make the sap, but rather borrow it from nature itself. Sap is used to rid the body of toxins and other harmful substances. For instance, sap is often used by athletes for detox purposes. Furthermore, just like water, sap is great for hydration.

Also, when it comes to sap, let’s not forget – it’s tasty!
Will a person who never tried it in their childhood also find it tasty?: It’s the other way around, actually! Getting people who used to drink sap in their childhood to try it again can be fairly difficult. Why? Well, mostly because they drank it slightly fermented or defrosted, which can make it taste rather unpleasant.There is a big difference between the sap that we used to drink in our childhood and the sap that we produce now. Now, with modern processes involved, you get a sweet (but not too sweet!) drink that can be enhanced and flavoured, providing a healthy alternative to pop.
Is it possible to try sap in a restaurant or bar?: When we started producing sap four years ago, convincing bars that sap could become a popular beverage in bars was quite difficult. Thankfully, it’s no longer quite as challenging because there are now many more people who already know what good sap tastes like or would like to try it for themselves. So, next time you’re in a bar in Lithuania, ask if they have sap on tap!

THE THREE FACES OF LITHUANIAN SPRING

Seasonality is a principle many Lithuanian chefs, home cooks and foodies abide by. Renata Ničajienė, the author of the wildly popular Seasonal Kitchen blog and multiple cookbooks, told us all about the different flavours that can be experienced in Lithuania in springtime. Her main advice - don’t miss out on the more exotic-sounding ingredients, as they can make your culinary experience of the country genuinely unforgettable.

What are the first flavours that appear in spring?: Well, spring doesn’t replace winter overnight, especially here, in Lithuania. That’s why, from the culinary perspective, I’d divide the season into early, mid and late spring. Early spring, as one would expect, provides the poorest selection of produce, but it doesn’t mean it’s not exciting. So, what can we get?

When it comes to veggies, as soon as the snow melts, you can dig up some parsnips and Jerusalem artichokes (also known as sunroot). The latter is a potato-like vegetable that had been forgotten for some time but is now being rediscovered by fine dining restaurants specializing in Lithuanian cuisine. And you can make a lot of them - from soups and stews to salads.

When it comes to fish, smelt, despite its modest size, is undoubtedly the queen of the season. Caught in the still icy waters of the Curonian lagoon, it’s a real delight that locals cherish. Many even take a trip to the seaside just to participate in the annual Smelt Festival!

Spring is also the perfect time to start eating more greens. The most basic is, of course, spring onions. It’s typical in Lithuania to simply grow them on your windowsill. All you need is an onion and a glass of water. Lithuanians also use a lot of sprouts, which go exceptionally well with eggs, which, surprisingly, is also a seasonal product. Hens need fresh grass to lay eggs, after all.
And what awaits those who come in the middle of the spring?: You shouldn’t miss out on the stinging nettle. It’s a truly wild ingredient that is put in soup, mixed with quark cheese, eaten in salads. Green fresh pasta with stinging nettle is a nice spin on fresh spinach pasta. It looks delicious and modern, using a very traditional ingredient. An omelette with nettle is another good way to incorporate this spring herb.

When it comes to picking it, don’t forget to use gloves and scissors, even with young plants. Before using them, just pour hot (bot not boiling, think of the vitamins!) water, and the sting goes away.

Although the major mushroom harvest happens in autumn, there’s one mushroom that can be found in spring. Bobausiai or gyromitra mushrooms. They’re a bit difficult to cook, as you need to boil the toxins away, and they do have an unpleasant smell when cooked, but the meaty deliciousness you get is worth the hassle.
What about late spring?: In late spring, nature has the perfect ingredient for sweet-tooths - rhubarb. Rhubarb is the season’s first produce suitable for desserts and pies. It’s very versatile as well, and can form the base of a refreshing drink.

Asparagus is another vegetable that was known to Lithuanians for ages. It’s funny to think that at least my granny would grow asparagus, but would use it for bouquets. Now, it’s a popular vegetable found in many eateries. Also, don’t forget all the fresh radish, salad, spinach, and fresh herbs you’ll find in restaurants and markets.

The most distinct green veggie is the sorrel, which grows in forests and is similar to spinach, albeit more acidic. I’d recommend trying it, together with the things you’d probably not find at home. That includes bobausiai, birch sap, sorrel, and anything with nettle in it. Trust me, you don’t have to travel far away to find something exotic!

We hope you enjoyed this gastronomic journey through the outlandish, but absolutely delightful spring cuisine in Lithuania. As summer is just around the corner, more deliciousness is coming soon. Stay tuned by following us on Instagram and Facebook.

Photo credits: Eglė Juzumas, Renata Ničajienė, Gintarė Didžiokaitė, Kamilė Šerėnaitė, Beatos Virtuvė.