Living calendar
May
Spring
May is when cooking goes vertical. Asparagus finishing, the first greenhouse tomatoes (still doubtful), peak strawberries, fresh peas, fava beans, early zucchini. The grill comes out on the sunny weekends — Memorial Day weekend in the US is the unofficial start of barbecue season — and Mother's Day (US, second Sunday) puts brunch and dessert front and center. On the condiment side, this is fresh-Penja arrival month, pink peppercorns claiming their spot on salmon, cardamom moving into cold yogurt and iced coffee. Last year's Madagascar vanilla is still at its peak, so it's the moment to make ice cream from scratch. Buy your barbecue salt now — flake salt, smoked salt — before the rush, not the day before the cookout.
Bring out of the pantry
Signature dishes
- Strawberries with aged balsamic · with Balsamic Vinegar of Modena 12-Year · see the pairing →
- Caprese salad · with Jacobsen Pure Flake Salt · see the pairing →
- Crème brûlée (Mother's Day dessert) · with Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla · see the pairing →
- Vanilla ice cream · with Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla · see the pairing →
- BBQ brisket (Memorial Day) · with Maldon Smoked Sea Salt · see the pairing →
- Mac and cheese (cookout side) · with Penja White Pepper · see the pairing →
Culinary celebrations
- Second Sunday · Mother's Day (US — brunch and dessert)
- Last Monday · Memorial Day (US — the season's first big barbecue)
- May 5 · Cinco de Mayo (tacos, chiles, margaritas)
- First and last Monday (UK) · Bank Holiday weekends (garden lunches)
Chef's note
For Mother's Day, drop the bouquet and make a crème brûlée with real Bourbon vanilla. One pod split into a cup of hot cream, twenty minutes to infuse, then carry on as normal. The gap between that and the supermarket vanilla powder is the Grand Canyon. While you're at it, start a cold infusion: drop a split pod into a bottle of dark rum or vodka, wait six weeks, and you've got a homemade spirit worth $40 a bottle. The rule of May: this is the month to spend $5 on a single vanilla pod. Use it three times and it's already paid for itself. And buy your smoked salt now — Memorial Day to Labor Day, you'll reach for it every weekend.