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Calocybe gambosa, also called St. George’s Mushroom. Photo by Thomas Pruß (CC BY-SA 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons.
Fennel, Cuttlefish and St. George Mushrooms
This is the last month for fennel (fenoll or fonoll in Catalan) before it takes its summer break. This native Mediterranean plant is noted for its aniseed-like aromatic qualities, which are particularly concentrated in its seeds. These play a large part in local Catalan food culture, particularly in cakes and sweet things such as bunyols or pa de pessic (a kind of sponge cake).
From mid-May the restaurants of El Vendrell and the Costa Daurada celebrate the Campanya de la Sípia (cuttlefish). In spring and summer, as the weather warms up, this mollusc comes into shallower waters to spawn, where local fishermen are lying in wait. If you want to have a go at cooking your own, try to buy those caught in traditional traps, rather than in trawl nets, which can be very damaging to marine ecosystems and often produce large amounts of wasteful by-catch.
The bolet de Sant Jordi (St. George’s Mushroom) gets its name because it supposedly appears on St. George’s Day (April 23rd), but it generally lingers around longer than that, so you should be able to find some this month. An aromatic fungus, you don’t need many to add a sweet yeasty flavor to dishes. They’re a big favorite in the Basque country where they’re often served with scrambled eggs.
Strawberries from the Maresme
Nothing says spring like strawberries, they fill supermarket shelves from March through the summer. Spain is the European leader of commercially grown strawberries, with the Andalucían province of Huelva accounting for the lion's share of the crop. But locally-grown is usually better, often simply by virtue of the fact that they haven't had so far to travel. Strawberries from Maresme, however, are really special. They are characterized by an intense red color, a very sweet flavor with a touch of acidity, a fleshy texture and a pleasant, sweet aroma. Every year from the end of April through early June the whole of the Maresme celebrates the Temps de Maduixas with fairs, festivals, competitions and jornades gastronòmiques (gastronomic days) which has local restaurants and bakeries integrating these red fruits into their dishes and desserts in every way imaginable.
Europe's native strawberry is the woodland strawberry, and these are particularly prized (and pricey) here in Catalunya. Fist-sized punnets of pea-sized pink berries appear in the markets more or less from May to September, brought in from the rolling countryside of Girona and the Empordà, and gathered with the same secrecy used by autumnal mushroom hunters. The ski resorts around the Cerdanya are also known hunting grounds in the spring and summer, when picnickers are able to create impromptu feasts. Or you can take the easy route and feast on them at traditional Catalan eateries. They have an almost ethereal taste; explosive fruit intensity with hints of woodland, smoke and pineapple and they make commercially grown varieties seem tame and often flavorless in comparison.
Prawns from Palamós
It is estimated that there are between 2,000 and 3,000 known species of prawn (the European term) or shrimp (the American term) worldwide. They live in fresh or salt water and range in taste, size and color from fat to thin; translucent to cochineal red; hard shell to soft shell, forearm sized to microscopic, mild to pungent.
What they all have in common is looks. Every prawn has a long narrow body, five pairs of legs and spidery antennae for feeling their way through the water and sensing danger. They do not have pincers. But not all prawns are created equal. At least not in Barcelona.
Here the most revered of the kaleidoscope of prawns are those from Palamós—a port town some two hours north of Barcelona on the Costa Brava. This mid-sized, rose-colored crustacean is the star dish of innumerable seaside restaurants along the coast, and among the most expensive tapas to be had in the city. But for aficionados, the expense is well worth it.
Tasting strongly of the sea, with sweet, almost sticky juices and a rich stew of offal in the head, which connoisseurs suck out with glee before devouring the body, supply is limited and availability through the year tends to wax and wane. They are most abundant and at their best from April to mid-June, during which time restaurants in towns from Calonge i Sant Antoni to Palamós boast extravagant tasting menus with Palamós prawns as the star ingredient.
Snails
As the garden veggies and the grape vines start to grow, so does the snail population. But how many of these little molluscs could you eat? In the gastropod heartland of Lleida, around 60 snails or so is considered normal for a main course but in the heat of the moment at Lleida’s annual Aplec del Caragol, or Snail Festival, it is not unusual to consume 300 or so at a sitting.
The use of snails (caragols or cargols) in Catalan cooking is recorded in cookbooks dating back to the 12th century. The Aplec del Caragol, however, started in 1980 as the idea of local gastronome Manolo Calpe, and the event now sees around 12 tons of snails brought in from the rest of the country, North Africa and South America to be guzzled down in just three days. Some 12,000 locals and 200,000 visitors crowd onto the banks of the river Segre and the Camps Elisis to try snails cooked a la llauna (on metal trays with salt and pepper and allioli to dip), a la catxipanda (with onions, aubergine and various pork products), a la brutesca (on a stone tile covered with burning straw) and any number of other methods.
If you want to try caragols a la llauna at home, buy smallish Bover Comù (hélix aspersa) live snails from a fishmonger at a local market, and wipe each one thoroughly before cooking. If you don’t have the outdoor space to cook them on vine cuttings (or any other hot-burning wood), then try using both the grill and the oven simultaneously to give them a good blast.
Published May 1, 2010, updated April 30, 2025.