If there’s anything that can change the turnip's spartan image, it’s cream and butter, and lots of it, as in this luxurious gratin from Chanterelle chef-owner David Waltuck.

Prized by chefs for its distinctive floral fragrance and complex lemon-lime flavor, the golf-ball-size yuzu is a fairly frost-resistant hybrid of an ancient citrus called Ichang papeda and a sour mandarin orange.

There are people who await each year’s arrival of fresh-off-the-presses extra-virgin olive oil as if it were the first white truffle. Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli of Frankies Spuntino are two such olio nuovo connoisseurs.

According to Mitch Spitz of Brooklyn’s gourmet produce store the Orchard, cara cara oranges in particular “were not affected that badly” by the big West Coast freeze. And although prices have increased, the supply around town is good.

Meatballs aren’t exactly seasonal. But anyone who’s ever thrown a Super Bowl party knows better than to try to serve a root-vegetable stew to an excitable gridiron crowd.

Not just another pretty garnish, kiwifruit are delicious on their own and fairly bursting with all sorts of healthy substances, including a good dose of vitamin E. Harvested in late fall, the organic variety from California is ripe and ready by winter and available through spring.

Although it does a fairly good imitation of a carrot, do not attempt to eat a parsnip in its natural state. The humble root was designed for cooking.

espite their year-round availability, dried black-eyed peas get their chance to shine in the form of hoppin’ John, a southern specialty believed to bring good luck when eaten on New Year’s Day.

Cold-tolerant tatsoi (a.k.a. spoon cabbage) is one of the last hardy salad greens you’re apt to find at the Greenmarket.

Considered by many to be bait rather than supper, the lowly—but lovely—mackerel has garnered some respect in recent years thanks to its newly embraced super-food status as a little fish that’s as rich in flavor as it is in healthful omega-3s.