Morel mushrooms
These funky-looking springtime mushrooms are a fresh take on the typical white button mushrooms you’d usually get from a grocery store. Like other varieties, the woodsy morel mushrooms are chock-full of vitamin D, which can be tough to find in food sources. “This strain of mushrooms is in the top couple of mushrooms with the highest amounts of vitamin D,” says registered dietitian nutritionist Marjorie Nolan Cohn, MS, RDN, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. In turn, vitamin D keeps your immune system and thyroid healthy.
Fiddlehead ferns
These curly discs hit farmer’s markets and specialty stores mid-spring, when they’re picked from young ferns before the leaves uncoil. Fiddlehead ferns taste similar to asparagus, but crunchier and bitterer. They’re packed with healthy antioxidants, but their real claim to fame is omega-3 fatty acids. “You don’t find a lot of fat in plant sources beyond seeds and nuts,” says Nolan Cohn. Omega-3s, often found in fish, are healthy fats that could boost brain and heart health. Here are more of the healthiest vegetables you can eat.