The Seasonal Produce Wheel
What's in season in Morocco, month by month — 30+ crops on a living clock
January brings oranges. The Souss-Massa region around Agadir produces most of Morocco's citrus — navel oranges, clementines, mandarins. The season runs from November through March. In Marrakech and Fes, fresh-squeezed orange juice vendors line every square. The price drops as the season peaks.
February is for artichokes and broad beans. The spring crops arrive early in Morocco's mild climate. Broad beans — foul — appear in bissara, the thick soup that costs three dirhams in every medina. Artichokes are braised with lemon and preserved in olive oil.
March is strawberry season. The Gharb plain near Kenitra produces most of the crop — Morocco is one of the top ten strawberry exporters in the world. The berries appear overnight in the souks, bright red and fragrant, then disappear by May.
April brings peas, figs begin forming, and the first apricots appear in the south. The markets shift from winter root vegetables to spring greens. This is the best month for tagines with spring vegetables — peas, artichokes, broad beans together.
June is cherries in the Middle Atlas — Sefrou holds its cherry festival. July through September is tomato season — Morocco exports over a billion dollars of tomatoes annually, mostly to Europe. The souss greenhouses run year-round, but the open-field tomatoes of summer are superior.
October is date harvest in the Draa and Tafilalet. The Medjool — the king of dates — comes from the oases around Errachidia and Zagora. The saffron crocus blooms in Taliouine. Pomegranates split open on the tree.
November brings the olive harvest — the countryside comes alive with families beating the branches and gathering the fruit on tarps. Morocco produces over 100,000 tonnes of olive oil annually. December closes the circle with citrus again.
The market is the calendar. Eat what the souk offers today and you are eating in season, from the region, at the peak.
Explore the full interactive module — with an animated seasonal wheel, 30+ crops, and the export data behind Morocco's agricultural calendar — at Dancing with Lions: https://www.dancingwiththelions.com/data/seasonal-produce
Interactive Module
Data and visualisation by Dancing with Lions
