Spring is here, and so is popular lamb

The Locavore

Lamb is a popular dish in the spring. There are religious reasons. In Christian tradition, a lamb is symbolic of the risen Christ and is often the centerpiece of the Easter meal. In some Jewish homes, lamb is served during Passover, reminding believers of the Old Testament account of how households that adorned their door posts with the blood of the paschal lamb were spared from destruction.

In some of Maryland's ethnic communities, lamb is the first choice for a ceremonial meal, regardless of the season. "If you are Muslim or Greek and thinking about a celebration, you are thinking about lamb," said Susan Schoenian, sheep and goat specialist at the University of Maryland's Western Maryland Research & Education Center in Keedysville.

For some local farmers, spring is when some smaller lambs go to market. "In Maryland, some lambs are born in January and February and come to market when they are 3 to 5 months old," said David Greene, who raises 100 to 140 lambs a year on his Baltimore County farm. He sells the meat, as whole animals or cuts, at his farm. He feeds his spring lambs grain and puts others in pasture. These grass-fed animals don't come to market until the fall, he said. Grass-fed meat costs more, but is lower in fat and calories.

David Smith, proprietor of Springfield Farm in Sparks, is a fan of grass-fed, or foraging, lambs. He has a flock of about 30; he also has "handshake agreements" with a number of local lamb farmers to provide cuts of lamb sold year-round at his farm and on its Web site. According to Smith, grass-fed lamb is tenderer than grain-fed lamb, and has more flavor than lamb shipped from New Zealand and sold in supermarkets.

While spring is a busy time at Woolsey Farm in Churchville, Cindi Umbarger and her husband, Worley, manage their flock to produce lambs year-round. The Umbargers feed lambs grain and grass and sell the meat at the Saturday morning farmers' market on 32nd Street in Waverly and at Broom's Bloom Dairy in Bel Air.

Buying: When selecting lamb, look for meat that is clear red in color, with white, waxy-looking fat, says Nancy Harmon Jenkins, author of The Essential Mediterranean.

Cooking: For roasting, Jenkins says the leg and shoulder are preferred, while the shank, which is used to represent the paschal sacrifice on the ceremonial Passover Seder plate, also makes a succulent piece for stewing. Butterflied leg is often cooked on a grill. Rack of lamb is an elegant cut often served at dinner parties.