The Dutch table 
month by month
Dutch restaurants change their menus with a handful of short, loved seasons. Here is when each one starts, peaks and ends, so you know what to order this month.
| Season | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White asparagus | ||||||||||||
| Hollandse Nieuwe herring | ||||||||||||
| Zeeland mussels | ||||||||||||
| Game | ||||||||||||
| Sinterklaas sweets | ||||||||||||
| Oliebollen |
In season Peak Outlined column: this month.
White asparagus
April, May, June. Cutting starts in mid-April (earlier under foil) and stops on 24 June, Sint Jan, so the plants can recover. Limburg and Noord-Brabant grow nearly all Dutch asparagus, and Brabantse Wal asperges are the only Dutch asparagus with an EU protected name (PDO, 2016). The classic plate: asparagus with ham, egg, new potatoes and melted butter or hollandaise.
Dates checked against: RVO, product file Brabantse Wal asperges (PDO)
Hollandse Nieuwe herring
June, July, August, September. The new herring season opens in mid-June on a date set each year (16 June in 2026, with sales from 17 June). Hollandse maatjesharing is an EU Traditional Speciality Guaranteed: the fish is caught between May and August, and the name Hollandse Nieuwe may be used until 30 September. After that the same herring is sold as maatjesharing.
Dates checked against: Visbureau, Hollandse Nieuwe
Zeeland mussels
July, August, September, October, November, December, January, February, March, April. Bottom-culture mussels from the Oosterschelde and the Waddenzee are sold from early July to April. In 2025 and 2026 the first harvest came about two weeks early, in mid-June. Mosseldag in Yerseke falls on the third Saturday of August.
Read the full guide to Zeeland mussels
Dates checked against: mosselen.nl, mussel season
Game
October, November, December, January. Hunting opens on 15 August for wild duck and on 15 October for hare, pheasant and wood pigeon, and closes by 31 January. Restaurants put hare, pheasant, duck and venison on the menu from October to the end of the year. Deer and wild boar have no open hunting season: venison and boar come from licensed culling or from abroad.
Dates checked against: Rijksoverheid, hunting seasons (jachtakte)
Sinterklaas sweets
November, December. Sinterklaas arrives on the first Saturday after 11 November (14 November in 2026) and the presents come on the evening of 5 December. The season brings kruidnoten (small crunchy spice biscuits most people call pepernoten), chocolate letters with the first letter of your name, speculaas and marzipan.
Dates checked against: Hart van Nederland, Sinterklaas arrival 2026
Oliebollen
October, November, December, January. Oliebollen stalls open from about early October and close in early January. The big day is 31 December, oudejaarsavond, when queues form at every stall.
Read the full guide to oliebollen
Dates checked against: Wikipedia (nl), Oliebol