Summer squash -- from zucchini to pattypans -- get a bad rap. They grow like crazy (what home gardener hasn't discovered a baseball bat-sized squash hiding in their garden in late August?) and produce squash for as long as the weather holds, which means the harvest keeps on coming. Jokes about ditching baskets of zucchini on your hapless neighbors' doorsteps aside, there's a lot to love about the much-maligned cucurbit.
Did you know that melons are in the same family -- Cucurbitaceae -- as cucumbers, winter squash, and zucchini? Their leaves, flowers, and stems are all similar, though of course the end product is very different. (And no, you can't cross-pollinate a pattypan squash with a honeydew!) Today we're talking all about melons, to give you plenty to think about next time you lug one home from the farmers' market.
This week we're celebrating stone fruit -- any fruit with a fleshy exterior surrounding a shell that harbors a fruit seed. Does that sound complicated? Just think of peaches, apricots, plums, and nectarines: delicious flesh on the outside, hard pit on the inside, tiny seed inside of that. (Cherries, which we got down and dirty with last week, are also technically stone fruit!)
Cherries, whether sweet or sour, are as cute as they are versatile. They play well with booze (Merrill likes to soak them in liqueur), they skew savory when paired with duck breast, and for hot summer days, nothing is better than a cherry snow cone. Today we're discussing cherries, stem to pit -- everyone's favorite tiny stone fruit.
Garlic is a funny -- and extremely versatile -- plant: it's planted in the late fall, after most other plants are done for the season, and sleeps all winter long before sprouting come springtime. The bulbs aren't ready to harvest until summer -- and even then they need a weeks-long curing period to dry them out for long-term storage. Fortunately, there are other ways to get your garlic fix in spring and early summer. Young garlic is one -- the bulbs are soft, mild, and not yet hardened into cloves -- and garlic scapes are another.
Peas! Today we're talking about peas, which are so ubiquitous as a readily-available frozen food that it's almost hard to remember that they are fleetingly in season come early summer. There are three major varieties of peas, and we'll be talking about them separately: shelling peas (also called English peas or garden peas), snow peas, and snap peas.
Fava beans aren't afraid to give you a hard time -- what other vegetable needs to be shelled twice? But they're worth it. Their intensely green pods are used in spring dishes all over the Mediterranean world, from Italy (in the spring stew la vignarola) to Iran (blanched and tossed with angelica). FOOD52er innoabrd's Besara -- think of it as Egyptian hummus -- is another classic preparation. As you blanch and peel your fava beans to tender perfection, here's more about them, both inside and out.
Strawberries are nuts! Actually, they're fruit -- and despite the name, they're not berries. Whether you're eating them plain or with clotted cream, stacking them sky-high with meringues, or using them to top a spinach salad, here's everything you need to know about buying, storing, and eating everyone's favorite all-American fruit (literally -- the Pilgrims had them at the first Thanksgiving)that's versatile, delicious, and as good for snacking as it is for sherbet, ricotta, or roasting.
Rhubarb, with its red-green stalks and tart taste, is one of spring's first harbingers. Whether you like it in scones, shortbread, a fizzy drink, or compote, here's everything you need to know about buying, storing, and cooking with rhubarb.Are there any rhubarb facts we've missed? Have you ever grown it in your garden? Let us know!
Today we celebrate the too-short season of ramps, our vegetable of the week. As we wrote during our contest for Your Best Ramps, they have a sweet pungency that many believe trumps all others in the onion family. Fleeting as they are, now's the time to capture their fragrant bite. Click through for more on the spring's hottest vegetable.
Spring is finally here and so is its lovely green herald, asparagus -- our vegetable of the week. We're just starting to see them at the Greenmarket here in New York City, although the delicate, purple-topped spears tied into fat bundles sell out fast.
From the hyperseasonal (ramps and strawberries are just around the corner!) to the unusual (ever wondered how cardoons are grown?), to the quotidien (kitchen workhorses like leeks and garlic), we'll be highlighting our favorite fruits and vegetables every week. This week, at the request of mrslarkin, it's all about celery! (Have you contributed to our contest yet?)
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