For those of you living in Colorado, you’ll know that there can be slim pickings when it comes to the local summer fruit selection. That is to say except for that glorious month and a half when Colorado’s grocery stores and farmers’ markets are overrun with juicy, delicious, and mouth watering peaches! Close to the Colorado River  and surrounded by cliffs, Palisade, CO is known as the Peach Capital of the state and is world-famous for its excellent fruit harvest. Typically, the season begins mid-July and lasts until the end of August but I touched base with High Country Orchards – a family owned and operated orchard – and learned that this year’s harvest is running about 10 days behind normal. We can expect to see High Country peaches at local Whole Foods, Tony’s Markets and a few other grocers beginning today and lasting until about mid-September. So, get to the stores people and fill up on this delicious stone fruit before the season ends!

• How to Pick: Peaches should have a rich and aromatic smell and won’t ripen much after being picked from the tree. Unless you like your peaches firm, then you should choose a peach that has a little give to it when gentle pressure is applied. If the peach is the same shade of yellow around the stem area as it is on the rest of the peach it’s ready to eat! Avoid peaches with a green tint as these are not yet ripe.
• How to Store: Peaches should be stored in a cool place but not in a refrigerator as this slows or stops the ripening and sweetening of a peach. If a peach has completely ripened and you would like to eat it a few days later, it can be placed in the refrigerator as a last resort.
• How to Use: Peaches are quite the versatile fruit. You can eat them fresh or frozen, or make them into salsa, jam or bake them into pies!
• Recipe Ideas: I like to throw sliced peaches in with my yogurt for a refreshing breakfast. For a twist on a classic try out Bon Apetit’s Peach Pie with Peach Pie with Pecan Streusel. Peaches hold up well on the grill too so tune in Friday as I share my spinach salad topped with grilled peaches, goat cheese and balsamic glaze.
• Fun Fact: Peaches originated from China and are a part of the Rose family.
• For the Coloradoan’s: If you’re a peach fanatic, then check out the Palisade Peach Festival where you can visit local peach orchards including High Country!

Sources: High Country Orchards, Palisade Chamber of Commerce, Wikipedia

• How to Pick: Apricots have a very short season and hit their peak in July. So when you see them in the market stands, grab some by the armful! Choose apricots that have a rich hue and give slightly when pressed (like peaches or nectarines). Avoid ones that are hard or greenish; they will be bitter and won’t ripen.
• How to Store: If ripe, eat apricots as soon as possible or store them in the fridge for a few days. Keep them at room temperature or in a paper bag to help ripen them.
• How to Use: Take care when rinse and drying apricots as they bruise very easily. They can be eaten raw, used to prepare jam or chutney, dried, preserved whole or frozen for later use.
• Recipe Ideas: I made this Roast Pork with Apricot and Shallot Stuffing a few weeks ago and it was legit. Great dinner party fair. Next weekend, I want to try Smitten Kitchen’s Breakfast Apricot Crisp or Food & Wine’s Pan-Seared Apricot dish. On Friday, swing back for my Apricot Chutney that is loaded with yummy spices!
• Fun Fact: California produces 95% of the nation’s apricots, according to Apricot Producers of California.

Sources: Williams-Sonoma.com, Apricot Producers of California, and California Apricots.

Since moving out to NYC, I’ve found the produce to be less than exceptional (I know if my new co-workers reads this she’ll cringe, as I mention this to everyone, and I’m sure she’s sick of my SF elitist ways!) To be fair, dishes I’ve had at restaurants = outstanding. Scrumptious gelato has now entered my regular meal rotation. And I’ve tasted some of the best Italian food and fresh bread I’ve come across in my life. But when it comes to fruits and veggies, they seem to take a backseat.  Until I came across blueberries. They seem to not only be amazingly-local (even my nearby sidewalk fruit stand is selling them from South Jersey), they’re plump, juicy, and CHEAP!

• How to Pick: Blueberries are usually sold in containers, even from the farmer’s market, so if you can’t handpick them try to avoid baskets with any shriveled or smashed ones. Also, look for big berries, as the general rule of thumb is: the bigger, the sweeter….as they don’t ripen further after being picked.  If you’re attempting to pick them yourself from a nearby farm, here are some tips before heading out.
• How to Store: Pick through your container and remove any bad berries in order to prevent them from spreading mold. Store unwashed berries in the refrigerator for up to a week.
• How to Use: Toss fresh blueberries in your cereal and pancakes; Freeze them for a cool treat or blend with yogurt and sugar for homemade pops; Boil down blueberries with some sugar for a delicious ice cream topping; Bake them into pies, tarts, and crumbles; Dry them in a dehydrator and add to granola; or preserve into jam for blueberries year-round!
• Recipe Ideas: Last week I successfully subbed blueberries in for my Strawberry-Apple Crumble; Heidi Swanson suggests a throwback 1974 Gourmet recipe of Old-Fashioned Blueberry Cake; Epicurious features Gourmet’s Blueberry Muffin Tops in honor of Elaine proclaiming to only like the tops on Seinfield; and on Friday I’ll share my Blueberry, Banana, and Oatmeal Smoothie Recipe.
• Fun Fact: Maine is the blueberry production capital of North America and produces almost 100 percent of all berries harvested in the country (hence why they’re everywhere here!) America also claims “blueberry” as their favorite muffin.

• How to Pick: Look for tightly packed leaves and bright color. Avoid anything that looks brown or wilted. Leaves should be crisp!
• How to Store: Wrap in plastic and store in your refrigerator until use. Wash and cut cabbage right before using, or else the leaves will lose their crispness and the flavor will be muted.
• How to Use: Peel off the tough outside leaves and rinse thoroughly in cool water. Cut off the stem of the cabbage and chop away!
• Recipe Ideas: Cabbage can be eaten both raw and cooked. When cooked, the cabbage has a mild flavor that goes well with onions or garlic. Instead of a traditional cole slaw, try an Asian Inspired slaw with ginger and peanuts, like this version from Bon Appetit. I’ll be sharing a recipe for cooked cabbage with potatoes and turmeric, Indian-style, on Friday!

• How to Pick: Farro comes whole or semi-pearled. Whole farro needs to be soaked overnight before cooking, whereas semi-pearled farro can be cooked in 20 minutes.
• How to Store: Keep in a closed container out of sunlight.
• How to Use: Sort through the grains and discard any dirt or debris. Thoroughly rinse before cooking. For whole farro, soak it overnight and then simmer it for 1 hour until tender. For semi-pearled, simmer for 20 minutes until tender. Cooked farro will be tender with a slight firmness in the center (like risotto). Also, farro tends to foam while cooking, so be sure to use a large pot.
• Recipe Ideas: Because farro holds its shape and texture after cooking, it’s great in salads, as a last-minute addition to soups, or simply served with pasta sauce or vinaigrette. For a spin on risotto, check out NYT’s Farro with Mushrooms or Food & Wine’s version. For simple side dishes, try 101 Cookbook’s Farro and Roasted Butternut Squash or Jaime Oliver’s Farro with Roasted Vegetables. Later this week, I’ll share my delicious recipe for Farro and Green Bean Salad!
• Fun Fact: It doubles in size after cooked, so plan accordingly!

Sources: About.com, Williams-Sonoma, Seattle Times, and Sunset magazine.

I’ll start by saying that this veggie isn’t something I found at my local farmer’s market.  And unless you’re living in Texas, you are probably out of luck too, since it grows in warm, dry climates. In my mind though, jicama is like a banana. It is a food that is clearly not local but something I can’t completely eliminate from my life. So, as opposed to blindly eating it and hoping none of my blog followers see me, I decided to learn the basics behind the root and share with you…that way if and when we do find ourselves adding jicama to our meals, we’re eating them with our eyes wide open. And even the best locavore amongst us is allowed to indulge ever-so-often!

• How to Pick: Jicama resembles a turnip (and is called a Mexican turnip) but is actually a legume. Look for jicama that is firm and medium sized -it can be up to two fists big -  but steer clear of anything bigger, as the root then begins to convert the sugars that give it a sweet flavor into starches, making the root somewhat woody to the taste. And avoid any wet or soft spots.
• How to Store: Jicama will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Before eating, peel away the brown outer layer with a vegetable peeler to reveal the white inside
• How to Use: Jicama is best eaten raw and can be shredded or julienned into salads and slaws. It can also replace water chestnuts in Chinese dishes.  A traditional Mexican or South American way to eat jicama is raw with a little lime and chili powder, yum.
• Recipe Ideas: WhatWe’reEating has a delicious looking Spicy Thai Jicama Salad; Epicurious’ Lobster Salad with Glass Noodles and Jicama and Steamed Pork and Jicama dumplings ; and on Friday I’ll post my Jicama, Carrot, and Pineapple Slaw.
• Fun Fact: Residents of Mexico also recognize jicama as one of the four elements celebrated in their “Festival of the Dead”, celebrated on November 1. The other foods are sugar cane (from southern Asia), tangerines (from eastern Asia), and peanuts (from Bolivia), so this is not a strictly native festival.

If you’ve read anything by Michael Pollan or seen movies like Food Inc., you may – like me – be a little skeptical about corn. After all, it’s America’s largest crop, one of the most industrialized vegetables in history, and found in nearly any processed food via corn syrup, corn starch, corn oil, corn meal, etc. But rest assured, I want to talk about fresh, whole corn on the cob and not any of its crazy modified offshoots.

• How to Pick: Look for corn with bright green husks. Avoid husks that are dried out. For extra insurance, peel back the husk to check if the kernels are whole and firm.
• How to Store: Like asparagus, corn is best eaten very fresh. As soon as it is picked, the natural sugars begin to convert to starch,  which means the corn will be less and less sweet the older it gets. So, serve corn as soon as you purchase it.
• How to Prepare: Boil/Steam: Bring a large pot of water to boil, submerge husked ears or place them on a steamer and cook for 3-4 minutes. Remove husks and silks before serving. Grill: Peel off the husks, remove the corn silks and wrap tightly in foil (add some butter, salt and pepper inside the foil if you want). Grill over medium heat for 13-15 minutes. If you want to keep the husks intact, be sure to soak the ears in cold water for at least 15 minutes before grilling. Microwave: Remove husk and silk, wrap in a paper towel and cook for 1-2 minutes. Raw: Remove husks and silks and rinse in cold water. Using a sharp nice or a corn zipper, remove kernels and toss into a salad or mix with beans.
• Recipe Ideas: Bon Appetit’s Summer Corn Soup or Williams-Sonoma’s Baked Penne with Corn, Zucchini, and Basil both sound like a perfect summer dinners. For a delicious appetizer or side dish, I want to try Fine Cooking’s Fresh Corn Fritters or Epicurious’ Barley and Corn Salad with Chive Dressing. Come Fall, I can’t wait to try 101 Cookbook’s Roasted Corn Pudding in Acorn Squash or for dessert, Smitten Kitchen’s Corniest Corn Muffins.
• Fun Fact: One medium corn ear yields about 1/2 to 3/4 cups of kernels.

Besides olive oil, lemons, and chili pepper flakes, garlic holds a serious stake hold in my kitchen. Rare is the meal where it is absent. And yet, all this time, I have steered clear of green garlic at the weekly market for fear of not knowing how to cook with it or what it might taste like once I did take the leap. Luckily, moving to the East Coast where Spring sets in a good two months after it does on the West, gave me the chance to revisit all of Spring’s bounty again. (It’s a little like Groundhog day – eating strawberries and asparagus yet again in the same year!) So I grabbed a bunch this week, and boy have I been missing out! Green garlic is immature garlic that looks a bit like a spring onion or scallion and tastes like garlic’s sweeter, more mild cousin. I made a delicious green garlic pesto I used on a pizza (I’ll share on Friday) that tasted heavenly.

• How to Pick: Look for bright green, fresh tops with no saggy leaves or brown spots.
• How to Store: You need to eat green garlic faster than its dry counterparts. You can put the shoots in a glass of water or wrap them in a damp paper towel then put them in an unsealed bag in the refrigerator.
• How to Prepare: You can use the entire stalk, from green tip to white bulb, no need to peel the outer layers.  Just trim the roots off and the top of the green stalks, then finely chop or dice into soups, eggs, pizzas…just about anything that welcomes a garlicky taste.
• Recipe Ideas: The Food Section has a super simple and delish Fresh Pasta with Green Garlic and the New York Times features a slew of green garlic inspired recipes including Potato Gratin With Bacon, Green Garlic and Gruyère and Artichokes With Green Garlic Dip. Check back on Friday for my green garlic pesto pizza with asparagus!

It looks like broccoli, smells like broccoli, and even tastes like broccoli but it’s actually broccolini – which is technically related to the cabbage family. When I got some in my CSA box last week, I first thought it was broccoli rabe. In my 27 years, I don’t think I’ve ever eaten this delicate looking vegetable and am a little bummed I’ve missed out for so long. While it tastes similar to broccoli, it’s a bit sweeter and a cinch to prepare.

• How to Pick: Choose broccolini with freshly cut stems (like you would with asparagus). Avoid any bunches with wilted leaves and browning or flowering florets.
• How to Store: Keep them in a plastic bag in the fridge.
• How to Prepare: Remove any wilted leaves or browning florets. Also, peel any especially tough or mature looking stems as they may be tough. You can blanch, steam, saute, stir fry or boil this delicate veggie. According to Cook’s Illustrated, blanching helps offset any bitterness.
• Recipe Ideas: Keep it light with Ina Garten’s Sauteed Broccolini or 101 Cookbook’s Asparagus Salad with Broccolini. Or, go decadent with Bon Appetit’s Broccolini with Pecan Brown Butter!
• Fun Fact: You can eat the entire vegetable, including the leaves!

When I lived in California, I had never heard of, seen, or tasted a ramp. Since moving here I’ve seen them on restaurant menus left and right and when I made my first trek to the local market, ramps were everywhere! Ramps are the east coast version of a leek, but they look more onion-like than what us leek lovers are used to and they smell (and taste) more like garlic. And yet they retain the sweetness of a leek. Ramps grow wild between South Carolina and Canada, and are Spring’s delicacy on this coast. There are even festivals celebrating them!

• How to Pick: Look for bright green leaves and firm bulbs. Ramps has a short harvest season so pick them up at the market before they’re gone.
• How to Store: Remove the papery outer skin and trim off hanging roots, leaving only the root base intact. Rinse dirt away then dry thoroughly. Wrap them tightly in plastic and store the refrigerator for up to a week.
• How to Prepare: Saute them in olive oil or butter for a simple side, chop them into soups, or scramble them into an egg dish. You can use them in any recipe that calls for  scallions or leeks, and since ramps aren’t cultivated the same way leeks are – mostly underground – they’re much easier to clean. Just cut off the roots, rinse thoroughly, and scrub off any excess dirt.
• Recipe Ideas: Try this Ramp Udon Soup with Bacon Consommé and Asparagus Tempura from Habeas Brulee; Epicurious has a yummy sounding Ramp and Buttermilk Biscuits with Cracked Coriander recipe as well as a Ramp and Sausage Risotto recipe I want to try; and Mario Batali’s Spaghetti and Ramps couldn’t look easier (or more delish). Also, I want to make up a batch of No Recipe’s Ramp Pesto. Tune in on Friday when I whip up some sort of delicious concoction with ramps!
• Fun Fact: Ramps smell BIG TIME so beware of the stinky odor they emit if cooking with these guys for the first time!

(Thanks to ApplePiePatispate.com for this image)