Revealing where our food comes from
The Simplest Sweet Corn Recipe Enjoy this summertime treat without cooking. Even though corn is good, when eaten frozen or even canned, there is nothing better than fresh sweet corn in the summertime. Corn plants don’t like to be transplanted, so there isn’t an easy way for farmers to get a head start. They have to wait…
Summer squash is the thin-skinned variety of squash that includes zucchini. It is one of the first vegetables ready to eat out of your summer garden. Most people are familiar with zucchini, but as this vegetable cross-pollinates, there are hundreds of varieties with different shapes and shades of green and yellow, some both green and…
Be the boss of your summer harvest by keeping it simple. I never liked raw tomatoes as a child. But after eating fresh-picked tomatoes in the heat of summer I have realized this is an entirely different product than one purchased in the spring. Unfortunately, tomatoes have become ubiquitous in grocery stores 365 days a year….
How to Cook Potatoes You need to know the type to know how to cook it. The humble potato is a root vegetable that we don’t give much credit. We blame it on making us fat in the form of French fries or mashed potatoes or potato salad, where it becomes a vehicle transporting oil or butter…
Recipes that let the alliums be the star of the show. The allium family of vegetables is at the heart of all cooking. Across cultures and geography, alliums are the not so secret, secret of all chefs. I was once asked to tell someone which dishes had onions and garlic in them and I realized, it…
An ancient vegetable demystified. The artichokes we eat are the unopened flower buds of the artichoke thistle plant. Each plant will make several artichokes during the spring, and there is a second harvest in the late fall. This vegetable from the Mediterranean region was domesticated from the cardoon, selecting the plants to produce more and…
How to Make a Salad When I went to college, my new roommate would grab a salad from the salad bar and come back to the table with a second bowl; they were both plastic. She would then put the second bowl on top of the salad and shake the mixture to disperse the dressing…
Celery tends to only show up around Thanksgiving, where it is the star ingredient in turkey stuffing. As a child, my mom made a traditional meal, and I suppose I knew celery was in the dressing, but I didn’t realize it provides a crucial flavor to the dish, and without it, it wouldn’t taste the…
This gateway vegetable is so sweet, it makes the perfect snack. Even though carrots are available year-round, there are different varieties grown at different times of the year for better yield and to work with the growing conditions. Bringing them Home If you have a full bunch, remove the tops. If the greens are fresh, use them…
Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, and Oregano The fragrant oils of rosemary, thyme, sage, and oregano turn up the volume in the kitchen. Rosemary, thyme, sage, and oregano have fragrant oils that will keep in your pantry for several months after drying. Fresh or dry, these oils release when cooking and add fragrant aromas to slow-cooked soups and…