Seasonal Produce
83 guides
What's ripening when — produce calendars, peak-season cooking, and the regional variations that change what counts as in-season from one state to the next.
Mixed Seasonal Vegetables
Cooking with whatever is in season locally — rather than building a recipe and then hunting for ingredients — is how home cooks ate for most of human history. It is also how you get the best-tasting food for the least money at peak times of year.
Peaches
Peaches are the most short-windowed fruit of the year — and the one where ripeness matters most. A local peach at peak ripeness is the taste of summer in a way no other fruit quite is.
Potatoes
The variety of potato you choose matters far more than most recipes acknowledge. A Russet, a Yukon Gold, and a waxy red potato behave completely differently in the same preparation — and a freshly dug new potato from a local farm is unlike anything from a supermarket bag.
Spinach
Spinach is one of the most nutritionally dense vegetables at any farm stand, and one of the most season-dependent — spring and fall spinach is sweet and tender, while summer heat pushes it to bolt and turn bitter. Timing is most of the skill.
Strawberries
Strawberries are the first real fruit of summer — and the produce where the gap between local and shipped is widest. A ripe local strawberry tastes of strawberry. A shipped one tastes of pink water.
Sweet Corn
Sweet corn loses its sugar to starch conversion the moment it is picked — sometimes measured in hours, not days. Local corn bought the day it is harvested is a different vegetable from supermarket corn. No other produce makes the case for local sourcing more viscerally.
Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are a fall and winter staple with genuine variety differences that most cooks never discover. From the familiar Beauregard orange-fleshed type to Japanese purple varieties, the range in flavor and texture is wider than most people expect — and locally grown sweet potatoes from a farm stand are consistently better than the supermarket version.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes are the defining taste of summer — and the produce where supermarket shortcomings are most obvious. A local tomato in August is a different fruit entirely from a supermarket one.
Zucchini
Zucchini is the produce that produces so much in peak summer that gardeners get creative finding ways to use it. Understanding when to pick small vs. let grow big — and how to use each — is most of what matters.
How to shop at a farmers market
Shopping at a farmers market gets easier when you stop trying to buy everything and start shopping for a few useful meals. A simple plan makes the whole experience better.
What to do with apples
A bag of apples lasts longer than most produce, but it still helps to have more than one use in mind. These ideas keep apples moving before they go mealy in the drawer.
What to do with backyard tomatoes
Backyard tomatoes are usually more delicate and more abundant than store-bought ones, so the best use plan is the one that respects both. These ideas help you handle the rush without wasting your nicest fruit.