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Home » About The Food Geek

About The Food Geek

Pursuing the best flavor

I have high expectations for my fruits and vegetables: they should taste as good as they look. I know, that's asking a lot! I have zero patience for great looking produce that tastes bland.

My expectations got even higher when I started gardening over a decade ago. Nothing beats the flavor of well-selected varieties, harvested at their peak ripeness from your backyard.

I've made it my mid-life mission to figure out the most reliable ways to buy good-tasting fruits & vegetables in-season from farmers markets as well as grocery stores.

Credentials

I hold a Masters from the University of Illinois, obtained ages ago (in the early aughts!)

But I've spent recent years digging through research papers from universities across the country like UC-Davis, UC-Riverside, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, UMN-Twin Cities, Michigan State, Purdue, Kansas State, Texas A&M, and more - often reaching out to their faculty for further information and clarifications.

I've also recently taken agriculture classes at UCLA to further build on my knowledge base. I also reach out to agricultural experts who've pioneered new technologies to understand their effects.

Then I distill this down into useful guides that are easy to read. Hundreds of pages of reading my result in a mere paragraph or two!

Seasonal guides

The produce guides share the information I've gathered. Each month lists the produce currently available, and then each fruit & veggie gets their own page with information on how to pick the best ones, how to store them, and other tips, like how to tame bitter cucumbers.

Do I still buy bright red strawberries only to be disappointed by their lackluster flavor when I get home? Yep. Don't get me started on tomatoes either. Despite using every trick in the book, sometimes Mother Nature has a different plan that farmers can't do anything about.

When that happens, there are still good uses (like in a jam with added sugar or herbs for flavor, etc).

What kind of recipes will you find?

I share my own recipes, which are admittedly few in number. Most of my focus is spent researching produce and the ingredients, so I have less time for recipe development.

But that's okay because there are a massive number of bloggers who publish exceptional recipes. Not surprisingly, I've researched those bloggers and their recipes so I could share them with you.

You'll find over 50 recipes for each fruit & vegetable on most of their guides.

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Ask me anything

I do a lot of research about produce to figure out why some fruits & veggies taste good and others bland. I also dig into the science of why some recipes work and others don't. No question goes unanswered, and I'm here to share the results with you.

March spinach

The best (and worst) apples for pie

apple pie on a pile of red and green apples

The type of apple used to make your pie actually matters. So why do some apples make the best pies, but other varieties yield disappointing results? It comes down to their flavor, acidity, and texture after being cooked in a hot oven. I can confirm that these characteristics can greatly vary from one variety to...

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Fresh fig banana bread

Fresh fig banana bread with a fig syrup swirl

A seasonal banana bread recipe with a homemade fig-maple syrup swirled into the batter that tastes like fig newton filling. This bread is a perfect way to use seasonal figs this summer and fall, even if they are slightly under or overripe. The recipe requires some extra steps to cook the maple-fig syrup, but it's...

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Farmers market apple butter (Instant Pot)

apple butter recipe in the instant pot and canned

After using almost 100 pounds of apples to test apple butter recipes, I've found the best apple varieties, cooking methods and ingredients to produce the best results. Best apples: McIntosh for their cider-like flavor and smooth consistency with cooked Best cooking method: pressure cooking for its ability to caramelize the sugars Best flavor tip: keep...

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