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Produce guides

seasonal produce guides for each fruit & vegetable

These produce guides help you make the best of fruits & vegetables when they are in season.

How to tell good from bad (or ripe from unripe)
Quality at the grocery store vs farmers market (highly dependent on each specific fruit and vegetable)
Best storage techniques
How long it should last when properly stored
Addressing specific problems (like bitterness in cucumbers, or substituting nectarines for peaches)
Recipes!!

Do Sumo citrus mandarins deserve the hype?

75 raspberry recipes: find your new favorite

Apricot recipes: floral, nutty, berry, and corny

75+ peach recipes & flavor pairings

75 blueberry recipes & flavor pairings

Pineberries

April: cooking with seasonal vegetables

40+ Sweet onion recipes: dinner, dips, and french onion riffs

What to cook in March

How to cook asparagus: 10 methods & 50 recipes

50 rhubarb recipes (from pies to BBQs)

Cooking in season: February recipes

Parsnip recipes: 48 seasonal ideas for fall & winter

Apple varieties: flavor & cooking notes

Cranberry sauce recipes: boozy, fruity, floral, and spicy

Fresh cranberry recipes: 50+ seasonal ideas

2022 fall recipe collection: grapes

Plum recipes: from pies to chicken wings

Plumcots & pluots: what are they?

Strawberry recipes: from shortcakes to BBQ sauce

Cooking with fruit in season: September edition

Pomegranate recipes [fall + winter collection]

Cooking with fruit in November

Apple recipes & the best varieties to use

Cooking with seasonal fruit: October edition

The best (and worst) apples for pie

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...

Fresh fig banana bread

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...

Farmers market apple butter (Instant Pot)

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...