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Delicious Brentwood sweet corn is now appearing at your local Bay Area farmers’ markets. Brentwood corn is noted for being sweet, firm, and tasty and you’ll find white, yellow, and bi-color varieties at the farmers’ markets. This luscious corn is perfect for grilling, boiling, or steaming. With summer picnics, barbecues and parties in full swing, [...]
Apricot season is here!
It’s the first stone fruit of the season (not counting cherries!) and the season is very short. Fresh apricots at the farmers’ markets are usually only available through June, so gather them now and make some fresh salads, apricot sherbet, or make some apricot preserves. Yum!
China was the first to cultivate [...]
Your Farmers’ Markets are now offering stone fruit, luscious sweet yellow and white peaches and nectarines, with plums, pluots and apriums soon to follow. California is the largest producer of stone fruit in the U.S. Most are grown in the San Joaquin Valley, just south of Fresno, California. In fact, California produces over 90 percent of the [...]
Wow! As I write today (a few days ago for you) there is no mistaking that we have skipped Spring and are now enjoying Summer! That may be a bit optimistic on my part, I agree, but the temperature on my deck is strictly summertime. My apricot, plum and apple trees all have little green [...]
The grill is ready to be fired up, the kids are out of school, the smell of freshly-cut grass floats in the air, and the splash of the sprinklers can be heard. The weather is perfect for grilling fresh summer vegetables. And summer squash tops the list of easy-to-prepare and good-for-you summer fare.
A very prolific [...]
Move over meat! Make room on the grill for savory summer vegetables and sweet juicy fruit. Fruits and vegetables are ideal for delicious summer grilling. And by cooking quickly on a hot grill, you’ll sear in all the natural flavors as well as most of the nutritional value of that fresh locally-grown produce.
Marinades, herbs, and basting sauces [...]
There’s nothing like the taste of a just-picked tomato, juicy and full of flavor. There are at least 10,000 varieties of tomatoes. Beefsteaks are large, juicy and great for slicing on sandwiches. Look for tomatoes with maximum red coloring that are plump with smooth skins, and heavy for their size. They should be free of [...]
There are several reasons why picnic food can be hazardous to your health.
Picnic food receives a lot of handling during preparation. Foods such as potato or macaroni salads, sandwich fillings, hamburger patties and cut watermelon are usually prepared by hand. Handling increases the risk of contamination by harmful bacteria.
Food is not cooled rapidly after cooking. [...]
In its heyday at the end of World War II, most households were canning and preserving the foods grown in their “Victory Gardens.” Just like now, when things are tough financially, a lot of people are growing their own fruits and vegetables in their backyard.
Home cooks are rediscovering the satisfaction of creating tasty [...]
Some people associate June with weddings and graduations. I think of apricots. Not those dry little orbs at the supermarket, rock-hard and green at the stem. I dream of little velvet pillows, sweetly perfumed and dripping with juice. The kind of fruit many of us took for granted as kids.
There are plenty of [...]
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