Originally from RealSimple

Corn

Sweet, fresh-picked corn—yellow, white, or butter-and-sugar (a combination of both)—is one of the joys of summer. A little butter, a shake of salt, and life is good.

Learn how to cook corn.

Tomatoes

Packed with cancer-fighting lycopene, tomatoes are also rich in flavor—which is why they’re essentials in cuisines around the world.

Learn how to ripen tomatoes.

Zucchini

The most popular summer squash, zucchini has a light, delicate flavor. Its blossoms are edible and often served stuffed.

Learn how to cook zucchini.

Blueberries

Sweet, juicy, antioxidant-rich blueberries are almost the exclusive preserve of North America—90 percent of them are grown here. Lucky us!

Get delicious blueberry recipes.

Raspberries

Fragrant, sweet, and delicious, raspberries are the most elegant and delicate of berries. They’re available all year, but the local berries that arrive in summer are worth waiting for.

Get delicious raspberry recipes.

Apricots

High in vitamin A and C, apricots have been sun-dried in the Middle East for thousands of years. Today most of America’s crop comes from California.

Learn how to choose and store apricots.

Basil

This essential for Italian cooking and Asian stir-fries is commonly seen as green-leafed sweet basil but also comes in purple opal, pungent Thai, and scented varieties, like lemon or cinnamon.

Learn how to store fresh basil.

Peaches

What’s more luscious than a perfectly ripe peach, dripping with juice? One of summer’s most anticipated treats, the fuzzy-skinned stone fruits are great in pies and even better all alone.

Get delicious peach recipes.

Cucumbers

Cool and moist because of their high water content, cucumbers add a crisp, refreshing crunch to salads.

Get delicious cucumber recipes.

Eggplant

Believe it or not, the eggplant is actually a berry! Popular in Mediterranean and Indian cuisines, it’s a delicious, versatile player worth getting to know better.

Learn how to cook eggplant.

Plums

High in vitamin C, plums are packed with disease-fighting antioxidants. They’re sweet and delicious—which is why highly desirable things are called “plum.”

Get delicious plum recipes.

Bell Peppers

Bell peppers add fresh flavour and splashes of color to raw and cooked dishes. They’re also great sources of vitamins A and C.

Get delicious bell pepper recipes.

Watermelon

Chilled, ripe red, juicy watermelon is the quintessential summer picnic fruit. And oh, by the way, it happens to be high in disease-fighting lycopene.

Learn how to choose a ripe watermelon.

Nectarines

These smooth-skinned cousins of the peach are extra sweet and juicy—and good sources of vitamins A and C. Hard-to-find white nectarines are less acidic, so they’re sweeter.

Learn how to choose and store nectarines.

Chard

A member of the beet family with stellar nutritional credentials, chard (a.k.a. Swiss chard) is a Mediterranean favorite with deep red or green leaves and an earthy, slightly bitter taste.

Learn how to cook chard.