Get choosing, cooking and storing tips from the produce that is getting out of season here
“If ever there were a time of year when it just feels right to eat well, June is it. The air is sweet and warm and there are oodles of healthy options in the grocery store (or, if you’re lucky, the local farm stand) that can help keep you energized through the long summer days.
Strawberries are summer’s stand-out sensation, but it’s just not tennis without the rest of the seasonal berries. Broad beans, tomatoes and fresh peas are also unmissable in June.”
When produce is in season locally, the relative abundance of the crop usually makes it less expensive. Fresh, locally harvested foods have their full, whole flavours intact, which they release to us when we eat them.
“A lot of produce ends up as waste in this country, due to unsightliness. A survey of farmers in California suggests that it is anywhere from 5 to 30 percent of the harvest.”
“Now that the weather is a bit warmer, many of us are thinking about getting outdoors to enjoy the spring air and sunshine.
May offers a welcome chance to get out there and be active, whether it’s by taking a walk with friends (good for the body and the soul!), enjoying a bike ride or — depending on the temperatures where you live — taking a refreshing dip in the nearest body of water.
All of those activities require fuel, which can come from eating healthy foods — particularly the fruits and vegetables that are at their peak this time of year.”
“Finally warm temperatures are here to stay and you don’t have to worry about that frost. You may think it’s too late to grow all your favourite vegetables from seed but warm May temperatures have made the soil perfect for sowing seeds. Warm soil will allow for fast germination and growing plants. Good choices are summertime kitchen garden staples like squash, beans, cucumbers and melons.”
When most people think of gardening, soil comes to mind. But plants don’t actually require it to survive. They mostly need the nutrients and minerals in the soil. Plants can grow in water, gravel, perlite, rice hulls, pine bark, cedar shavings, and other mediums, or even suspended in air.
The science of soilless gardening is called hydroponics. It may sound like something devised in a modern laboratory, but it’s been around for thousands of years. The essential ingredient is an oxygenated mineral-nutrient solution that’s circulated through plants’ roots.
Some scholars theorize the ancient Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was a hydroponic system. The Aztecs grew maize, squash, beans, amaranth, tomatoes, chili peppers, and flowers in high-output chinampas, or floating gardens, which were hydroponic systems. A traditional hydroponics system is still in use on Myanmar’s Inle Lake, and similar systems probably existed in ancient India, Greece, China, and Egypt.
In the early 1600s, the British scientist Sir Francis Bacon, father of the scientific method, conducted formal research on hydroponics, which he called “water culture.” Laboratory experiments continued into the 20th century. In 1937, William F. Gericke applied the experiments to large-scale commercial applications, and the modern hydroponics movement was born.
Today many people identify hydroponics with marijuana growers, who’ve made use of the technology. But much of the world’s greenhouse produce is now grown in hydroponics systems, including some of the lettuce, tomatoes, herbs, and veggies in many supermarkets’ refrigerated cases.
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