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Favorite Seasonal Foods

Stephanie

By Stephanie
in Food Traditions & Culture

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Stephanie

Stephanie

Posted
Posted

Reading the "Summertime" thread below got me thinking about seasonal foods in general. Advances in agriculture, refrigeration, transportation, etc. have made some previously seasonal foods available year-round, but thankfully some are still only on the market at the proper time. So, which are your favorites that are available but for a brief few weeks? (The ones where if you blink, they're gone.) And I'm opening it up to all seasons, not just summer.

Mine is white cherries. I like them so much more than the regular cherries, and they're sold for maybe 3 weeks in June/July. I always buy a lot & gorge myself, knowing that they're not always easy to find and are pricey to book.

=Mark

=Mark

Posted
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Clementines in Jan/Feb. Love it when you can flick them with your finger and the skin falls off and they fall into segments... :biggrin:

=Mark

Give a man a fish, he eats for a Day.

Teach a man to fish, he eats for Life.

Teach a man to sell fish, he eats Steak

bushey

bushey

Posted
Posted

Are white cherries different than Rainier cherries? Rainiers are in my grocery store now and they're a golden color with some red blush. They're hideously expensive, but I plan to try some when I have time to go to the store and "cherry-pick" some good looking ones. Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun :wink:

Every spring I gear myself for trying fresh fiddleheads at home and it never fails that I blink and I've missed the season. Ditto for shad, which is on the menu at a local restaurant for only a few weeks.

rich

rich

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Even though they're available 3-4 months, a softshell crab only stays soft for 12 hours - now that's a short season.

Rich Schulhoff

Opinions are like friends, everyone has some but what matters is how you respect them!

bigbear

bigbear

Posted
Posted
Ramps. Too short a season, too much bear piss, but worth it.

I never. Well.... hardly ever.

-- Jeff

"I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." -- Groucho Marx

bushey

bushey

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Here's a link to some information on cherry varieties:cherries

I generally store them in a loosely tied plastic bag in the fridge -- but I usually buy small quantities at a time and plan to eat them right away. Cherries are some of the only fruits I prefer chilled to room temperature.

Hmmm....going to visit my daughter at camp tomorrow and she loves cherries. Maybe I should bring some Bing and Rainier and we can have a taste test.

Jim Dixon

Jim Dixon

Posted
Posted

white peaches...local ones from about now into early August...I peel, slice, and eat with a dollop of mascarpone

pears...only edible in season...I used to think I liked Comice best, but lately have been moving toward the winey sweetness of Bartlets...Bosc are okay when none of the others are worth eating

sockeye salmon...the Copper River craze brought more sockeye into the domestic market (it all used to go to Japan)..we get it from Copper River, Bristol Bay, and other Alaskan fisheries from late May into early August

Rainier cherries...local Rainiers come on in June and don't last too long

tomatoes...from my own backyard...my first Early Girls are just starting to red up, and the others (6 plants, 4 varieties) will have us eating the only really good tomatoes until late September (I especially like the Sun Gold cherries in the late afternoon, warm and full of sugar)

asparagus...local crop pretty much over, but I ate lots of the fat ones, grilled to a slight char and drizzled with olive oil

blackberries...the weed-like Himalayan, an introduced nuisance species, is still one of my favorite berries...August and September

Jim

olive oil + salt

Real Good Food

Stephanie

Stephanie

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
Are white cherries different than Rainier cherries? Rainiers are in my grocery store now and they're a golden color with some red blush. They're hideously expensive, but I plan to try some when I have time to go to the store and "cherry-pick" some good looking ones. Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun  :wink:

Yes, that's them. Forgot the "proper" name--all the stores around me call them white cherries.

wingding

wingding

Posted
Posted

Blackcurrants;I've recently found out that local east coast farmers are destroying their plants because blackcurrants can carry disease that has been declared illegal....along with bitter almonds and wild quince,a disappearing species....good blackcurrants have a wonderful,musky flavor.

Jinmyo

Jinmyo

Posted
Posted

I'm with Liza re the ramps. Ramps mean spring. And spring in Canada means a great deal.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

nyfirepatrolchef

nyfirepatrolchef

Posted
Posted

Lychees.

Beautiful honey sweet succulent lil dragon eyeballs.

Is it me or were they early this year?

And Harvest Moon Cakes!

9 Eldridge Street.

My lil Chinese bakery.

The one night a couple years back....I was on the Housewatch at work when there was a 3rd Alarm in the adjoining building. They transmitted the notification and my heart skipped a beat when I realized where it was. I was like oh nooooooo please god....thinking itd surely extend to thaty side.

Next morning I got off work and hauled ass over there....the place was not only still there but open for business.

That morning I learned that relief is NOT spelled EXLAX.

:rolleyes::biggrin:

laura

laura

Posted
Posted

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned english peas. They have a very short season June into July. They are excellent and far more interesting than the ever present sugar snap peas. Berried Treasures at the Union Square Greenmarket has them as well as petit pois. Other stands at the market carried them as well but they were often over ripe and starchy, one must taste before buying.

Laura

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