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While everyone is celebrating the red, white, and blue, I’m stuck on the beautiful rainbow of July’s crops! Red strawberries, cherries, raspberries, tomatoes, currants, beets, chili peppers, radishes, and plums. Pink peaches and nectarines. Yellow bell peppers, melons, corn, and summer squash. Orange carrots and ground cherries. Blueberries, blackberries, lavender, and eggplant round out a full rainbow.
Many greens are in season right now, including arugula, basil, beet greens, broccoli, cabbage, swiss chard, chives, cilantro, collard greens, cucumbers, green beans, green onions (scallions), lettuce, lima beans, mint, okra, oregano, parsley, peas, rosemary, sage, tarragon, thyme, watercress, and zucchini.
In the summer and with all this bounty it seems like the recipe options are endless.
Cherries, both sweet and tart, and ready to be baked, pureed, macerated, and enjoyed fresh. Make this Plum, Cherry and Nectarine Sangria, or enjoy a fresh cherry pie.
Ground cherries, which are not cherries but are similar to tomatoes and can make a fantastic Ground Cherry Salsa. While these two cherries don’t necessarily go together, they are both fantastic.
Or, try this Summer Squash and Basil Pasta for a simple meal using two in-season foods!
Summer is a great time to indulge in fresh fruits and vegetables so get the most out of July's greenmarket bounty before it's all gone.
As always, meat, dairy, fish, honey, and bread are available year-round at greenmarkets. Knead Love bakery, a bakery focused on ancient grains and a circular grain economy, is available at the Fort Greene Park Greenmarket on Saturdays.
To find a greenmarket near you in Brooklyn, go to GrowNYC.com or JustFood.com.
