Harvest to Table

Kale is a great match with hearty foods such as pork chops, fried catfish, garlickly sausage, and cornbread. A winter vegetable that goes practically undisturbed even by snow, kale can come fresh harvested to the table in mid-winter in even the most severe climates. Kale is a non-heading member of the cabbage family—very similar to [...]

Avocadoes have a rich buttery textured flesh with a slightly nutty flavor and can be eaten as a vegetable or a fruit. There are both winter and summer harvest avocadoes. Winter harvest avocadoes are available at your farm market now. There are dozens and dozens of avocado varieties spread around the world. The variety you [...]

Avocado has a sweet grassy flavor and the texture of butter. Match avocado with mild and subtly flavored partners. Avocado will add richness to a dish. Match avocado with bacon, scallions, tomatoes, basil, red onions, chiles. The recipe here matches avocado with shellfish–lobster and crab. Makes 4 servings. Ingredients: 2 avocados Lemon juice ½ cup [...]

A clementine is a small mandarin orange that packs a rich juicy sweet-tangy taste. The clementine has a thin, smooth, bright red-orange skin that is very easy to peel and delicate, red-orange flesh that is virtually seedless. Here’s something to keep in mind about the clementine: the smaller the fruit the more intense the flavor. [...]

• A sweet potato is not a potato, and it is not a yam. • A sweet potato can be prepared in just about every way a potato can. • What most people in North America call a yam is really an orange-fleshed sweet potato. The three sentences above are the basics of sweet potatoes. [...]

Spinach has just the right balance of flavor—sharp and hearty but not overpowering. It is equally versatile raw or cooked. Spinach can be served raw in sandwiches and salads. Just add a little lemon juice. It can be served with a basic béchamel sauce or a rich Mornay sauce. Spinach can be baked au gratin [...]

The most esteemed member of the onion family is the leek. The flavor and fragrance of leeks are more subtle, more delicate and sweeter than onions The ancient Egyptians held leeks in high esteem as did the ancient Romans, who considered leeks superior to both onions and garlic. The leek is essential to many fine [...]

Five nights of sub-freezing temperatures around much of California last week was a good thing for crops that benefit and actually thrive on freezing weather during their dormant time of the year—the grapes, plums, peaches, and apples that will be harvested later this year. But the severe cold snap—which broke at least temporarily this past [...]

Tangerines are among the earliest harvested mandarin oranges. They are distinguished from other mandarins simply by their red-orange to red peels. They have a rough skin and sweet flesh. All tangerines are mandarins but not all mandarins are tangerines. (Other mandarins are the tangelo and the clementine.) The tangerine is named for the port city [...]

Say mandarin orange and you are describing a large and diverse group of citrus varieties and hybrids that vary from very sweet to tart and from egg-sized small to medium grapefruit-sized large. The one thing that mandarin oranges have in common is that their peel or skin easily pulls away from their flesh and their [...]