There are many ways to eat cucumbers raw or cooked. Favorite cucumber recipes How to Make Cold, Tasty Cucumber Soup Sliced Cucumber Flavor Matches How to Make Dill Pickles for Beginners Canning Sweet Pickle Relish Why do cucumbers and warm weather mix so well? Cucumbers are more than 90 percent water. Their crunchy texture, sweet […] More
Native Americans called it isquoutersquash. The British call it marrow. Squash is the American English term. Zucchini, summer squash, winter squash, and pumpkins grow best once the air temperature averages 65ºF (18ºC). That means squash can be sown in late spring just about everywhere, and if you live in a long-growing season region where the […] More
Summer or tender squash can be sautéed, steamed, boiled, baked, grilled, microwaved, or eaten raw. Use raw tender squash as an addition to crudités trays and salads The tender summer squashes–zucchini, Costata Romanesca, round and globe, scallop or pattypan, yellow crookneck, and yellow straightneck, and Zephyr–mature during the summer and can be claimed as baby […] More
Winter squashes are the most plentiful from early autumn until late winter. Unlike the summer squashes, the winter squashes must be cooked before they are eaten. Add winter squash to soups, stews, couscous, and curries. Use winter squash to make pies, cakes, muffins, cookies, pudding, soufflés, and cream desserts. Choose a winter squash—such as the […] More
Okra is a tender, heat-loving annual best grown in very warm climates. It is grown for the peculiar, mucilaginous taste of its immature pods, commonly called gumbo. Okra is primarily a tropical crop, but it can be grown where cucumbers or tomatoes are hardy. To produce the best, crop, however, it wants much summer heat […] More
The watermelon is a tender, warm-weather annual. Watermelons along with muskmelons and cantaloupes are sometimes called summer melons. They thrive in hot weather. Watermelons are easy to grow. They need plenty of sun, nutrient-rich soil, and plenty of water. Get watermelon started in the home garden after all danger of frost has passed and your […] More
Sun-dry tomatoes or oven-dry tomatoes to use for seasoning in salads, soups, stews, casseroles, mixed vegetables, and snacks. You can also rehydrate dried tomatoes for use in cooking. Dried tomatoes are fresh, ripe tomatoes that have been placed in the sun, in an oven, or in a food dryer to dry out the water content. […] More
Avocados have a rich buttery textured flesh with a slightly nutty flavor and can be eaten as a vegetable or a fruit. Avocadoes are usually eaten raw. They do not cook well. Favorite avocado recipe Avocados With Seafood Avocado flavor partners Avocados pair well with chiles, cilantro, crabmeat, grapefruit, lime, shrimp, tomato, tropical fruits, turn, […] More
Freeze the bounty of tomatoes you don’t eat fresh this summer for use in cooking next winter. How to freeze a tomato Freeze tomatoes whole or cut them into wedges. Wash and dry tomatoes for freezing and cut out any bad spots or bruises. Place whole or sliced tomatoes on a baking sheet and put […] More
Olives are fruits. They are either cured for table consumption or pressed for cooking oil. Black olives are ripe. Green olives are not. Green olives have a salty, tart taste. Black olives have a smooth, mellow taste. Ways to serve olives Olive fruit is most often served as an appetizer or added to salads, meat, […] More
The prickly pear is a cactus fruit that is actually a berry. The pulp of the prickly pear is sweet and moist with an aroma and flavor similar to a combination of the tastiest tropical and subtropical fruits, strawberry, watermelon, honeydew melon, fig, and banana. The salmon or pink to magenta-colored flesh of the prickly […] More
Olive oil is made by gently crushing and pressing olives until the oil is separated from the fruit pulp. The flesh of a ripe olive is about half oil. When the skin of a just ripe olive is broken, the first oil to flow from the flesh is called “virgin”, “sublime” or “first expressed” oil. […] More
Stephen Albert