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Monday, February 17, 2025

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Enjoy The Best Produce With These Tips and Seasonal Recipes

Active Aging Presented by Public Health Seattle-King County

Fruits and vegetables are essential additions to your diet all year round, but buying your produce in season has unique benefits that can help you eat healthier and spend savvier. 

Thanks to modern food science, we can now grow most produce year-round. Before we developed those methods, we ate produce when it grew and flourished naturally. As it turns out, produce tastes better and delivers more nutrients when it’s picked and eaten at the right time. 

Eating seasonally — an easy endeavor thanks to guides like this one — ensures you’re getting the freshest food in the right season and helps you create a naturally diverse diet by changing your menu with the seasons. Read on to discover how to fill your kitchen with seasonal produce and meals while saving a buck.

Shopping Fresh 

The hottest part of the year is also bursting with incredible seasonal produce, from colorful berries to tender squash. Here’s what produce to look for as you eat seasonally.

  • Stone Fruits: Summer-ready stone fruits include apricots, cherries, peaches, plums, nectarines, and mangoes. Pick the perfect stone fruit by looking for firm skin, plump flesh, and a slight give when you squeeze near the stem.
  • Melons: Honeydew, watermelon, and cantaloupe are at their peak in the summer, when they are excellent ingredients in everything from colorful salads to refreshing drinks. Choose a melon that feels heavy for its size, and read up on how to look for ripeness in any of these melons before your next shopping trip.
  • Berries: Late summer is the perfect time to indulge in ripe blackberriesblueberriesstrawberries, and raspberries. Ideal for everything from pies and crumbles to jams and salads, these summer gems can spoil quickly, so ensure you have a plan for cooking, baking, or preserving them.
  • Squash: Summer squash and zucchini are versatile vegetables which, while often found all year round at the grocery store, can truly shine during the summer. Pick a firm, heavy, and unbruised squash for the best outcome.
  • Corn: Sweet, juicy corn is a summertime cookout staple for a reason. For the perfect taste and texture, buy un-shucked corn with pale silk and a green, unblemished husk.
  • Cucumbers: Crisp cucumbers can be transformed into a cooling summertime beverage, a batch of crunchy pickles, a refreshing salad, and more. Pick up a firm, dark green cucumber for the ripest find
  • Tomatoes: Any true fan knows there’s nothing like a late summer tomato, whether eaten raw with salt and pepper or baked into a frittata. Cherry, plum, beefsteak, and heirloom tomatoes all have their own flavor highlights and uses. Imperfections like cracks and discoloration are fine, but you’ll want to stay away from mushy tomatoes.
  • Shell Beans: Green, wax, and Lima beans are among the shell beans in season each August. Pick crisp beans that snap easily and have a smooth, unmarred pod. 

Cooking with Late-Summer Produce

Summer Desserts 

Summer fruits were made for juicy crumbles, mouthwatering pies, and luscious cakes like these. 

Salsas and Chutneys 

These recipes highlight stone fruits and subtle vegetables that perfectly pair with the tang and spice of a salsa or chutney.

Photo: kucingliarz via 123RF

Summer Salads

The ideal side for a light summer meal, salads like these can be a great way to use multiple fresh fruits and vegetables in one delicious dish. 

On the Grill

A late-summer evening is the perfect time to break out the grill and try one of these fresh summer sides. 

Keeping it Thrifty 

While you may think eating fresh produce will cost you a fortune, you’re doing your wallet a favor when you choose to eat in season. Seasonal produce is often naturally cheaper since out-of-season fruits and veggies require more specialty effort to grow and transport. 

Still, there are a few other ways to make the most of your dollar while eating seasonally.

Shop Local 

Buying your seasonal produce at a farmer’s market allows you to connect with your local growers, but it also could help you save. Many farmer’s markets across the country accept SNAP benefits to encourage fresh, local eating.

Preserve Your Produce 

If you’ve stocked up on delicious, ripe seasonal food but can’t eat it all before it spoils, you don’t have to toss it. It’s easy to freeze lots of produce, and fun to preserve that produce through pickling, canning, or making a jam or relish.

Active Aging is presented by Public Health- Seattle & King County. Public Health- Seattle & King County recognizes the important and untold stories of innovation, service, and sacrifice by the Black community and supports efforts to improve equity and achieve social justice. We want everyone to get health insurance and access health care. Visit www.kingcounty.gov/health for health insurance, flu and COVID-19 testing locations.