French Morning Melons

We’ve been gorging ourselves on melons the past month. It’s difficult to go through the summer at Los Angeles farmer’s markets without overdosing on melons. I grew up eating the mainstays: watermelon, honeydew and cantaloupe. But these are just the tip of the iceberg, as there are so many more varieties to be enjoyed. Each one brings a certain gustatory joy.

Where Do Melons Come From?

Melons originated in ancient Persia, likely grew in the gardens of ancient Babylon and are mentioned in the Torah. Starting around 1600, they were cultivated by the aristocrats of Europe.⁠

How Do You Eat A Melon?

I feel like they still retain an air of prestige: Slicing open a melon is like unboxing a precious gift with your closest family standing beside you. They are meant to be ogled, passed around and shared – unlike, say, a peach.⁠

And they are best enjoyed from farmer’s markets when the flavor carries a lush & mushy sweetness – unlike the stiff, underripe supermarket types. This is the allure and delight of the French Morning Melon, the size of a grapefruit with the flavor a mix of honeydew and cantaloupe.⁠ “A.M. Melons”, as my kids refer to them, are our current household addiction and a part of our mid-summer breakfast routine.

Drinking Wheatgrass

You might have seen wheatgrass in your green smoothie at your local health food store. It’s also rather ubiquitous at farmer’s markets. It first became popular in the United States in the 1930s.

But what is it?

It is the freshly-sprouted leaves of the wheat plant, harvested 7-10 days after sprouting. Wheatgrass is a concentrated source of numerous vitamins and minerals, namely A, C, E, K, B6, zinc, iron, selenium and manganese and may provide antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It is usually taken to flush toxins from the body and provide a burst of energy. I’ve only tried it in smoothies and it can be quite bitter.

Allium Vegetables: Garlic

Garlic is one of my favorite culinary herbs. Yet strangely, I had never seen a whole garlic plant prior to last week and never knew much about its origins.

It turns out that garlic is one of the world’s oldest cultivated crops. It was worshipped as a god by the Egyptians, used to pay and feed slaves building the pyramids, prescribed as medicine in China and given to ward off the evil eye in medieval Europe.

Garlic is an allium vegetable, related to onions, leeks, chives, scallions and shallots. It is high in a variety of sulfur compounds that play a role in cellular detoxification, joint health and cardiovascular functioning. It also has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal properties.

The Pleasures of Unripe Green Walnuts and Almonds

What Do You Do With Unripe Green Walnuts?

You ferment them into nocino!

Nocino is a sticky dark brown liqueur from the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. Fun fact: This beverage originated in ancient, pre-Christian Brittania and is now associated with St. John the Baptist.

But it is basically a green walnut tincture that potentially confers benefits such as alleviating hypothyroidism (due to high levels of iodine), stimulating the liver and increasing brain activity.

So that’s one creative use of green walnuts.

Almonds Are An Amazing Snack Food

Almonds are one of those natural wonders that make amazing snack foods My entire family munches on almonds on road trips, hikes and even later at night when we are watching a movie.

It is a misnomer that almonds are nuts, though. Botanically, an almond is actually the pit of a stone fruit, closely related to plums, apricots, peaches, nectarines and cherries!

While most everybody’s seen or eaten an almond, relatively few have experienced the pleasure of eating a green almond.

What Do You Do With Green Almonds?

Green almonds are the immature fruit, harvested before the pit has had a chance to harden. They can be found for a short time from mid-April through mid-June at farmer’s markets and Persian markets (but rarely if ever at supermarkets). Green almonds are considered a delicacy in the Middle East.

We eat them raw. Just slice them in half and eat the soft, gelatinous pit inside. Or pop out the immature nut in the middle and lightly dip them in a bit of sea salt. They can also be chopped up and added to a salad to add extra flavor. They are best consumed within a couple days of being harvested and can get rather bitter if they sit for too long.

Why Fresh Figs Are So Good – And Delicious Too!

This week we picked up our first luscious figs of the season. And they were all devoured in about a day! Although I grew up eating them dried, they are absolutely divine when eaten fresh.

The Fig In The Bible And In Western Culture

The fig has played a significant role in Western culture since Biblical times and is the first fruit mentioned by name in the Torah. Interestingly, the fruit does not grow directly from a flower like most fruits. Rather, it contains the flower inside its walls. So strange!

The two varieties that we are consuming this summer are Black Mission and Kadota. Kadota, incidentally, derives from the Italian Dattato fig variety. Figs have been cultivated for about 7,000 years and originated in Western Asia, where they spread to the Mediterranean. Figs are the fruit of the ficus tree (I did not know that!), which itself is related to the mulberry.

What Makes Figs So Healthy: Nutritional Characteristics

Figs are sweet and chewy, with edible seeds that have a slight crunch when eaten.

Nutritionally, figs contribute potassium to the diet, which helps balance sodium levels and potentially reduces high blood pressure. They also contain a robust amount of calcium.

Figs are also naturally quite high in dietary fiber. The fiber makes you feel full faster and reduces hunger and cravings. Figs also contain a special type of fiber, called prebiotics , which feed the beneficial bacteria in your gut.

Do Figs Have Wasps Inside Them?

My kids asked me if it’s true that there are dead wasps in figs. Apparently, certain types of figs require a particular species of wasp in order to pollinate the male and female plants. But no need to worry: The wasp is completely digested by the time the fig becomes ripe for harvesting.

Two Popular Varieties of Fig: Black Mission and Kadota

The two most common varieties of fig in California are Black Mission and Kadota. These have completely different looks and flavor profiles. The purple and fiery orange Black Mission variety are quit sweet with a very distinct honey-like flavor, while the neon green Kadota are not quite as sweet. When ripe, both are very soft to the touch, creamy and sweet. Based on the heartier flavor profile, I narrowly prefer Black Mission over Kadota.

Figs are fairly easy to find in the supermarkets this time of year, although the easiest place to find them is at your local farmers market.

Cherries: A Potent Antioxidant

Cherries have played an important role in American culture for hundreds of years – think George Washington. They’re also a favorite summer treat for my kids.

What I love most about this fruit is what’s in it: anthocyanins (the same antioxidant family as blueberries); phytochemicals that protect against inflammation; and (among the sour varieties) lots of vitamin C and beta carotene. While they are high in natural sugar, the antioxidants make them a worthwhile snack for kids.

The two varieties that we most enjoy are the juicy red Bing and the milder but equally exhilarating yellow Ranier.

Sugar Snap Peas

The best snacks for kids have just a single ingredient. No refined flours, added sugars, excess salt or cheap cooking oils. Enter sugar snap peas.

My kids go crazy over sugar snap peas. It’s one of their favorite after-school snacks, and it happens to be a single-ingredient snack, the best kind. These adorable little packets of nutrition are low in calories and high in soluble fiber – the type that helps regulate blood sugar levels. As a finger food, sugar snap peas are an excellent substitute for potato chips, pretzels and cereal bars.

Lately, we’ve also discovered a variant: the purple sugar snap pea. While this variety is not as sweet, it is very crispy and goes quite well in a stir fry.

What’s your kids’ favorite single-ingredient snack?

Blueberries by the Boatload

Blueberries are in full season now – and we can’t eat enough of them! These delicious bite-sized berries have one of the highest antioxidant levels of any fruit or vegetable – specifically, the flavonoid anthocyanin, which gives them their blue color. They are also relatively low in sugar and may even play a role in blood sugar regulation, which makes them an ideal snack for schoolchildren.

We eat them fresh by the fistful this time of year and include them in our kids’ lunches.

We throw them into plain yogurt: About 10 blueberries added to a cup of cashew or other non-dairy yogurt, sweetened with a quarter teaspoon of maple syrup or 5 drops of liquid stevia extract, makes a delicious after-school snack. During the off-season, we use organic frozen blueberries from Costco.

And we even love them frozen in a morning smoothie, such as the “blueberry cheesecake” recipe that I learned from @theblendergirl Smoothies app.

What’s your favorite culinary use for the mighty blueberry?

Romancing the Romanesco

One of the most beautiful vegetables during the Spring season is the Romanesco. It is technically a broccoli but visually closer to a cauliflower. This remarkable-looking vegetable contains ample amounts of zinc, carotenoids, iron, vitamin C and folate.

Both the fractal pattern and the Fibonacci sequence formed by the spirals of the buds pique my mathematical side.

Purple Kohlrabi

June is National Fresh Fruit & Vegetables Month. It’s the perfect time to talk about Kohlrabi, an exotic-looking cruciferous veggie, high in vitamin C and native to Germany – and a veggie that you may not yet know. Its dense fibrous bulbs are crisp and crunchy. While the most common variety is green, the purple variety is a bit sweeter. We slice them into French fry-like wedges, dip in olive oil, season with paprika, garlic powder & sea salt and then bake.