FOOD: What I Love About Summer Food
BY Kathleen Nixon
July 20, 2012
Falls Church Times Staff
With the heat plume back and summer vacations underway, we are in the peak of the summer season. Every season has its tell tale foods, and the summer brings us luscious fruits and vegetables that we have been craving all throughout the winter. What are your summer foods that you have been waiting for?
For me, it is corn. I love roasting corn on the barbecue and then topping it with chive butter. The sweet succulent kernels matched with the tartness and saltiness of the chive butter tantalizes all my taste buds and I know that summer is here. At the Local Market they had some early corn, and I loaded up early to roast it on the weekends. What we didn’t eat at dinner goes into salads for the rest of the week or is frozen for soups later in the year. After trying to grow corn in our own garden like many other things I have a new appreciation for what a farmer has to go through for raising a perfect ear of corn. The right mixture of heat, sun, soil, water and time brings us the Silver Queen and many other varieties we are blessed with in this area.
One of the food blogs that I just came across is the Accidental Locavore who did a wonderful piece recently on What Not to Do in A Farmers Market. I am frequently amazed at what many folks believe is acceptable behavior in a farmers market, but one that drives me nuts is the shucking of the corn, piercing the kernels and throwing it back into the bin. Please respect the farmer and other consumers by purchasing the corn without pulling back the husks and piercing the kernels.
Other summer foods I look forward to are the berries. The strawberries were phenomenal this year and some of the later producers had strawberries later in the season. Now we are seeing the bounty of blueberries and blackberries, which go great with the stone fruits now coming into season. If you see a bounty of berries consider freezing them for later. Lay them flat on a cookie sheet, put them in the freezer and once they are frozen put them in a Ziploc bag. This is great for keeping some of the season’s best fruits with you year round.
What are the summer foods that you look forward to each summer season and what do you do with them?
By Kathleen Nixon
July 20, 2012
Thanks for linking to my blog! I’m going to add chive butter to my corn.
My favorite summer foods have to be great tomatoes! I love the classic tomato, mozzarella and basil salad with a sprinkle of balsamic vinegar & some good olive oil. Peaches and cherries are the runners-up.
RE: Checking the corn.
Farmer: Make an ear available from the same picking with husk pulled back for ready test piercing of a kernel.
Jim good suggestion but I am not sure this will appease the kernel piercers or the farmers. In a comparison of our farmers market with a few others in the area, our farmers have to discard much more produce at the end of market day due to extra handling than other markets in Vienna or Arlington.
Anne
Thanks so much for your input. Yes, your blog is great and I really appreciate your writing.
Kathleen
Some folks just have to poke food for some reason. Hubby used to work for a grocer here in town…folks would pierce the plastic wrapping on meat with a finger to “see if it was good”…he could never figure that one out. If he caught them he would ask if they wanted to buy a package that was poked by someone else first.
well, i am no farmer, but i do not see why I should buy an ear that has rust or whatever gets into corn. Or is half -developed. Nor will i buy a tomato if it has a soft spot. if the seller isn’t going to show his wares, how does one know? Should i buy it, walk away a few steps, and then, if i find it bad, come back for my money back? Or just take my lumps, one in 3 or 4 times? I wait to be enlightened on proper Market manners….Smilin’ Ray