Summer Produce

The warm weather of summer brings new fruits, vegetables, and herbs. The plants that grow well in summer seem to go well together in salads and ragouts, and on a plate. Tomatoes and basil, potatoes and rosemary, corn and beans, and cucumbers and onions are all perfect pairs of flavor.

Summer Produce Chart

Vegetable/Fruit	Buying and Using
Apricots	When: Apricots are best in June and July. Tree-ripened apricots have the best flavor but are so delicate they don’t seem to make it to the supermarket. However, a trip to your farmers’ market should produce an abundance. Blenheim apricots are a favorite.
	What to Look For: Apricots should have a sweet aroma, good color, and yield to gentle pressure, which indicates ripeness. Avoid apricots with a slightly green color, as they were picked too soon.
	Why: Apricots contain age-reducing lycopene.
	How to Use: Apricots can be dried and eaten as a snack or used in breads, salsas, and salads. They’re also used in pies, other desserts, and blended drinks.
Beets	When: Beets are available year-round, but in colder climates they are best in May or June. Look for golden beets (the color of saffron) and Chioggia beets (concentric, candy-striped purple circles appear when the beet is cut). Because the sugar in beets quickly turns to starch, they’re best eaten soon after they’ve been plucked from the earth.
	What to Look For: Inspect the greens for freshness. The tops should be a bright color with no yellowing or wilting. Also, the roots should have a firm, fine texture and a regular shape. The small, hairy roots can be easily brushed away.
	Why: Beets are rich in RealAge-smart magnesium and potassium.
	How to Use: The intense color of beets makes them a beautiful addition to salads. Beets are surprisingly sweet and work well with tangy or salty foods. For example, a tangy vinaigrette offsets the sweetness of beets; so does a crumble of feta or blue cheese. Beets are also used in rice dishes and soup. Try cutting them into cubes and tossing with olive oil, salt, and pepper; then roasting them at 400 degrees until crisp and tender (about 30 minutes).
Berries (blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, raspberries)	When: Berries are at their best from June to August; strawberries may appear a little earlier. In some climates, a second crop of raspberries appears in the fall.
	What to Look For: Berries should have a rich color and shiny surface. The sacs of the berry should be firm and plump. Inspect the bottom of the container to see if juice has soaked through. If so, the berries have been crushed. Blueberries are a little different from other berries. They don’t have much of an aroma and should have a solid, dark blue color, a powdery skin, and a firm texture.
	Why: Berries are chock-full of antioxidants, which slow aging of the arteries and immune system.
	How to Use: Berries are delicious on their own. The variety of colors makes berries a vibrant addition to dishes—in a fruit salad; added with nuts to a green salad; or as a topping for pancakes, French toast, and waffles. They’re used mostly in sweet dishes: pies, jams, sauces, breads, muffins, and cakes. Wonderful salsas, relishes, and chutneys can be made with berries as well. Berries taste great in many ways, including our Double Strawberry Blender Blast.
Cherries	When: Sweet cherries are available starting in late May. Sour (tart) cherries ripen later and appear for just a few weeks in July. They’re only a little less sweet than Bing or Rainier cherries and have a delightful, subtle tang. Rainier and Royal Anne cherries are sun-colored and blushed with flavor—buy them wherever you find them; they’re special.
	What to Look For: Cherries should be firm and have a shiny surface. A green stem indicates they were just picked. In general, the darker the color, the longer the cherry’s been on the tree, and the more flavorful it is.
	Why: Cherries are a rich source of antioxidants, which help fight cancer and heart disease.
	How to Use: Cherries can be pitted, dried, and eaten as a snack or used in breads and muffins. They are frequently used in desserts, such as cherry cobbler, or as a topping or sauce.
Chiles (peppers)	When: Chiles are in season in summer: jalapeños and serranos in June, July, and August, and habaneros and poblanos in August, September, and October. Look for manzanos—they’re apple shaped, easy to grow in filtered light, and sweeter than most chiles. And hot when roasted! Experiment with all of them.
	What to Look For: Almost always, fresh chiles are green, red, or orange: The red and orange chiles have stayed on the plant several weeks longer, becoming sweeter and more mature. A chile is fresh if the skin is unbroken, the flesh is unmarked (although a darkening of the flesh does not indicate a problem), and it’s bright and crisp at both ends. The skin of a chile should be shiny, and its fragrance faint and a little floral.
	Why: Most of us would eat chiles just for their taste, but their potassium, flavonoids, and fiber also make them an anti-aging delight.
	How to Use: Poblano chiles are an interesting, flavorful substitute for green bell peppers, and an easy way to get started with chiles. The flavor of chiles is more important to many chile-lovers than their heat. Most of the heat is in the seeds and ribs, not in the flesh. Chiles are often seeded and chopped fresh for salsas. Roasting brings out their sweetness for soups, sauces, salsas, and stews. Drying preserves them for use in the fall and winter.
Corn	When: Even though corn that is knee high by the Fourth of July has often been genetically modified, the best time for sweet corn is still summer. Field corn is grown for animal feed. You may find ornamental (Indian) corn and even popcorn ears: whole dried ears that respond to a deep freeze, a quick shucking, and then, pop!
	What to Look For: White, yellow, or bicolor varieties abound, as do individual tastes. The husk should be closed around the ear. The tip should be filled out with niblets. The colored tassel should be dark and intact. Ears with smaller uniform kernels are desirable. If you find a dark fungus (now a gourmet item on some Mexican menus called huitlacoche), put it back—save the gourmet item for the restaurant.
	Why: The most important RealAge-smart nutrient in corn is potassium.
	How to Use: Sweet corn can be eaten without cooking, with a quick steam or brief boil. You can soak whole ears in water and then grill them, husk and all. Niblets shaved off ears can be tossed into cold salads or hot soups and stews, or combined with beans and squash for succotash.
Cucumbers	When: Cucumbers are available year-round, the peak season being May to August.
	What to Look For: These vegetables should be firm and turgid. Make sure they aren’t wrinkled because that means they aren’t fresh. (The exception is the Kirby pickle, which is used for dill and sweet pickles and is naturally wrinkled.)
	Why: I used to think cucumbers were mostly water and ate them mainly for their crunchy texture. I’ve since learned that cucumbers contain calcium, which makes me younger whenever I eat them.
	How to Use: Cucumbers are good raw, with dips, in salads, and on sandwiches. A cucumber salad—cucumbers marinated in your vinegar of choice with a little water—is light and refreshing. Cucumbers can also be used in sauces. Removing the peel is usually unnecessary for young cucumbers, which often have thin and delicate peels. However, in the supermarket (but not the farmers’ market), some cucumbers are waxed to keep moisture in, and these you’ll want to peel.
Eggplants	When: The peak season for eggplant is August and September.
	What to Look For: Shininess is a good indication of freshness. Also, the eggplant should give only slightly to pressure; if it’s mushy, it’s overripe. The blossom end indicates whether it’s male (fewer seeds) or female (lots of seeds).
	Why: Eggplant is rich in potassium, which makes it a RealAge-smart choice.
	How to Use: Eggplant is seldom eaten raw. Try eggplant broiled, fried, grilled, roasted, and sautéed. It’s a very versatile vegetable. Its meatiness lends itself to many dishes—stews, moussaka, ratatouille, dips, and baba ghanoush. It can even be a stuffed dinner entrée in itself, perhaps loaded with chickpeas, tuna, roasted tomatoes, roasted garlic, and sweet onions. Be careful about adding oil (even healthy oil), however, as eggplant is an “oil sponge.” Just a little oil makes eggplant great.
Figs	When: Fresh figs are at their best in July and August. Eating a ripe fig, with its seedy and chewy sweetness, is for many people a rite of summer.
	What to Look For: Look for soft figs. If they’re too firm, like golf balls, they won’t ripen properly. Figs should also be free of bruises, nicks, and mold. Black Mission figs taste especially good when they’re slightly shriveled.
	Why: The RealAge-smart nutrients in figs are fiber, calcium, and potassium.
	How to Use: Dried figs are often used in desserts but can be cooked with meats or added to salads. Chef Oscar of Emilio’s Restaurant in Santa Barbara tosses golden figs with Gorgonzola and arugula to make a special pizza. Use figs in pudding, tarts, and sauces. Fresh figs make a wonderful dessert because they’re sweet yet not too heavy. Serve them with dates, almonds, and rose water for a taste of Morocco. Dry any extra figs for use in the winter.
Garlic	When: Garlic is available throughout the year, although it’s usually planted in the fall and harvested in the summer. Garlic is used in so many dishes, a RealAge cook couldn’t live without it. Look for elephant garlic, which is larger and milder than most other types.
	What to Look For: Always buy a whole, firm, tightly closed bulb. Watch out for black and brown spots, which indicate mold or bruising, and green sprouts, which indicate aging. Some varieties are purple at the top, and some are white; some bulbs are smaller, and some very large. Each has a slightly different garlicky flavor.
	Why: Garlic slows aging of both the arteries and immune system, thanks to its high content of selenium and potassium, and probably other phytonutrients as well.
	How to Use: Garlic usually isn’t eaten raw but is cooked as a flavoring for grains, vegetables, and sauces. If you want to eat a clove or two raw, mince the garlic and enjoy its taste in a freshly made guacamole or a white wine vinaigrette. Roasting garlic (350 to 375 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes, or 500 degrees for 15 to 25 minutes) produces a sweet, buttery spread for crackers, breads, focaccias, and pizzas. Roasted garlic adds a wonderful roundness to soups, sauces, spreads, and stews and takes the place of extra oil. In addition, whole cloves often become sweet when simmered.
Green beans	When: Green beans (string or snap beans) are at their peak in the early summer and, in warmer climates, even earlier. Green beans represent the young, tender stage (the first week) in a bean’s life. Especially tender are Blue Lake or Kentucky Wonder green beans and nearly any filet bean, or haricot vert. (The second stage produces shell beans—for example, cannellini, lima, and cranberry beans. The third stage produces dried beans—for example, black beans, scarlet runner beans, and Anasazi beans. All, when properly cooked, are vastly superior in flavor to canned or frozen beans.)
	What to Look For: Green beans can be green, yellow, or purple. Look for pods of any size that are bright in color and snap easily when bent. A few may have the stems still attached—that’s fine. Avoid soft beans that bend easily. The seeds inside should be tiny, soft, and hardly noticeable.
	Why: The RealAge-smart nutrients in green beans are calcium, folate, and potassium.
	How to Use: Green beans can be eaten raw. Just snap off the ends and eat, or use them for dipping. Cook green beans quickly, if at all. They can be boiled, sautéed, or stir-fried. Mix them with other seasonal vegetables or add to soups and stews at the end of the cooking process.
Herbs (basil, chervil, chives, cilantro, dill, marjoram, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon)	When: You know summer is here when herbs are abundant in the garden. Although herbs are available all year, the herbs noted here are outstanding during the summer.
	What to Look For: Leaves should be fresh, with no signs of wilting or decay.
	Why: Replacing salt and unhealthy fats with the great flavors herbs add makes your arteries younger.
	How to Use: Herbs can be added to nearly any dish; they bring out extraordinary flavor and create a light but concentrated essence that enhances almost all foods. Mix more than one herb, just for fun. Use herbs generously in your recipes, especially to replace aging fats and oils as a source of flavor. Make pestos with any leftover herbs; chop milder herbs (in large quantity) as the base for tabbouleh; strew herbs over fish and under tomatoes. Use the stems, too: Chop some of the thinner ones together with the leaves.
Kohlrabi	When: Kohlrabi is a member of the cabbage family that has a greatly enlarged, edible stem. It’s available from midspring to midfall but is best in the summer.
	What to Look For: This vegetable looks like a spaceship from another planet, with its purple-and green-streaked leaves flying everywhere. A fresh kohlrabi feels heavy for its size and has firm (not floppy) dark leaves. Avoid any kohlrabies having soft spots on the bulb or yellowing of the leaf tips. The tenderest kohlrabies are less than 3 inches in diameter.
	Why: Kohlrabi is not only tasty but rich in folate, flavonoids, and potassium, making it an almost-ideal nutrient-rich, calorie-poor, RealAge choice.
	How to Use: Kohlrabi is commonly served as crudités: peeled, cut into wedges, or sliced thinly and served with sea salt. It’s also eaten raw in salads, on a sandwich, or in soups.
Melons	When: Summer would not be the same without melons. Enjoy all the different melons summer brings. Look specifically for Charentais, Galia, and Ambrosia; these varieties of muskmelon have a wonderful perfume.
	What to Look For: Not all melons are the same. A cantaloupe (a muskmelon) should have a tan or gold netting and be firm, fragrant, and heavy for its size. Honeydew should be creamy white, velvety, and slightly sticky on the surface. In general, melons are ripe if they are heavy for their size. For other hints of ripeness, sniff melons near the blossom end for sweetness, and press gently.
	How to Use: Melons are eaten raw or used in salads or as a topping for desserts. Blended with lime and sweetener, they make a refreshing drink.
Nectarines	When: Although nectarines are available from midspring to late September, their peak months are July and August.
	What to Look For: For best flavor, look for tree-ripened nectarines at a farmers’ market because they’ll usually have a sweeter, juicier flavor than those in the store. Nectarines should have a sweet scent and yield to gentle pressure. Avoid nectarines having a green tinge; some will still have their stems attached.
	Why: Although desirable just for their taste, nectarines are also loaded with potassium and vitamins, making your RealAge younger.
	How to Use: Nectarines are versatile. Eat nectarines as a snack or bake them in a pie, compote, or cobbler. They can be used in salads and sweet sauces or as a dessert topping. Brush them with a bit of barbecue sauce and toss them on the grill. For a quick fruit salsa, chop nectarines with jalapeño peppers, green onions, lime, and a little sugar.
Okra	When: Okra is available fresh year-round in the South and is a favorite in Southern cooking. The rest of the country enjoys okra from May through October.
	What to Look For: Find small okra, no more than 3 inches long. The pods should be tender yet crisp and have little or no damage to the surface; they do not have to be smooth.
	Why: Okra is loaded with potassium.
	How to Use: Okra needs to be properly cooked; it’s great steamed, grilled, or fried. It’s best known for its role in gumbo, and as a thickening agent for stews and soup. Okra is also delicious pickled.
Onions	When: For most of the United States, the peak onion season is late summer and early fall. Look for cipollini onions (small, flat, and very sweet) and torpedo onions (they’re red!). Try new onions you’ve never tried; their flavors are all slightly different.
	What to Look For: Avoid onions that have sprouts, mold, or soft spots. Fresh onions will last two weeks before they begin to sprout: most of the available onions are storage onions, which have been dried and last for months. Buy white, yellow, and red. If you can buy only one, buy white: the flavor is clean and fresh.
	Why: Onions contain age-reducing flavonoids and selenium. Another age-reducing benefit is that certain substances (we do not know what substances) in onions inhibit the bacteria associated with stomach ulcers.
	How to Use: Many dishes could use an onion, so have them on hand at all times. Sauté, grill, roast, or simmer them. Add them to sauces or vegetable medleys. Caramelize onions as a topping for portobello mushrooms or tuna steak. For a pasta sauce with a twist, blend roasted onions with roasted serrano peppers, roasted garlic, and roasted tomatoes or tomatillos, oregano, and olive oil. To store, keep onions in a cool, dark, dry place.
Peaches	When: Although peaches are available from May to October in most regions of the United States, they’re sweetest in the summer.
	What to Look For: Look for white-flesh peaches: They’re usually even sweeter and more honeyed than the yellow-flesh ones. Peaches should have a sweet scent and yield to gentle pressure. Avoid peaches with bruised, shriveled, or dented skin.
	Why: Because peaches are rich in potassium and flavonoids, they are a delicious way to stay healthy.
	How to Use: A ripe summer peach is so sweet and juicy it can be a dessert all by itself. However, peaches are commonly used in pies, nectars, cobblers, cakes, and soufflés. They also make great salsas, can be grilled with other fruits, and blend happily into drinks. Try a Bellini—fresh peach juice and champagne.
Peppers (green)	When: Peppers are good to eat July through late summer.
	What to Look For: Green peppers are sweet peppers that are not ripe. They may be slightly bitter because their full flavor has not yet developed. The skin should be smooth and not shriveled. Avoid peppers with soft spots or cracks, or with tops that are moldy or turning colors.
	Why: Peppers are loaded with vitamin C, flavonoids, and fiber, giving them an age-reducing benefit.
	How to Use: Green peppers have a bright, fresh, slightly grassy flavor that many people love. They’re not sweet like their more mature red and yellow counterparts, and they mix well with most summer vegetables and herbs. Green peppers can be grilled, roasted, sautéed, used in sandwiches, and diced to top salads, soups, stews, chili, and sauces. Also see CHILES.
Plums	When: Fresh plums are at their peak ripeness in August and September. There are dozens of varieties; some have yellow flesh, some purple, and some green. Italian plums tend to be smaller and have green flesh, and make wonderful jams. Try as many varieties as you can find; you’ll be rewarded with great color and flavor.
	What to Look For: Plums that are perfect have a uniform color and sweet scent and yield to gentle pressure with a taut skin. Avoid very firm or hard plums, because they’ve been picked too soon and won’t ripen properly. Ask for a sample.
	Why: Because potassium and fiber are found in plums in abundance, eating this fruit is an age-reducing benefit.
	How to Use: Eat ripe plums plain or save them for sweet dishes such as jams, desserts, and sweet sauces. They can also be chopped to make a stuffing, diced to make a salsa, and grilled to make an accompaniment for chicken or fish. Plums are good poached in wine with peaches, or stewed with lemon and cinnamon. In addition, plums can be dried to make prunes. Puréed prunes make a good replacement for solid, aging fat in quick-breads.
Potatoes, new	When: New potatoes are baby potatoes that have been harvested young in their life. They’re best in early summer, all the way till August. New potatoes have a thin skin and are great with little preparation. They may be pink, brown, yellow, red, or white; all are beautiful and delicious.
	What to Look For: Small new potatoes tend to have better flavor and softer texture than larger ones. Avoid those with sprouts, a green tint, or dry, chapped skin. The green tint on potatoes contains a substance—solanine—that can be poisonous, and that can be very aging. (So don’t eat potatoes that have started to sprout or have green skin!)
	Why: The major age-reducing benefits of potatoes come from the potassium and fiber in the skin. Because potatoes have a lot of simple carbohydrates, eat a little healthy fat first to gain the most RealAge benefit.
	How to Use: New potatoes are wonderful in salads because they hold their shape well, and because their flavor combines with other ingredients so well. Steaming and roasting work best for new potatoes, although pan-frying, and grilling work as well. For hash browns, try shredded new potatoes tossed with garlic and thyme, or grated with onion and then tossed in a skillet with dried leaf oregano.
Summer squash (zucchini, lita, pattypan squash, crookneck	When: Summer squash is well named because it peaks in the summer. These beautiful, easy-to-grow vegetables come in a variety of colors and shapes.
	What to Look For: The skin should be smooth, with few marks, and squash) tender enough to be pierced easily by a fingernail. (Don’t do this in the market; just squeeze gently.) Squash should have a bright color and feel relatively heavy for its size. A bit of juice coming out of the stem means it’s fresh; in fact, it was probably picked that morning. Avoid squash that bend easily or have a wrinkled skin: They’re old or drying out.
	Why: Squash are rich in potassium and fiber, both of which provide a RealAge benefit.
	How to Use: Summer squash can be grilled, sautéed, used in soups and stews, or mixed with whole grains and vegetables. Combine diced zucchini with fresh corn and red chile pepper, or stew a tomato, garlic, and onion ragout. Large zucchini (over 10 inches) are best for breads, muffins, and pancakes. Also, squash blossoms can be eaten. They’re usually stuffed and baked or fried but can also garnish a soup or be shredded and mixed into a salad.
Tomatillos	When: Tomatillos are small, green, yellow, or purple tomato-like jewels that have a parchment-paper husk and are related to the ground cherry. These vegetables are a staple in Mexican cuisine. Tomatillos are, like tomatoes, available all year. Their jacket helps preserve them and their bright, tangy, slightly grassy flavor. Tomatillos are nearly all flesh, with few seeds. In the United States, they’re best in late summer and early fall. Look for specialty tomatillos; the purple ones are smoky in flavor and worth trying.
	What to Look For: Tomatillos are freshest when they have no punctures, worms, or blemishes. If you can’t see part of the fruit and the jacket is closed all around it, pass it up; the fruit has not fully ripened. Smaller tomatillos tend to be sweeter, and larger ones tend to be easier to peel. In general, tomatillos that are lighter green and almost yellow have been left on the vine and are naturally sweet; they’re coming out of their jackets and are usually not sour.
	Why: Tomatillos have a lot of RealAge-smart nutrients, including lycopene, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin K, folate, and flavonoids.
	How to Use: Peel away the jacket just before you use the tomatillo. Wash these vegetables especially well, as dirt hides beneath the jacket. Eat only the smallest ones raw—halved in salads, as a garnish, or in salsas. To maximize their sweetness, broil a whole tray at a time, flipping them to broil the other side, or blacken them in a skillet. Boil them with green herbs and onion for a hot salsa, or for the base of a sauce or soup.
Tomatoes	When: Although tomatoes are available year-round, nothing says summer like the plump, juicy, vine-ripened tomatoes of July and August. Most of the tomatoes available in the United States from December through March have not been grown in the ground near you.
	What to Look For: A tomato with an aroma is a tomato with flavor. A tomato should be firm to the touch but not hard. It should feel heavy for its size. The color is not an indication of flavor, except that the tomato should not be green (a gourmet exception is the heirloom tomato Green Zebra); green means it’s not ripe. If the tomatoes are very ripe and have been stacked, pick the ones on top because the ones on the bottom are likely to be damaged from the weight of the others. Pick the brightest, heaviest, most aromatic tomatoes you can find to eat tonight.
	Why: Not only do tomatoes taste great but also, when eaten with a little fat, they’re one of the most age-reducing foods. Eating 10 cooked tomatoes a week (the equivalent of 10 tablespoons of tomato sauce) decreases the risk of prostate and breast cancer by over 40 percent. Tomatoes are rich in other age-reducing nutrients, including potassium, folate, flavonoids, and vitamin C.
	How to Use: Ripe tomatoes are good in almost everything—classic Italian summer salads (layered fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, and tomato dressed with olive oil and vinegar), and as the base for casseroles, soups, sauces, salsas, stews, and chilies. Fill scooped-out tomatoes with couscous mixed with diced zucchini, carrots, and sweet onion, topped with fresh tangy goat cheese and toasted pistachios. Tomatoes that are not at their peak can be roasted to intensify their sweetness and then cooled and frozen. Some cooks peel and seed their tomatoes, but we believe this is hardly ever necessary and eliminates a major RealAge effect. Ninety percent of the lycopene—the ingredient in the tomato thought to keep the arteries and immune system young—lies within 1 millimeter of the skin. Store tomatoes at room temperature, ideally in an open paper bag, to ripen further.

Recipes Using Summer Produce

FOR BREAKFAST