"I have been feasting with impunity on fruits that are being grown responsibly 3,000 miles from my home." When you're a serious eater and a serious dieter you look for treats or snacks that you can eat with impunity at different times of the year. Yes, all you Michael Pollan and Alice Waters acolytes, I am talking about seasonal snacks that I can eat without worrying about my weight. Bananas have become a staple of my serious diet, but they are neither local nor seasonal unless you happen to live in a sub-tropical area. (I did have some killer baby bananas in Vieques, Puerto Rico, last December that tasted like they had been crossed with limes--banimas or limnanas, anyone?) Summer... More

Photograph from justinhenry on Flickr Has your CSA membership compromised your ridiculously wild social life? Do you find yourself staying indoors to make use of the okra piling up? Cathy Erway of Not Eating Out in New York can relate, but she's come up with some tips: Beets last a really long time. Kohlrabi is not going to turn in a week, either. If you find that you simply have too much stuff to eat in a week (as I do often), go for the most delicate leafy greens first. Save the big heads of cabbage, potatoes, green beans and carrots for another week, and don’t worry about them. She recommends eating the produce raw (pots and pans can... More

Since 1980, the Newton Parks and Recreation Department has sponsored a large and popular farmers' market every Tuesday in Cold Spring Park, which brings together 25 vendors and as many as 1,000 shoppers during peak season. Nicewicz Family Farm has been selling at the market for 20 years. They have a reputation for outstanding peaches and corn. Alan Nicewicz explained that even before his grandparents purchased the farm in 1929 there were peach trees on the land. "The soil is very good up there. It's hilly. We have a lot of clay which adds to the sweetness of the peaches. As for the corn, I think we grow some good varieties. We work very closely with the seed companies."... More

Farmers supply us with more in-season serious deliciousness than any other group of people I can think of, and given the adverse growing conditions this year, they need our support now more than ever. In the coming weeks, we're going to put the Serious Eats spotlight on some of the farmer heroes all over America. More

It's the time of year when it's fun to take visitors to the market. Friends who don't typically shop at farmers' markets will be overwhelmed by the amount of produce that we have available locally and in season, and will be sure to go home with a bag full of summertime delights. The market is bursting at the seams with color and flavor and scents, and it's an exercise in restraint to decide where to spend my budget. My strategy during this time of abundance is typically to find out what products are going to be around for a little while, and then to prioritize from there. Okra have just begun to show up in the market and as... More

Buster Benson of one-man company Enjoymentland launched his iPhone app Locavore 1.0 earlier this year and has already come out with a second version. In his own words, Locavore 1.0 "told you what’s in season, what’s coming into season soon, and where nearby farmers' markets are located,” while 2.0 “does all of that and also lets you be social about it.” As the app loads, the screen reads, “now rolling up to the market,” which I found pretty cute. The screen then fills with a more or less accurate list of fruits and veggies in season, accompanied by confusing but pretty rainbow-colored pie chart symbols. Then there's the tab that “lets you be social about it,” where you can read... More

Note: On Mondays, one of our various Market Scene correspondents from around the country checks in with what's fresh at the farmstands in a particular region. Today, Penny Cherubino (Boston Zest) drops by from Boston. Steps from Harvard Yard, with historic Memorial Hall as a backdrop, you'll find the Harvard Farmers' Market. It's part of the University's Food Literacy Project, which "cultivates an understanding of food from the ground up." One of the wettest Junes on record has delayed sun-loving summer crops in the Northeast. Farms with greenhouse operations have had an advantage by producing some early broccoli and cauliflower.... More

It was 8:15 a.m. and the market had been open for fifteen minutes. I had arrived early for a specific reason: to purchase the prized sour cherry. I realize that sour cherries are prevalent around Michigan and the Midwest, but for Californians, it's a treat to get fresh sour cherries. They are about the size of the tip of my pinky and perfect for pickling and brandying. I was still waking up, and was not prepared for the aggression of the other customers who had arrived early for the same reason as I had. One woman brought an empty cardboard box that was carefully lined with paper towels to carry home her cargo. I had to physically make a... More

Note: This week we add Boston to our mix of Market Scene reports. Penny Cherubino, of BostonZest, reports. Photographs by Penny Cherubino There's been a farmers' market in Copley Square for decades. Long before the local food movement took hold, residents and workers in the historic heart of Boston have been buying fresh, local products from Massachusetts farms at this location. In the past five years, this market has doubled in size. On Tuesdays and Fridays the park is turned into a festival of fresh produce, eggs, meat, smoked fish, cheese, specialty food products, baked goods, plants, cut flowers, crafts, and prepared foods. This week I saw greens everywhere—lettuce, Swiss chard, Asian varieties, collards, mustard, spinach, and bok choy. And,... More

Ranier cherries. It's normal for a muted, Pacific Northwest–like grayness to blanket Los Angeles in the morning this time of year, but it usually burns off around noon, leaving the remainder of the day a lovely sunny 72 degrees. Over the last two weeks, however, the June gloom just wouldn't lift, creating a contagious case of sun-deprived crankiness that spread among Angelenos like swine flu. Fortunately, hints of blue sky cracked the cloud cover early yesterday morning that, combined with the early summer bounty at the Hollywood Farmers' Market (map), was therapeutic. Last month, Brooks cherries kicked off stone-fruit season with their tangy-crisp sweetness. Now the crimson-hued Bing and Ranier cherries (above), with their Fuji-apple-like shadings, dominate the market... More