Blood oranges are popular for eating out of hand, juice, and garnishes. Their sections can enliven any fruit mixture or salad. Blood orange sections are easily matched with savory or sweet dishes. The Moro blood orange has a rich citrus flavor and a deep raspberry aftertaste. It is juicy but firm and has a seedless
If you have seen the fingered citron–known as Buddha’s hand, you will have not forgotten. Hanging from the tree, it looks like a bright yellow, multi-tentacled octopus, and sitting on a tabletop it looks like–well, the hand of the Buddha, that is the bright yellow version. Besides the Buddha’s hand, there is also a non-fingered
Stephen Albert is a horticulturist, master gardener, and certified nurseryman who has taught at the University of California for more than 25 years. He holds graduate degrees from the University of California and the University of Iowa. His books include Vegetable Garden Grower’s Guide, Vegetable Garden Almanac & Planner, Tomato Grower’s Answer Book, and Kitchen
Swiss chard is a cacophony of dazzling multicolored stems: gold, pink, orange, purple, red, mauve, and white in electric and pastel variations. The stems are set off by deep green or bronze leaves. Swiss chard stalks and leaves can be cooked and served as you would spinach. Swiss chard is the most colorful when plants
Harvest tomatoes when the skin is slightly firm, shiny, and uniformly colored for the best flavor. As a tomato ripens it will turn from a vibrant medium-green to a lighter shade, with faint pink or yellow stripes or flushing. Later the skin will mature to a uniform red or pink or yellow or white or
There are two ways to eat melon: at the beginning of a meal as an hors d’oeuvre or starter for savory dishes or at the end as a dessert fruit. The high water content of melons makes them refreshing especially during hot summer weather, but because they are so high in water content they are
Acorn Squash Winter squashes are the most plentiful from early autumn until late winter. Unlike the summer squashes, the winter squashes must be cooked before they are eaten. Add winter squash to soups, stews, couscous, and curries. Use winter squash to make pies, cakes, muffins, cookies, pudding, soufflés, and cream desserts. Choose a winter squash—such
The stalks of lemongrass are commonly used in the kitchen. Lemongrass is a subtropical plant. Lemongrass is flavorful fresh rather than dry. It is popular in Southeast Asian cookery. It can be used to season soups, vegetables, curries, poultry, shellfish, fish, and marinades. Use lemongrass to make herbal teas. Lemongrass is a member of the
Microgreens are leafy vegetables that are harvested very young—after the cotyledon or seed leaves have developed with one set of small true leaves. Leafy vegetables grown as microgreens include arugula, beets, cabbage, chard, cress, kale, mustard, and radish. Microgreens are grown for the flavor, texture, and nutrition they can add to salads, soups, sandwiches, and
Fennel roasted with Parmesan crumbs. For a light delicate taste reminiscent of licorice and anise, choose Florence fennel. Florence fennel–which is also known as bulb fennel and in Italy as finnochio—is a pale-green, feathery-topped vegetable, with celery-like stems and swollen bulb-like base of overlapping broad layers. The harvest season for this cool-weather vegetable is early
