Local Produce: The New organic
There is nothing like a tasty, just-picked peach, strawberry, or tomato. I've been eating at least two peaches a day since the beginning of peach season. Such juice and flavor – yum!
Local produce has been called the new organic. Think global, buy local. It's a good slogan.
Fresh, local produce is nothing like the produce that has been picked prematurely, shipped great distances, and finally ripened (hopefully) in the grocery store, or more accurately after you bring it home.
How many dud peaches, pears, or apples have you gotten that are grainy and have no flavor? How about strawberries that are cultivated for size more so than flavor? And then there’s pithy dry oranges. No wonder people don’t eat their fruits and veggies! Most store-bought produce just doesn't taste that good!
If you want your fruit snacks and recipes to taste great, you've got to start with ingredients that taste great. Using fresh picked fruits and vegetables in your salads, soups, stir-fries and smoothies makes all the difference. Yes?
Tomatoes - One Superb Example
We have all eaten pale store-bought tomatoes. Yucky Pooh! Hot house tomatoes and tomatoes picked green do not have much flavor (any?) – I repeat yucky tomatoes. If you don’t grow your own tomatoes, buy plump, ripe, locally grown tomatoes for the best possible taste. Locally grown (or home grown) vegetables taste best because they are picked in their prime at the height of nutrient development.
Small farmers tend to use different processes than industrial farms (fewer chemicals, crop rotation, etc) so their soil is often in better shape. That’s good because the nutrients in the soil are absorbed into whatever is grown in that soil.
4 Ways to Get Great Produce
One: Grow your own! If you’re new to gardening, just plant a few vegetable plants. Ask a gardener or two which plants will produce the best results with the least amount of care and troubleshooting. This year I kept it simple and just planted tomatoes, cucumbers, jalapeno peppers and green peppers. These plants took up a very small space in my flower garden.
Two: Go to a farmers' market. Definitely shop there if you have one. You'll get fresher, tastier, higher quality produce for a reasonable price. You can get acquainted with the local farmers and ask how their food was grown. Many use little or no pesticides or chemical fertilizers (my preference for sure).
Three: Find out if your city has a vegetable subscription program where area farmers form a coop or alliance to provide their fresh produce to people who buy a weekly subscription.
Four: Visit “u-pick” farms. Look in the phone book if you don't know where they are. Take a friend or your family and enjoy the seasonal pickings. You can pick the very best, commune with nature, see the farming operation, and support local commerce. It is fun and economical. Kids love u-pick farms. Education starts early about food choices. If they pick it, they’ll be more likely to eat it. You will be amazed at the truth of that statement. Yes they will eat green beans and okra and blueberries, and zucchini if they’ve picked it. Yep. It is true.
More Reasons to Buy Local, Seasonal Produce Whenever Possible
* To support the local farmers. Small farmers need your business in order to stay in business. If we want to have access to good food, we need to keep doing business with them.
* To get higher quality food. When food is grown locally, it is picked at its prime when the nutrients are the most fully developed (and the flavor too). If fruits and veggies take great, we're more likely to eat them!
* To reduce costs (including environmental costs) associated with packaging and transporting foods cross-country or internationally. These transportation and packaging costs don't always show up at the grocers, but we all pay for them eventually.
Confessions of a Buy-Local Advocate
I confess that I buy some things out of season from other countries or states that have been shipped long distances to me: bananas, kiwis, pineapples, avocados, and mangos. The point is, don’t get crazy about your food. Make wise, conscious choices and do the best you can. If you know that shopping locally is a smart move and you do it as often as you can, that's a move in a great direction. You may just start a personal trend!
Easy Gazpacho Soup
Got lots of fresh produce? Here’s a recipe for Gazpacho soup. I love gazpacho for two reasons: it tastes great in hot weather and it uses up a lot of fresh produce. This cold soup helps you get in the recommended number of servings of veggies with ease.
1 large tomato, quartered (or several)
1 medium cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, and seeded (scrape seeds out with a spoon), and chopped in large chunks
1 medium yellow onion, quartered
1 large red, green, or yellow bell pepper
2 large cloves of garlic, peeled
1/2 fresh cilantro
1 fresh lime (just the juice)
2 TBS red wine vinegar
1 TBS virgin olive oil
3 cups tomato juice (or spicy product such as V-8)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Hot pepper sauce to taste, if desired.
In blender, place tomato, cucumber, onion, bell pepper, garlic, cilantro, vinegar, and oil. Add 1 cup tomato juice and puree to desired smoothness. Add remaining juice and blend in. Taste and add salt, pepper, and hot pepper sauce, as desired.
Refrigerate until cold. Can be prepared two days ahead. Serve cold with various garnishes such as croutons, diced tomato, diced onion, minced fresh cilantro leaves, diced cucumber or just leave it plain!
I call this recipe easy because you don't chop things - let the blender (or immersion blender) do that. Also don't worry so much about measuring things. If you just have half an onion, use that. If you love garlic, put in more. If you hate it, leave it out. Adjust the recipe to suit your tastes. If you don't have tomato juice but have lots of tomatoes, use tomatoes only. See how this can get easy! Just use what you have and what you like.
Eat it with a spoon or sip it from a mug. Yum! Yum! Yum! You might even enjoy it for breakfast or for a snack.
Fresh Basil in a Vase
Clip some fresh basil from your garden (or buy it) and put it in a vase on your kitchen counter. It will keep quite a while and look great. Pinch a leaf every now and then just to get a great whiff of fresh basil. The basil bouquet will remind you to add this great spice to your weekly menu – salads, sandwiches, salad dressing, pasta, and more.
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