There’s no doubt about it: tomatoes are one of the best things about summer. Once those vine-ripened beauties start appearing, my brain goes into overdrive coming up with ways to use them before the season ends. Roasted and topped on salads, sautéed with garlic and served with pasta, or sliced thick and added to sandwiches — my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

 

In fact, my summer tomato love has led me to “put up” 40 pounds of heirloom paste tomatoes this year.  Even if you’re not a canner, you can still enjoy juicy, flavorful summertime tomatoes in these recipes. But you better eat up because the heirloom season doesn’t last long!

 

The mild, delicate flavor of zucchini is makes it an ideal addition to summer salads, simple side dishes, light dinners and even yummy desserts!

I can remember a time, as a kid in Mississippi, when tomatoes were not the common grocery store commodity they are today. They were also far from the uniformly sized, blemish-free, picture-perfect specimens most of us see in our local stores year-round. The tomatoes of my youth were scarred, irregular and transit-weary. They were also almost non-existent in the fall, winter and spring. Then they would flood the grocery stores, farmers markets and family gardens in the summer.

 

Cherries are $1.99 a pound and on sale today only! It’s a one day only sale, so make sure you stop in today to catch this deal!

Now’s the time to go all out with summer melons. Whether you show up at the next picnic balancing a watermelon on your hip, or add chunks of cantaloupe to your morning smoothie and summer fruit salads, there are lots of ways to appreciate melons. Here are some of our favorite recipes featuring one of summer’s most refreshing fruits: Drinks and Coolers

Love cherries? Find out how we choose the cherries we carry in our stores and get some recipe ideas for a cherry-themed dinner party!

July is like Christmas for seasonal produce geeks (like me) here in the US. Though we live in a time when worldwide distribution is possible and seasonal produce from one hemisphere can cross into another, there is nothing more exciting than the start of the local season.

We want you to celebrate Cherry Fest in a big way too, so we’re giving away a case of cherries to five people who share their cherry ideas!

Sliced, diced, pickled or pureed, cucumbers add a cooling crunch to summertime dishes. Try these ideas to take cucumbers beyond the salad.