Weekly Update: June 16, 2015

Strawberries. We adore the idea of strawberries so much many of us eat them all year round. But you’ve never tasted a strawberry—really tasted a strawberry and inhaled all its lovely fragrance—until you’ve eaten a ripe one in its proper season. That means a local strawberry, because fully-ripened strawberries, juicy and red all the way through, are too fragile to withstand long journeys. To safely bring your berries home, come to the market with containers. At home, keep berries in a dish, rather than piling them high in a bowl, and plan on eating them quickly (if you haven’t consumed most of them before they reach your kitchen counter).

What else to expect at the market this week?  Snow peas and sugar-snaps, early cukes and zukes. Mushrooms and plenty of leafy greens tasty radishes, scallions, and the first garlic scapes. Lots of potted herbs, too, and mosquito-repelling lemongrass—plus young heirloom tomato plants and vegetable starts for the garden, and plugs of multi-colored lettuces.