SEASONS INTRODUCTION MID SUMMER Mid Summer Fruits Mid Summer Meat/Fish Mid Summer Vegetables Mid Summer Recipes

Early Pears (Bartlett and Asian varieties)
Recipes

• The pear is an Old World fruit with two distinct lines of the family: Asian and European. European pears are native to the Middle East and the Caucasus. The Asian varieties appear to have come from eastern China, Japan, and Korea.
• Asian pears differ from their European counterparts in several ways. They are usually round; the ripe fruits are not significantly softer than unripe ones; and they are ready to eat immediately after the harvest. European pears, on the other hand, define the term "pear-shaped," being all, to some degree, bulbous at the bottom and tapering at the top. They are not ready to eat until they have reached just the right stage of softness; however, they must not be allowed to stay on the tree until fully mature. Tree-ripened European pears tend to get brown at the core and often have an unpleasant taste.
• In the United States, the most popular Asian pear is the Japanese type called 20th Century (a.k.a. called Nijisseki), which is round, with smooth yellow skin. Another Japanese pear, the bronze-toned Hosui, is also common in markets here, as is the conventionally pear-shaped Ya Li, a pale-green Chinese variety.
• The distinctive graininess of pear flesh is caused by the presence of hard cells interspersed among the softer ones that make up the bulk of the fruit. These rigid-walled cells, which contain lignin, a component of wood, are known as sclerenchyma growths. Nutshells are made almost entirely out of them.
• Plump, pale-green Bartletts, which are known in Europe as Williams' Bon Chretien, are the most common commercially-grown pears. Not only are more fresh Bartletts sold here than any other kind, they are also the pears used for canning. There is a red variety of Bartlett, but it ripens later in the summer.
• Look for fresh pears poached in spiced red wine; cut into thin slices and added, along with blue cheese and walnuts, to endive salads; or filling in for the apples in custardy tarte Tatins. Alcoholic beverages made from pears are not uncommon. Poire William is the best of several brands of fragrant and potent pear-based eaux de vies. Several west coast microbreweries manufacture perry, or pear cider, although it is not as popular as hard apple cider and the products are not widely available in the East.

Blackberries
Recipes

• Blackberries, like raspberries, are bramble fruits. The roots of the plants live indefinitely and send forth thorny canes that sprout up one year, bear fruit the next, and then die back to be replaced by new growth. Blackberry plants either grow upward, like large bushes, or trail along the ground. Trailing blackberries are known as dewberries.
• Most varieties of blackberries are so soft and perishable that they cannot be shipped.With the exception of a few hybrids, engineered specifically to hold up long enough to get to market, they are not sold in stores. This means that most people who enjoy them still get them the old-fashioned way: by grabbing a bucket, strolling out to a nearby field or garden plot, and plucking them off the canes.
• Fresh blackberries should never be left to sit at room temperature. They will soften and bleed. If they must be stored for a little while, it's best to put them in the refrigerator.
• There are some well-established blackberry hybrids, all of which were achieved by crossing blackberries with raspberries. These include Loganberries, Marionberries, Youngberries, and -- probably the most famous -- Boysenberries. The exceptionally large, deep purple Boysenberry was developed by Rudolph Boysen of Napa, California in the 1920s. He actually abandoned his creation when he sold his farm, but a fruitseller named Walter Knott, who had heard rumors of the berry, rescued a few canes from the neglected property. His success with them later inspired him to start a larger business, today known as Knott's Berry Farm.
• Look for blackberries in pies, cobblers, and fresh fruit salads. Their rich, winey sweetness is a good complement to bananas, melons, and peaches.

Watermelons and Muskmelons
Recipes

• Melons can, in general, be divided into two types: watermelons and muskmelons. All are in the gourd family, but the musky varieties, which include cantaloupe, Crenshaw, Persian, casaba and honeydew, are more closely related to the cucumber.
• People have cultivated watermelons for a very long time. They are native to southern Africa; by 4000 BCE they were familiar to the Egyptians and sometimes appeared in their artwork. The origins of the muskmelon are not as well documented, however. It is known that the Romans ate them in salads and that, at the time, the melons were not yet sweet -- they were still vegetables, like the cucumber. Over the centuries, through selective cultivation that took place mostly in the Mediterranean, farmers managed to create the sweet, musky melons we eat today.
• The name cantaloupe comes from the town of Cantalupo, Italy, where it is said to have been cultivated on the grounds of a papal palace. True cantaloupes aren't available in America, though, and we tend to use the term loosely to identify any of several varieties of orange-fleshed muskmelons with a "netted" pattern on the rind.
• Good cantaloupes (of the US variety) are notoriously difficult to pick out, but buying from local producers in peak season is half the battle. Check to be sure the stem scar on the fruit is smooth. If there's a jagged stub remaining, the melon was picked before it was ready, and it won't ripen off the vine. The melon should be fragrant. Sometimes, when the fruit is particularly juicy, you can hear the seeds sloshing inside when you shake it.
• The accepted wisdom for picking a watermelon is to slap it (some people prefer to thump). If you hear a high-pitched tone, the melon isn't ripe. A dull thunk indicates it's past its prime. And a resonant tone means it's just right.
• Melons are nearly always eaten fresh rather than cooked. Many people season their watermelon wedges with salt, but most just prefer to eat them plain -- outdoors, where the juice drips harmlessly into the grass and the seeds can be spat like ammunition at one's picnic partners. Muskmelons inspire more sophisticated preparations. Wedges of cantaloupe and honeydew are often wrapped in prosciutto to make salty-sweet appetizers. In the south of France, halved muskmelons are served with port poured into the cavity. Cold melon soup and melon-flavored ice cream are also popular.

Figs
Recipes

• Many fruits aren't fruits in the scientific sense of the word; this is true of the fig in a particularly interesting way. Actually, the fig is an enlarged, hollow flower stem -- a "peduncle." The male flowers cluster at the very tip of this stem and the female flowers are tucked inside. After fertilization, those inner flowers swell and turn into tiny fruits, each containing a single seed. Some varieties of fig will not even produce without the help of certain types of small fig wasps, which are singularly well adapted to crawl into the fig, pollinating its flowers in the process.
• The fig is one of the oldest known foods. The Egyptians were eating them over 6,000 years ago. In addition to using the fruit, the ancient Hebrews discovered that adding the sap of the fig tree to milk would curdle it into cheese. This gave them an acceptable substitute for the meat products that could also be used in cheesemaking but that violated their food laws.
• Fresh figs are rarely available in markets out of season, but they can always be purchased dried. The best dried figs are produced in Turkey, the fig's native land. There, thin-skinned white figs are dried in the sun and washed in seawater before packing. Even dried figs have a season though -- at least the Turkish ones (which don't contain preservatives and softeners). They are best during the fall and winter after they are packed.
• There are hundreds of varieties of fig. Among them are the golden brown Smyrna and Calimyrna (the California version of the Smyrna), the green Adriatic, the deep purple Black Mission, the Brown Turkey and the pale yellow-green Kadota.
• Fresh figs, which are expensive and hard to find out of season, are best eaten as simply as possible. Dried figs can be used for cooking -- as sauces for game, fillings for pastries (a la Fig Newtons) and stewed or brandied for use as dessert toppings. Capuchin nougats, dried figs stuffed with green walnuts, are a traditional French Christmas treat.