Zucchini belongs to an extensive family of plants known as cucurbits. Cucurbits all have vine-like qualities and most produce edible fruits, whether eaten as fruits or vegetables. Relatives to the zucchini in the cucurbit family include the watermelon, the cucumber, and the more elusive chayote and cassabanana. Like all cucurbits, zucchini started its development in Latin America. Remains of the zucchini’s ancestors have been found in Mexico dating back to 7000 BC. During the period of European colonization, a form of squash was taken over to Italy where, through mutation, it morphed into the common zucchini that we know today. Zucca is the Italian word for squash, with zucchini meaning “little squash.”

Zucchini is low in calories and high in healthy goodness. According to nutritiondata.com, one cup of cooked zucchini contains 10% of the recommended daily value of magnesium, 40% of Vitamin A and 10% of Vitamin C. It is also an excellent source of dietary fiber, is touted as a digestion aid and, if summer’s got you feeling hot, apparently it will help cool you down.

Zucchini is prepared in a plethora of ways all over the world. In Mexico, the flowers are extremely popular and they are stuffed and fried or incorporated into quesadillas. In Italy, zucchini is often breaded and fried or sautéed in olive oil. In France, it is slowly sautéed along with tomato and onion to make ratatouille, or made into a gratin. Zucchini is incorporated into Thai and Vietnamese cuisine through quick stir-fired, and wrapped into light summer roles. In Lebanon, it is stuffed with minced meat, rice and herbs, and baked, and in Greece the flowers are filled with Feta – obviously a very versatile veggie. To see Sustainable Table’s Zucchini recipes, click here!

But we are here to talk about the fruit. Native to China, where peaches still grow wild, they eventually made it all the way to the United States.  In fact, in the 1870s they became a cash crop planted to help diversify mono-crop cotton that was being destroyed by a little bug called the boll weevil (like “peaches” the boll weevil is also very popular in music, movies, sports, etc.).

Peaches can be grown in many different climates, depending on the variety, anywhere from the California coast to the East coast, and from as far north as Michigan to as far south as Florida. They come in three main categories -

Cling – meaning that the flesh actually “clings” to the pit. These tend to ripen in May.

Semi-freestones – cling, but not quite as much as “cling” peaches. They ripen a little later, in June.

Freestones – the pit is separate from the flesh. Freestones will ripen from June into July.

Because of the need to ship peaches, as they were planted to be a cash crop, the most popular varieties in the United States tend to be hybrids, with a large round shape and firm flesh. The peaches are harvested before they are completely ripe so that they can be packed and shipped with minimal bruising. It’s not hard to imagine that the most sweet and delicious peach is not going to be one bought after enduring these conditions.

Peaches have also made it to the top 10 list of items to always buy organic. In a study by the USDA, Consumer Reports and the Environmental Working Group, 93.7 percent of peaches sampled contained pesticides. In another test by the USDA, even after washing, non-organic crops often still had pesticide residue!

Another hardship for the peach is being associated with OAS, Oral Allergy Syndrome, which leaves a person with itchy or swollen lips, tongue, throat, and/or roof of the mouth. The good news is that if you cook the fruit, the allergen is destroyed. Cooked peaches are as much a treat as raw.

So while peaches have been commercialized, chemically sprayed and sometimes avoided due to allergies, REAL peaches are still available and still in demand!

Peaches ripened on the tree are the best you will find — juicier and more delicious than their commercial counterparts. Buying a local peach from a farmers’ market, or getting a peach in season from your CSA, will allow you to enjoy the fruit as it is supposed to be savored.

Peaches are naturally low in calories, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium, and naturally high in vitamin C, fiber, vitamin A, niacin and potassium. They are wonderful eaten fresh, but also have many culinary uses in both sweet and savory dishes. Peach cobbler comes to mind right away, but they can be used in salads, salsas, and chutneys too. At the height of their ripeness, just in time for the summer barbeque – toss them on the grill and serve them as a side dish with grilled pork, or as a dessert with ice cream.  Experiment with these with these fuzzy fruits; no one will be disappointed!

Asparagus has been considered a culinary delicacy for thousands of years. The Romans grew the green relative of the lily in their gardens. The Roman scholar Marcus Cato described its production and benefits in his work “De Agro Culture” (On Farming) in the 2^nd century B.C. After the fall of Rome, asparagus cultivation continued in Syria, Egypt and Spain. The name asparagus can be traced to the Persian word “asparg”, which means “sprout”.

Not until 1469 did asparagus make a showing in France and, in 1538, in England. King Louis XVI dubbed it the “king of vegetables,” and was so enthralled that he instructed his gardeners to grow it year-round in a hot-house. Asparagus was not widely grown in North America until the late 19^th century. It then spread to Asia, where it has been commonly incorporated into the region’s many cuisines, and South America, where 80 percent of asparagus is imported from.

Asparagus takes true dedication to grow, which explains the often high price at which it retails. Preparations for planting must be made a year in advance to ensure proper soil quality. After the sprouts are planted (it is very difficult to grow from seed outdoors), asparagus must not be harvested until the third year. This is to be sure that a healthy crown, the root system from which the spears grow, is well established. In the third year, the asparagus will be harvested 8 to 12 times, in following years, 20 to 24 times. All spears that grow after early summer must be allowed to propagate into ferns in order to provide energy to the crown.

There are many different varieties of asparagus. Today, farmers mostly use “hybrids,” which, in this case, means “all-male” plants. While female asparagus grows larger, they produce fewer spears because so much of their energy goes to growing berries. Popular hybrid varieties include “Jersey Giant,” “Jersey Supreme,” and “Jersey Knight.” A less popular, non-hybrid, variety is “Mary Washington.” Contrary to popular belief, white asparagus is not a separate variety; it is simply asparagus that was kept out of the sun by being covered in soil so that chlorophyll does not develop.

Many people believe that thin asparagus is the tenderest, but it is actually to the contrary. Most of the stringy, unpleasant texture is the skin, so the thinner the asparagus, the higher the ratio of tough skin. Asparagus can be cooked in many ways: steamed, grilled, fried or baked in a dish. Popular accompaniments include oil, butter, lemon and parmesan cheese, and hollandaise sauce. Asparagus can also be dressed up with a little more preparation as shown in the following recipe for Elegant Spring Hash.