Seasonal Recipes for Summer Produce
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When food is “in season” it’s fresh, in abundant supply, cheap and it tastes the best it’s going to taste all year, so gobble it up! We also offer freezing, canning and dehydrating options for long-term storage. Dehydrating is useful since most commercially available dried fruits contain sulfites.
TIP! There is a great site at PickYourOwn.org that has photo-guided recipes, canning, freezing, drying and picking tips. If you grow anything in bulk, or love to cook in bulk, visit this site! You can also visit www.canningusa.com for great canning information!
Here you will find recipes for popular seasonal foods:
- Apples
- Artichokes
- Berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc)
- Corn
- Cucumbers
- Peaches
- Pumpkin
- Tomatoes
- Zucchini
Apples
Freeze: Yes
Can: Yes
Dehydrate: Yes
Here are some basic characteristics of some common apple varieties:
Red Delicious: Large, firm red apple with a sweet flavor.
Yellow Delicious: Large, firm yellow apple with a sweet flavor.
Jonathon: Medium, crisp semitart apple, with red near the top, descending to green lower down the fruit.
Granny Smith: Medium/small, crisp, tart apple with green color.
Gala: Medium, crisp semitart apple with yellow skin blushed with orange to red tinge.
From old-fashioned American apple pie to applesauce, apple chips, cinnamon apples and apple cider, apples come in many flavors to delight everyone. Here are some of our favorites.
Apple Sauce recipe for canning
More recipes at BestApples.com
Artichokes
Freeze: Yes
Can: Yes
Dehydrate: No
Artichoke freezing instructions
Berries
Freeze: Yes
Can: Yes
Dehydrate: Yes
Most recipes for a berry dish can substitute other berries – raspberry, blackberry, strawberry, blueberry, etc. and it’s perfectly fine to mix them.
Berry tips
- You may freeze or can jams.
- Don’t wash berries until just before you are going to use them.
- To freeze whole berries, lay in a single layer in a sheet cake pan and freeze overnight. When frozen, vacuum-seal or drop into Ziploc bags, removing as much air as you can.
- Blackberry is particularly good to use with game meats.
Pavlova with Lemon Curd and Berries
Lots of jam recipes
Lemon-Nut Torte with Summer Berries
Corn
Freeze: Yes
Can: Yes
Dehydrate: No
Corn can be parboiled and frozen for later use. I use frozen corn all year long, on or off the cob. Corn can be added to soups, chowders and stews, enchiladas or other vegetable dishes. For salad dishes, fresh is best.
Coconut Creamed Corn with Cilantro
Corn Soup Topped with Roasted Corn Guacamole (adapted from “Simply Mexican”)
Cucumbers
Freeze: No
Can: Yes
Dehydrate: No
Because a lot of retail pickles contain gluten, here are recipes to make your own.
Pumpkin
Freeze: Yes Can: Yes Dehydrate: No
Seeds, soups, puree, muffins and pie, pumpkin is cheap, flavorful and very nutritious.
Lynne’s AMAZING No-Bake Pumpkin Pie
Please note you should not can pumpkin puree or pumpkin butters, but you may freeze them. You may can pumpkin cubes, just not in a puree form due to bacteria.
Peaches
Freeze: Yes
Can: Yes
Dehydrate: Yes
Grill them, poach them, freeze them, can then, cobbler them or sauce them, peaches are naturally sweet and great all year long.
Grilled Peaches with Cinnamon Sugar
Honey-Lavender Poached Peaches
Frozen Peaches
Measurements – About 2 medium to large peaches = 1 cup sliced peaches. About 4 medium peaches = 1 cup pureed peach
Tomatoes
Freeze: No
Can: Yes
Dehydrate: Yes
Tomatoes are very versatile and can be cooked and canned to last many months. I can vast quantities of marinara sauce, tomato sauce and whole tomatoes for use throughout the year. To serve fresh, they are great for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
More recipes for canning, freezing and drying tomatoes.
Zucchini
Freeze: Yes
Can: Yes
Dehydrate: No
Stuff it, fry it, sauté it, bake it, grill it or freeze it; zucchini goes everywhere! Bake it into cakes, breads and muffins, tuck it into soups and sauces, fry it up or let it stand alone, zucchini is one of my, and my kid’s, favorites!
Potato and Zucchini Latkes/Pancakes
TIP! When I have a large batch of zucchini, I prebag the cut squash, onion and garlic into dinner-sized portions and freeze in Ziploc bags. Later, defrost and add the remaining ingredients for a quick side dish, soup vegetable packet or pasta topper.
