Eat This Now—Tuesday 04/06/10
2010
Best if Used By 04/12/10
Eat This Now for Tuesday April 6th, 2010 features: Green Beans, Lemons, Rhubarb, Ataulfo Mangos, and Green Squash.
1. Green Beans
What vegetables get you thinking Spring? How ’bout fresh Green Beans! Time to put away those winter casserole recipes and break out the spring and summer Green Bean salads and sides. The best part of all is that now will be a fantastic time to buy them. Green Beans have been extremely expensive the past couple months because of crop failure in Florida following the January freeze, leaving Mexico as really the only area to supply North America. But the new crop in Florida is finally ready and coming on like crazy! Expect to see in-store specials and ads as snappy as the Green Beans in the next few weeks at $.99 to $1.69 per pound. You can’t find excitement like that in a can!
2. Lemons
Warm weather is expected in much of the country this week. Why not enjoy a slowed-down moment on your deck, porch or balcony with a tall glass of homemade fresh Lemonade? Organic and Conventional Lemons from California are good quality and full of juice right now. Here’s the simple way I like to do it:
- squeeze the juice of 2lbs of Organic Lemons into a tall pitcher
- save 1 or 2 lemons to slice into thin circles to add to the pitcher
- fill the pitcher with ice-cold water
- sweeten to taste by stirring in sugar or agave
3. Rhubarb
A vegetable for dessert? Indeed! Rhubarb is tart and bold – the perfect compliment for strawberries in sweet pastries, to make into a tangy sauce and even for homemade wine-coolers (so, I hear). New crop Organic and Conventional Rhubarb is being harvested in the Pacific Northwest. And it won’t be long before Rhubarb will be showing up in CSA’s and Farmer Markets across the Mid-West, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
Here’s a video with more about Rhubarb and a Crumble recipe too:
4. Ataulfo Mangos
You haven’t had really good Mango until you’ve enjoyed a perfectly ripe Ataulfo Mango, sometimes branded as Champagne Mangos – so sticky-sweet, so creamy… mmmmm! These small yellow beauties are in season from Mexico now both Conventionally and Organically. Ataulfo Mangos are picked light green and ripen to a deep golden yellow skin color, getting some wrinkles when they’re ready to eat.
Seek these out, and when you find them here’s a refresher video on how to cut your Mangos:
5. Green Squash
The quality on Organic and Conventional Green Squash (aka Zucchini) from Mexico has been sharp – dark green and firm. Now, post-freeze production is starting in Florida too. Grab some for the grill this week. Trim the ends, halve long-ways, brush with oil, a few shakes of salt and pepper and you’re ready!
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