Melons. Green, orange, yellow, red . . . melons are the quintessential summertime sweet! Except, well, it’s not summer. Heck, it’s just barely spring! So, what’s a girl to do? The other day I went to the store and bought a couple of, what I thought were, pretty good melons. Tuscan. My favorite. Always guaranteed to be sweet, juicy and such a great flavor. It’s a party in my mouth! But, alas, I get home and cut those ripe beauties in half and . . . UGH! Not only is one bad (read pithy, dry, weird-looking, and just gross) but the second one is, too. I decided enough is enough. I’m not just throwing these into the garbage and chalking it up to my overly enthusiastic taste buds. Nope, I’m taking them back. So, I load up my four yucky melon halves and head back to the store. All primed and ready for a fight. Except, when I get there the lady at the front office says, “Oh, I’m so sorry that happened. Let me get the Produce Manager for you and he’ll help you find a couple of really good ones.” What? Is this what dreams are made of? Great Customer Service? Sure enough, he helps me find a couple of great melons and warns me off of the Tuscans for a while. Not only are they not “in season”, but none of them are good right now. (Of course, I want to say, “Well, then why carry them at all?”, but I didn’t. My “fight or flight” had gotten up and flow the coop.) And, YUM, they were both completely delicious – I don’t care what time of year it is. They were good. What’s the moral of this story? It’s two-fold. 1. Buy fruits and vegetables “in season”, whenever possible. Even strawberries are so much better when you buy them at the peak of their season, and not just year-round. Besides, that makes them that much more special? (I’m sure the English buffs out there are just cringing. But, this is how I roll.) There is a great book out called, “EatingWell in Season” and is compiled from the same folks at www.EatingWell.com. If you have any questions about what is in season, this is a great tool to answer those questions with recipes to boot! Another resource here in Texas is the Texas Certified Farmers Markets. […]
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