I know what you’re thinking: What on earth are persimmons? These bright orange fruits-that look a bit like tomatoes-are a mystery to most people, mainly because so few people have ever tasted one. Although delicious and full of fiber, beta carotene, and vitamin B, persimmons aren’t very popular; you don’t see this late Fall fruit on restaurant menus very often, but they’re naturally sweet and require no preparation, except a bit of waiting; both for ripening, as we’ll see below, and for coming into season: after a year of waiting, I got my first persimmons of the...

I may have found the perfect base for a delicious smoothie-and it’s big, bright and orange! That’s right, a pumpkin. Pumpkins are seasonal in Fall, local, inexpensive, and full of beta-carotene, iron, and potassium. All you need to do to use them in a smoothie is to cut the pumpkin into large chunks, steam them until soft, then let them cool and plop them into a blender in much the same way you would a banana. Pumpkins work well because they are starchy and smooth and naturally sweet. You can steam a large amount of pumpkin and store...

If you’ve been to your farmer’s market lately, you’ve probably seen green cardboard quart containers overflowing with purple-blue Concord grapes. The grapes look tempting and their perfumed smell draws you in, but try eating one and the powerful tartness is enough to make your jaws tingle. Plus, there is the chewy skin and big seeds to grapple with. Aside from making grape jelly, most of us don’t know what to do with these sensuous seasonal treats, but it’s worth figuring out how to eat Concords because of their remarkable health benefits. Concords are high in resveratrol; the heart-healthy...

I recently went for a stroll through the local farmer’s market with my friend Joy, who, in addition to being a cook at one of New York’s hottest restaurants-a place called Cortone- is as excited as I am about finding interesting wild foraged foods. We came across a vendor who was selling all kinds of foraged foods like milk thistle and wild mushrooms, and I spied an egg carton whose cups were filled with dusty, dark brown orbs. He told us they were black walnuts and that they cost five dollars for a dozen. We bought one dozen each. Joy...

I’ve lived in the same apartment for 13 years. It’s too long, really, seeing as there is no sink in the bathroom, and only one rack in the sturdy old oven that was here when I moved in. But the rent is reasonable, the six windows allow for all-day sunshine, and my landlord is an exceptionally kind Italian man. The other day, when I looked out of my kitchen window to see him whacking fruit from the fig tree in the backyard with a broomstick, he beckoned me to come down and take some of the fruit. Hardly believing my...

It might seem a bit early to start talking about holiday gift-giving, but I recently had an opportunity to make a great pre-Wintertime gift that I just couldn’t pass up. Let me start by saying that I favor homemade gifts. Growing up, we always made our own holiday cards, a custom I still follow when time permits. And as an adult, I find that homemade gifts are often a more personal way of expressing myself than buying something from a store. Homemade gifts do require some thought and extra time, but, especially with food, you can simplify your life by...

Fresh-pressed apple and pear cider; cider donuts; dandelion wine; pick-your-own blackberries; and homemade Purple Cow frozen yogurt, made with black raspberry and chocolate chunks. While this could easily be the list of items I’d request for my last meal, they are, in fact, just some of the locally grown and produced items a friend and I recently enjoyed at Russell Orchards in the town of Ipswich, Massachusetts, on the lovely Cape Ann. On a much-needed escape from New York, we headed to the Massachusetts coast for some sand dunes and salty air. A friend had recommended that we visit the...

I had heard that berry picking is a popular pastime in Oregon, but I didn’t fully understand why until I visited Portland during berry season this summer. The vendors at the Saturday farmer’s market in Portland were selling more varieties of berries in one place than I’ve ever seen in my life. Here is a list of the different berries I saw and tasted: Blueberries Cherries Currants Raspberries Boysenberries Blackberries Youngberries Marionberries Strawberries Other berries that I didn’t see that day-but which grow in the region-include loganberries, olallieberries, and huckleberries The sheer variety is incredible! Back home, we have easy access to only the Big Three: strawberries,...

This past weekend I celebrated finishing my cookbook, Lucid Food: Cooking For An Eco-Conscious Life (no, this is not a shameless plug for the book, it’s really part of the story). Writing a book can be an all-encompassing endeavor that takes up most of your focus and energy, and never seems to end. Consequently, I did not see nearly enough of many people I care about over the past year. So, with the book sent off to the printer, it was the perfect time to celebrate and invite missed friends to one low-maintenance event, in the small...