Following is a guide to seasonal produce—the fruits, vegetables, and herbs used in my baking: where and when to look for them, how to choose the best, and how to store them so you get the most out of your ingredients.
SPRING
STRAWBERRIES
Strawberries are in season starting in late April or May in most parts of the country and nearly year-round in California and Florida, where most supermarket strawberries come from. While they're now ubiquitous regardless of season, strawberries are one of those fruits best obtained by picking them yourself—or at least by buying them from a local source. You can't drive far in most parts of the country without running into a small-scale strawberry farm, and there's probably one near enough that you can visit several times over the course of the season. Perfectly ripe strawberries are so delicate that commercial operations don't ship perfectly ripe strawberries. Since they don't ripen any further after they've been picked, supermarket strawberries tend to be underripe, too firm and/or rubbery, and not nearly as sweet as local berries.
STORAGE
Quite simply, don't store them unless you're making preserves or freezing them whole or sliced for later use in smoothies or sauces or jams. Refrigeration can make strawberries rubbery, so just keep them at room temperature and use them by the end of the day. If you must keep them longer than a day, put them in a sealed plastic bag lined with paper towels and refrigerate them. Wash strawberries just before using them (don't store them after washing, as the excess moisture encourages decay) and remove the green hulls and stems after washing so the flesh doesn't absorb too much of the rinse water.
RHUBARB
Rhubarb is one of the first signs that you've left winter behind, and one of the few fruits (technically a vegetable, but usually treated as a fruit) that actually does ripen in astronomical spring. The glorious streaky red, pink, and red-green stalks show up in cold-climate farmers' markets and in better grocers starting in early April, and in some parts of the country, the season goes through early July. (Greenhouse-grown rhubarb shows up in grocery stores year-round, but it's likely to be wan and limp, simply because turnover tends to be slower when there aren't local fresh strawberries—the classic partner of rhubarb—also available.) Choose very firm, crisp stalks and avoid any that are bendy or dried-out looking. The color can range from mostly green and white with a little pink to bright fuchsia to deep burgundy.
If there are any leaves or parts of leaves attached, remove and discard them before using the stalks, as the leaves are toxic. Wash the stalks well before using them, but don't peel them—they break down so much as they cook that the structure of the somewhat more fibrous outer layers is welcome.
STORAGE
Rhubarb will keep fairly well for about a week in an unsealed plastic bag or other container in the refrigerator crisper drawer. It also freezes beautifully, so while it's in season and plentiful, chop it into pieces, put it in zip-tight plastic freezer bags, and freeze for up to six months.
CHERRIES
I turn to sweet cherries like Bing and Rainier when they're to be paired with dark chocolate, whose pleasant bitterness is mellowed and smoothed out by the sweet fruit. They are in season from late spring through August. They can be found in grocery stores all over the country, of course, but the ones you buy locally will be sweeter, fresher-tasting, and plumper, so it's worth seeking out a small-scale grower near you.
Sour cherries—tender, juicy, almost translucent bright red "pie cherries"—are the unsung heroes of the dessert world. Their distinctive tartness offsets the sugar in sweets like pies, cobblers, cakes, and pastries in which sweet cherries would be bland or cloying. Sour cherries are in season only for a couple weeks in midsummer and aren't readily available in supermarkets, so when you see them, snag them. Try your luck at farmers' markets or Middle Eastern markets, or find a pick-your-own orchard and bring them home by the bucketful to pit and preserve or freeze for later.
STORAGE
Use cherries—especially sour cherries—as soon as you can after picking or buying them; if you must keep them for more than a day, put them in a paper bag or unsealed plastic container in the refrigerator. Rinse the cherries, pull the stems off, and pit them just before using or freezing them in airtight containers or zip-tight freezer bags.
SUMMER
RASPBERRIES, BLACKBERRIES & BOYSENBERRIES
Raspberries are the royalty of the fruit world: fragile, bursting with juice, fragrant, and more sweet than tart. The main challenge of baking with them is to keep from eating your entire stash straight out of hand before you get to the baking. Blackberries, whether they're one of the huge cultivated varieties or smaller wild ones, are the bramble berries of the people: usually fairly tart, seedier than raspberries (not that there's anything wrong with that), with a deeper fruit fragrance.
The boysenberry is actually a hybrid cross between a raspberry, blackberry, and loganberry that was probably developed in the early twentieth century in California (by a grower named Rudolph Boysen). Boysenberries look like small-lobed, elongated blackberries, and when perfectly ripe and literally bursting with juice, they're remarkably sweet, with just enough tartness to offset the sugar.
Raspberries and blackberries ripen in mid to late summer and, because they're so delicate and prone to spoilage, it makes most sense to either pick your own or buy them from a local source. They can also be quite expensive in grocery stores, even at the height of the season. Boysenberries have a shorter season, from about late May to early July, and you probably won't find them in grocery stores at all. Look for boysenberries in farmers' markets, cultivate a relationship with someone who grows them, or plant some brambles yourself.
STORAGE
Bramble berries do not keep or travel well, so use them as soon as you can after getting them into your kitchen. Keep them in shallow unsealed containers or paper bags lined with paper towels in the refrigerator—don't pile them too deep or the bottom ones will get crushed under the weight of the others. They'll keep only for one to two days. The juices tend to seep out of the thin skins at the slightest provocation, so be gentle with them, handling them only as much as is absolutely necessary; rinse them briefly just before using and pat them dry or let them air-dry.
BLUEBERRIES & HUCKLEBERRIES
There are two basic kinds of blueberries: high bush and low bush, which, as you'd imagine, describe the plants themselves. Cultivated blueberries are generally in the high bush (or half-high) category, and the berries are large, plump, and sweet, if sometimes a bit wan. Wild blueberries, native to the northeastern United States, are low bush—almost groundcovers—and produce small, firm, sweet-tart berries with exceptional flavor. Huckleberries are essentially the wild blueberries of the Pacific Northwest; they're in season from mid-August to mid-September. There are several varieties of huckleberry—deep red or dark purple, small or large, occurring in clusters or singly on the stems of the bushy plants—but the sweetest and most desirable are the larger, dark purple thin-leaf huckleberries. Some gardeners have had success transplanting wild huckleberry bushes, but for the most part, they're foraged. Go out and pick them yourself (check the USDA/Forest Service website for information about harvesting wild berries in national forests—there are rules about how many you can extract without a permit) or buy them at farmers' markets or roadside stands.
As with all berries, blueberries and huckleberries should be deeply colored—with no green or white areas remaining—when perfectly ripe. Usually the berries will release from the plant easily when they're ready; if it's hard to pull one off when you're picking, leave it and move on. If you're buying berries, check the container to make sure there are no crushed berries at the bottom.
STORAGE
Blueberries and huckleberries won't last long after picking. Keep them refrigerated in a paper bag or a shallow, loosely covered container lined with a paper towel, and don't pile them more than a few layers deep to avoid crushing the ones on the bottom. They'll last in the refrigerator for about two days. Rinse them gently just before using.
PLUMS
There are hundreds of types of plums, and any of the sweeter dessert plums will work wonderfully in these recipes. They ripen at different times throughout the summer—some as early as May, some as late as October.
Look for bright color in the skin, whether yellow, orange, red, dark purple, or green (in the case of greengage plums), with a slight softness at the stem and blossom ends. Most varieties of plums will sport a faint white coating of wax that forms naturally as the fruit ripens. If it's still present (it'll be most apparent on dark-skinned plums), it's a sign that the fruit has been minimally handled; the bloom rinses off easily. Some will be tarter than others, and if you're buying them at a supermarket—where you won't necessarily be able to ask the grower about them—the best way to determine what you're getting is to smell the blossom end, which should have a strong fruity aroma; better yet, buy one and taste it before filling your basket.
STORAGE
Plums will ripen and soften off the tree, though they won't sweeten considerably. If yours are still quite firm when you get them home, keep them at room temperature in a bowl so they get plenty of air circulation, or in an open paper bag. Once they're ripe, they can be refrigerated in a paper bag for several days. Rinse them just before using; there's no need to peel them.
PEACHES & NECTARINES
You might be surprised to learn that aside from the fact that peaches have fuzzy skins and nectarines smooth, there's no substantive difference between them. Just one gene separates them, and if you plant a peach seed, a nectarine tree may well grow from it (and vice versa). When used in desserts, peaches are often peeled; there's no need to peel nectarines, which gives them a slight advantage, convenience-wise. In late summer it's possible to find good peaches and nectarines at grocery stores, especially those that offer locally grown fruit. (I'm lucky enough to live in a part of the country where people know their stone fruit and demand the best from the produce managers at their everyday supermarkets.) Your best bet, though, is to go straight to the source, either a you-pick orchard or a farmers' market. Commercial growers have been conditioned over the years to a marketplace that rewards looks over flavor (hence the prevalence of firm, crisp fruit and the early-forming red tinge seen in the skin of modern peach varieties, which obscures the background color that would indicate ripeness) and sweetness over balance (without a tart component, extra-sweet supermarket peaches can lack complexity and interest).
Entire books have been written about how to choose the best peaches and nectarines, but here are a few tips for picking these fruits at farmers' markets or off the tree:
• Don't be deterred by a few blemishes or bruises, but beware of broken skin (or at least resolve to use those fruits immediately, as they'll spoil quickly).
• They should be intensely aromatic—if the fruit is ripe and soft but you can't smell it from several yards away, consider taking a pass.
• Peach and nectarine varieties each have quite short seasons within a longer period from early summer to early fall, and growers usually diversify their crops to expand production time. According to fruit guru David Karp, later-ripening varieties tend to yield the best fruit: Longer maturation times allow for more sugar development and depth of flavor.
STORAGE
Firm, underripe peaches and nectarines should never be refrigerated—the cold will make the flesh mealy and prevent ripening. Keep them at room temperature in a shallow bowl until they've softened; this might take a few days. After that, they can be put in a plastic bag or other container and refrigerated for a couple days. Rinse just before using, and refrain from cutting them until the last minute, as the flesh will start to brown with exposure to air. To peel peaches, bring a large pot of water to a boil and drop them in. Cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute, then transfer them to a bowl of ice water to cool quickly and slip off the peels. If you've gotten a batch that doesn't peel easily, or that were underripe when you blanched them, either leave the peel on or use a sharp paring knife or serrated vegetable peeler.
USING YOUR REFRIGERATOR DRAWERS
Your refrigerator probably has one or two drawers at the bottom of the main chamber, maybe with little fruit and vegetable icons on them. And if yours is a newer model, each drawer probably also has a sliding lever indicating high or low humidity. Here's a good rule of thumb for using those drawers and levers to their best advantage: Set one drawer for high humidity and one for low humidity. Put produce that wilts in the high-humidity drawer and produce that rots in the low-humidity drawer. Also, put vegetables that don't emit ethylene gas in the high-humidity drawer.
HIGH HUMIDITY/NOT ETHYLENE PRODUCING:
• Dark greens
• Lettuces
• Fresh herbs
• Scallions
• Cabbage family (broccoli, cauliflower, etc)
LOW HUMIDITY/ ETHYLENE PRODUCING:
• Apples
• Pears
• Grapes
• Summer squash
• Tomatoes
• Citrus
APRICOTS
Apricots, which ripen in early to midsummer, are one of the trickiest fruits to pick. Almost all the apricots sold in the United States are grown in California (the trees need a warm, dry climate, but its early-spring blossoms are susceptible to frost), which means that unless you live in California, most of what you'll find in grocery stores will have been shipped while underripe. Apricots will ripen and soften after they've been picked, but they won't become sweeter, so often the supermarket specimens will ripen just fine but taste bland. Visit a pick-your-own orchard so you can select tree-ripened apricots yourself, or seek them out at farmers' markets.
Most of the apricots sold fresh commercially are Patterson apricots, which travel well but aren't incredibly appealing. Probably the best variety of apricot is the older heirloom Blenheim or Royal apricot, which is the kind that's often dried because it's so sweet, fragrant, and intensely flavorful. Fresh Blenheim apricots are rare finds—and the best place to grow them in California happens to overlap with high-rent Silicon Valley—but they are becoming more readily available in farmers' markets in the western United States. Start looking for them in late June.
Apricots should have a deep orange color, and ripe ones will be soft but not mushy and will smell fruity. Avoid apricots with green areas, as they likely won't ripen further after picking.
STORAGE
Store unripe (firm) apricots at room temperature in a bowl that allows plenty of air circulation, and they should ripen in a few days; to speed up the process, put them in a loosely closed paper bag. Ripe apricots can be kept in the refrigerator for about a week. Rinse them just before using; there's no need to peel them.
TOMATOES
Tomatoes have a long history of being used in dessert contexts—from sweet tomato jams to green tomato pies studded with raisins and nuts. There's no real trick to finding the most flavorful summer-ripe tomatoes: Whether they're heirlooms or hybrid varieties, and whatever color they are, they should smell like tomatoes, the skin should be bright and vibrant-looking (healed cracks and deformations are generally fine as long as the skin isn't broken, which makes them subject to quick decay), and they should be heavy and not too firm. Your garden, your neighbor's garden, and the farmers' market are the best places to find the most excellent specimens, probably in that order. Some growers will have greenhouse-grown tomatoes outside the height of the mid- to late-summer season, but in my experience, these aren't quite as intense in flavor as field-grown fruit (yes, tomatoes are fruits). Green tomatoes can be found in many markets year-round but are for the most part a late-summer, early-fall crop: They're the tomatoes that are picked green because they won't have time to ripen before the weather turns cold and freezes the plants.
STORAGE
Keep ripe tomatoes at room temperature and don't refrigerate them unless you have a cut one you haven't used up. They taste best if they've ripened on the vine, but if you've got a few that are green or not quite ripe, put them in a single layer in a paper bag, and if they're completely green, add an apple or banana to the bag, as it will release ethylene gas and speed the process. Green tomatoes should be full size and quite firm; they can be stored in the refrigerator in a loosely closed plastic bag.
ZUCCHINI & SUMMER SQUASH
While zucchini has long been a quick bread staple, it and its yellow squash cousins are still underappreciated in the dessert world. It's true that out-of-season grocery-store zucchini has little use in sweet treats apart from its role as a bland filler (or spice and sugar delivery vehicle) in zucchini bread, but good zucchini and summer squash, matured in the heat of mid and late summer by a local farmer or gardener, can do so much more for your baked goods. Varieties that are bred for flavor rather than for their transport or keeping properties are sweeter, with an almost floral fragrance that lends itself well to dessert making. Try them in cakes that will allow their flavor to shine through, and you won't be disappointed.
There are no hard-and-fast rules for choosing a dessert-worthy zucchini or summer squash. Good zucchini come in a variety of shades of green, from dark forest green all over to light green and white striped or spotted. Yellow squash of the best quality could be pale yellow or almost orange, and many farmers will grow several varieties. Your best bet is to head to a farmers' market and start asking questions. Most farmers will be able to point you to the sweetest and most flavorful specimens. Look for shiny, bright skin with few blemishes. Choose zucchini and squash that are firm and not at all soft or bendable and that show no signs of shriveling or drying.
STORAGE
Handle squash gently to keep from breaking the often-delicate skin and inviting deterioration. Keep zucchini and summer squash in a zip-tight plastic bag or other container in the refrigerator, preferably in the crisper drawer, for up to five days. Wash them well just before using.
FRUITS THAT RIPEN AFTER HARVEST
Some fruits and vegetables are climacteric, which means they will continue to ripen (though not necessarily become sweeter) after they've been picked from the tree, bush, or vine. They include:
• Apples
• Apricots
• Peaches
• Nectarines
• Pears
• Persimmons
• Plums
• Tomatoes
These can all be picked while still underripe, as long as they're mature, full size, and not too green. They can be ripened at home, at room temperature, in a shallow container that allows air to circulate around them (a colander works well). To speed the process, put the fruit in a loosely closed paper bag to trap the ethylene gas the fruit gives off; the gas encourages ripening.
Figs are technically climacteric, but ripening them off the tree is hit-or-miss. They should be picked as close to completely ripe, as soft as possible.
CARROTS
Carrots are widely available year-round and can be stored seemingly forever in the crisper drawer or root cellar, but they're at their sweetest and most flavorful right after they're harvested. Carrot season (yes, there is a carrot season) is late summer and early fall for mature carrots and late spring into summer for true baby carrots. Look for unusual varieties in good grocery stores and farmers' markets, and choose ones with darker coloring for more flavor—why not use deep purple carrots in your cake?
If the green tops are still attached, the foliage should be bright and fresh-looking, not wilted. The roots themselves should be firm and crisp, not pliable. Minor blemishes and imperfections are fine.
STORAGE
Remove the green tops, if any, and put the carrots in a loosely closed plastic bag; store in the refrigerator crisper drawer for several weeks. Scrub and peel them just before using.
CORN
Stop at a roadside farm stand in late summer just about anywhere in the country and odds are you'll get into a conversation—with the farmer or with other customers—about what makes a good ear of corn. Some prefer the supersweet modern hybrids with almost absurdly cloying names like Peaches and Cream, Ambrosia, and Kandy Korn. Some go for the ones that feature a more traditional corn flavor, while still being quite sweet, like the classic Silver Queen. For our dessert-baking purposes, any sweet, tender variety will work well. Definitely seek it out in summer at farmers' markets or roadside stands—corn out of season has likely been traveling for days, the sugar content falling all the while.
Inspect each cob, making sure the husks aren't too loose or dried out, and pulling back the husks at the top of the cob to see that the kernels are well formed and plump.
STORAGE
Store the ears still in their husks in a zip-tight plastic bag or other container in the refrigerator for no more than three days. Corn freezes very well: Blanch the whole cobs in boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes, transfer them to ice water to cool, then cut off the kernels and freeze in freezer-safe containers or zip-tight plastic freezer bags for up to a year.
BEETS
For some reason, beets, though they're the sweetest of all vegetables, are rarely used in desserts, an oversight I hope to correct here. They have a distinctive earthy, minerally flavor that subtly highlights dark chocolate. In late summer, farmers will be pulling the first mature beets from the ground, and this is the time to enjoy them at their best. Supermarket beets are fine, but they might have been in storage for a while; if you spy fresh beets at a farmers' market, snatch them up. Use the roots in a cake and save the tops to sauté with garlic and olive oil as a quick side dish.
Beets are best purchased with the green tops still attached and still bright green and unwilted, which means they're freshly dug. The roots should have a deep burgundy color and no blemishes and the long taproot at the end should still be present.
STORAGE
Remove the tops to keep them from drawing moisture from the roots and store tops and roots separately in zip-tight plastic bags or sealed containers in the refrigerator. Use the tops within a couple days; the roots will keep for up to two weeks. Peel them just before using.
FALL
APPLES
You really can't say you're living a full life unless, when you encounter a variety of apple you've never seen before, you pick it up and try it. In farmers' markets across the country, from August through October, people are rediscovering the beauty of … well, ugly apples, much as in recent years misshapen, homely tomatoes have gained favor with consumers who value flavor over appearance. True, in supermarkets Red Delicious still reigns supreme, but even there you'll likely have many more options than you would have just a few years ago. There's no way I can tell you what the best apple for eating out of hand is. You might like the deep, tart-sweet flavor of a crunchy Winesap or Arkansas Black; you might prefer the tender snap of the ultrasweet Honeycrisp; you might enjoy the mild, unassuming sweetness of a Fuji; you might even get your kicks with a puckery-tart Granny Smith or the astringent Mutsu. Any of these are great baking apples: They'll hold their shape and contribute distinctive flavor, whether sweet, tart, floral, spicy, or otherwise, to your cake or pie. The only apples you should steer clear of when baking—other than Red Delicious, which has little to recommend it apart from its classic-apple aesthetic—are those that readily break down when cooked (use them for applesauce instead); these include McIntosh, Empire, Rome, and Cortland apples.
Because apple cultivars vary so greatly, there are no hard-and-fast rules for picking ones you're sure to like other than trial and error. Ask the growers for a taste, or at least a verbal description of what their apples taste like and how they respond to cooking. Blemishes are fine, but unless you don't mind a bit of trimming and intend to use the apples right away, steer clear of fruit with bruises or soft spots or worm holes. Some people say that apples last longer off the tree if their stems are still attached, but it's debatable whether this should have much effect on your decision-making process.
STORAGE
Many apple varieties are great for long-term storage—in fact, most of the apples you see in grocery stores outside of apple season have been stored since fall. Unless you're picking your own, you probably won't be bringing home unripe apples, but if you do, leave them at room temperature for a few days before refrigerating them in a zip-tight plastic bag or other container, where ripe apples will keep for at least two weeks. For long-term storage of large quantities, wrap each apple individually in newspaper and stack them in shallow layers in boxes; keep them in a cold cellar just above freezing and they'll last for several months. Rinse apples well just before using them and wait until the last minute to peel and cut them, as the flesh will darken quickly upon exposure to air.
PUMPKINS & BUTTERNUT SQUASH
Jack-o'-lantern pumpkins are not meant to be eaten; they're bred purely for size and, aside from the seeds, they don't make good eating—the flesh is fibrous and flavorless. Sugar pumpkins, also known as pie pumpkins, on the other hand, are a different thing altogether: These small gourds—about the diameter of a dinner plate—are grown for sweetness and feature a strong, distinctive pumpkin flavor. Butternut squash, those creamy-peach-colored hard squashes, are usually not quite as sweet, but they have a lovely dense texture that makes them excellent in desserts.
Pumpkins and butternut squash are available starting in early fall in farmers' markets and at roadside stands all over the country, and you'll find them in the produce section of any supermarket (not with the jack-o'-lantern pumpkins out front). Local growers might offer different heirloom varieties, but in most cases, a supermarket specimen will work just fine.
When buying pumpkins for cooking, be sure they're labeled "sugar" or "pie" pumpkins. The skin should be tight, smooth, and bright orange or deeper reddish orange, depending on the type, with few blemishes. They should be heavy for their size. Butternut squash should also feel heavy, which will indicate not only freshness but a smaller seed cavity and more edible flesh. If you're buying by the pound, the following trick might not matter much, but if you're buying whole squash, choose a butternut with a longer, thicker neck (at the stem end) and smaller bulb (the rounded part at the blossom end): You'll get more flesh that way, since the neck is solid and the bulb is hollow and full of seeds.
STORAGE
Pumpkins and butternut squash (indeed most hard winter squash) will keep for at least a month at cool room temperature. Cooked and pureed pumpkin flesh freezes very well: Put it in airtight containers or zip-tight plastic freezer bags and keep it for up to a year. Both pumpkins and butternut squash have tough skins. Either roast or steam them whole or halved and scoop the pulp from the skins, or use a vegetable peeler or sharp knife to remove the peel before you cook the flesh.
KEEPING FRESH HERBS FRESH
With a bit of care, it's easy to make sure your precious herbs last as long as possible. There are two main kinds of herbs, tender (watery stems) and woody (stiffer stems), and they should be treated differently.
TENDER HERBS
• Basil
• Mint
• Lemon verbena
• Cilantro
• Tarragon
WOODY HERBS
• Thyme
• Rosemary
• Marjoram
• Lavender
• Sage
In general, it's best not to wash herbs until just before using. For tender herbs, trim off the bottoms of the stems and put them in a jar of cold water. Keep basil at room temperature. For mint, lemon verbena, cilantro, or tarragon, put a plastic bag loosely over the bouquet, secure it to the mouth of the jar with a rubber band, and refrigerate.
For woody herbs with stiffer stems, dampen a paper towel and loosely wrap the bunch of herbs in it; put the packet in a plastic bag or wrap it in plastic wrap and keep it in the refrigerator crisper drawer.
SWEET POTATOES
By state law, you can't live in Georgia if you don't adore sweet potatoes. Luckily, they're among the easiest vegetables to love. Sugary, yes, but the best will have a minerally, earthy undertone, with fruity top notes—I know it may sound like I'm talking about a top-shelf alcoholic spirit, but we do take our sweet potatoes seriously here. Excellent ones will be available in farmers' markets in mid to late fall, and you'll likely find a host of different types in a rainbow of colors, from bright purple with white flesh, to the standard orange on orange, to cream on white. Try them all to see which ones you prefer (any will work well in my cake recipes), or ask the farmers to tell you about the cultivars they're growing and why they like them. In supermarkets, you'll usually find at least two types: the regular orange Beauregard, which has a mild flavor and light texture, and the narrow, deeply colored Red Garnet or Jewel varieties, which tend to be sweeter with dense flesh.
Most sweet potatoes you'll find in markets will have been cured for a period of time after they were pulled from the ground; this means that all the scratches and minor injuries sustained as a result of spade-to-tuber contact during harvest will have dried and healed to an extent. Pass on any that have fresh gashes as well as those that appear wrinkled or withered, which indicates advanced age. Otherwise, lumpy, misshapen, and odd-looking are all fair game.
STORAGE
Sweet potatoes are easy—just keep them at cool room temperature in an open container to prevent excess moisture from forming on the surface. They'll last for at least a couple weeks. You can refrigerate sweet potatoes in a paper bag or loosely closed plastic bag if you need to keep them longer. Scrub them just before using; they do need to be peeled, either before cooking if you're chopping them first or after cooking if you're roasting or boiling them whole.
WINTER
LEMONS, ORANGES, GRAPEFRUIT & KUMQUATS
Lemons and oranges are among the most versatile and beloved ingredients in desserts, and while they're available year-round, they're at their best in winter—few scents are more evocative of the season than the spray of oil misting from an orange as you peel it.
The most common variety of lemon in grocery stores is Eureka, also called Quatre Saisons because the grafted trees produce fruit prolifically throughout the year. Meyer lemons, which have a floral aroma and are less acidic than standard lemons, are becoming more widely available in better supermarkets. They're worth seeking out during their comparatively short season, around December through May.
In my experience, the juiciest lemons are those that have smooth, thinner skin and are more spherical than oblong. If you're going to be using the zest of lemons or oranges (and you should be, or at least saving it in the freezer for later), consider choosing organically grown fruits, as the outer peel can retain pesticides even after thorough washing.
You can use any kind of orange in my recipes. Valencia oranges are grown to be good for juicing, but they don't yield the best zest or flesh. Navel oranges are ideal for eating out of hand and for the zest. Sweet, red-fleshed varieties like Cara Cara and blood oranges yield beautiful blushcolored juices.
There's little difference in flavor among types of grapefruit—pink, white, and the Texas "Ruby" varieties are all interchangeable.
Round or oval kumquats—which look like large-grape-sized oranges—are a traditional fruit used in Lunar New Year celebrations in Asia, where small potted kumquat trees are given as gifts in midwinter. They have a slightly sweet peel and very sour flesh, usually with a large seed or two that will need to be poked or squeezed out if you're using kumquats whole in a recipe.
STORAGE
Citrus fruits keep well in the refrigerator, best in one of the lower drawers, for several weeks. (Grapefruit can be stored at cool room temperature for about a week.) Don't store citrus in an airtight container or zip-tight plastic bag, which will promote rotting; make sure air can circulate around the fruit.
CRANBERRIES
Vaccinium macrocarpon—the standard cranberry—is grown primarily in the northeastern United States, especially in New Jersey and Massachusetts, where the particular soil and water conditions required by cranberry vines are close to ideal (commercial growers go to great lengths to reproduce those conditions elsewhere). The vines are cultivated in "bogs," glacier-formed kettle holes lined with impermeable clay and filled with layers of crushed rock, peat, and sand. Most cranberries are wet harvested in flooded bogs, but the ones sold as fresh whole cranberries (rather than as juice, canned, or as ingredients in other processed foods) are usually dry harvested. Look for them starting in mid-September and through November. Make sure the cranberries are bright colored and firm, not soft—they should bounce when you drop them onto the counter.
STORAGE
Fresh cranberries will keep in an airtight container or zip-tight plastic bag in the refrigerator for at least a month; be sure to pick out any softened ones before you use them. Cranberries are easily frozen in zip-tight plastic freezer bags and can be used straight from the freezer—rinse them just before you use them.
PEARS
The most common pears are the earlier-ripening green-reddish-yellow Bartlett pears; they're juicy and soft and break down readily when cooked. Eat them raw or use them for pear sauce. Anjou pears are short-necked, green or red, firm, and sweet, perfect for poaching whole. Rust-colored Bosc, with its matte-textured skin and grainy flesh, has a pretty elongated neck and a firmness that makes it good for poaching or using in baked goods in which you want the pieces to hold their shape. Comice pears are round and green, with a smooth, firm, juicy, fine-textured flesh—great for eating raw or using in baked goods.
Look for local pears in late-summer and fall farmers' markets—even outside the major pear-producing states of Washington and Oregon, pears are relatively easy to grow. When choosing pears, don't worry about a few brown marks on the skin; as long as they're not deeply bruised, they'll be fine.
STORAGE
Pears are harvested from late summer to late fall, but some varieties (like Anjou, Bosc, and Comice) are good keepers and can be stored well into winter if picked when slightly unripe and kept under heavy refrigeration; in fact, these winter pears actually benefit from spending at least a few weeks in storage after they've been picked. Let them ripen for a few days at room temperature, until the flesh is just barely soft around the neck near the stem. They won't necessarily change color when ripe. Bartlett pears can be stored unripe but not quite as long as the winter pears; they'll turn from green to golden when ripe.
POMEGRANATES
The pomegranate is native to Persia and is one of the most historically meaningful fruits, featuring prominently in myths and legends—from its supposed beginnings in the blood of Adonis, to its role in the ancient Greek story of Persephone, who ate pomegranate seeds in the Underworld and was thus condemned to stay there for half the year (hence fall and winter), to the Hebrew Bible's Song of Solomon and its status as one of the Seven Species of Israel.
You probably won't find pomegranates in your local farmers' market, but they'll be available all fall and into winter in most good supermarkets. Also look for them in Asian grocery stores, where they might be less expensive (if a bit smaller). The most important indicator of a good pomegranate is weight: the heavier, the better for juicy seeds. The skin's color may be bright pink to dark red to tannish brown; there are white and black pomegranates, but they are rare outside the Middle East. Some varieties of pomegranate yield typical garnet-colored seeds; some have pale pink or white seeds.
The best way to separate the seeds (technically the arils) from the skin and white pith and membrane that surround them is to use a sharp paring knife to cut a small cone-shaped piece from the top to reveal the lines of pith that separate the sections filled with arils. Score the outside of the skin from top to bottom along the lines of pith, keeping the cut shallow, so you cut into as few of the arils as possible, then submerge the pomegranate in a bowl of cold water and use your hands to pull it apart into sections. (Doing this under water will keep the deep-red juice from splattering and staining countertops and clothes.) Continue to separate the membrane from the arils, letting the arils sink to the bottom of the bowl and the membrane and pith float to the surface of the water to be scooped out and discarded. Drain the seeds in a colander.
STORAGE
Whole pomegranates can be kept in a loosely closed plastic bag or container in the refrigerator for up to a month. The separated, drained seeds can be refrigerated for up to a week or frozen for several months.
PARSNIPS
Closely related to and as sweet as or sweeter than carrots, these snowy white winter root vegetables should be used in desserts much more than they are. Try them in place of carrots or even sweet potatoes or pumpkin in cakes and pies. You can also simply caramelize them in a sauté pan with butter and a pinch of sweet spices, maybe with a squeeze of citrus and drizzle of honey.
Parsnips are a cold-weather farmers' market staple and are at their sweetest after they've experienced a hard frost or two in the ground: The cold encourages them to convert their starches to sugar, so keep an eye on the almanac. Look for roots that are heavy and stiff, not bendable, preferably with fresh-looking greens still attached.
Take the time to peel parsnips (mostly to get rid of the hairy side roots), then quarter them lengthwise and use the peeler or a sharp knife to scrape out the center core, which can be not only woody and tough but bitter.
STORAGE
Parsnips will keep for several weeks in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator—just like carrots.
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