The Garden’s Story

Cooking with vegetables is all about cooking with the seasons. Mother Nature has cleverly planned it so that foods from the garden that ripen at the same time inherently taste good together. They are young, light, crunchy, and crisp in the spring; shouting the awakening of the earth, robust, and luscious when filled with summer sunshine’s warmth; and deeply rooted when headed for cover in the fall and winter.

Vegetables are playing an ever-increasing role in everyday menus for Americans. No longer just the “color” on the plate, they’re often the main event! It is consumers who have made it happen by telling the marketplace just what they wanted: first by actively asking for better quality and being willing to put our money where our mouth is, and second, by making farmers’ markets and stands a regular part of the weekly food shopping regimen, singing the praises of organic and local produce, especially those with an heirloom lineage. Today, for the first time since victory gardens in the 1940s, we’re finding space to grow a few tomato plants, some lettuces, herbs, radishes, carrots, alpine strawberries, even sweet corn right outside the kitchen door. We’ve all learned just how fabulous produce that only travels a few feet after picking to table can taste. And, we want it as often as possible.