Northeast Regional Food Guide Fact Sheets

"Seasoning" Your Kitchen

Perhaps it's true that the simple day-to-day acts of individuals will assure a safe, beautiful and pleasurable world in the twenty-first century. And perhaps our most significant of those simple acts, the one that cumulatively but inexorably could lead our precarious world into a good and safe place, is cooking. Learning what foods are available throughout the year is the first challenge, and gaining the skill to use them in our homes is another. Meeting these challenges can be fun and fortunately, there are many easy ways to incorporate the seasonal bounty of the Northeast into your diet.

Many foods listed in the Northeast Regional Food Guide are available year round-milk, yogurt, and cheese; dry beans, nuts, eggs, poultry, fish, and meat; and bread, cereal, pasta, tortillas, and whole grains. But the foods from the fruit and vegetable groups are available seasonally. Thus eating fruits and vegetables from the Northeast means learning about the different forms in which they are available-fresh, canned, frozen, dried, or stored-during different seasons.

This fact sheet provides ideas for how to use fruits and vegetables as they become available season by season. Bon appetit!

Spring
It's exciting when spring produce becomes available because it means the long winter is really over. Enjoy eating lots of greens during the spring - they're very healthy. Turnip and mustard greens are an excellent source of vitamin A and calcium, as are oriental vegetables such as bok choi. Spring is the best time to enjoy local rhubarb and strawberries.

Try the following ideas:

  • Stir fry bok choi (Chinese cabbage): separate the leaves from the stalks and chop both coarsely. Cook quickly in a hot wok or frying pan with sesame oil, adding the stalks first and then the leaves. Season with soy sauce and serve over rice. For additional flavor and protein, try adding tofu, beef, pork, or chicken to the stir fry.
  • Saute mustard or other greens with garlic, onions, salt, and pepper. Serve as a side dish or over pasta or rice.
  • Enjoy fresh salads made with many greens. Lettuce, spinach, mustard, arugula, tat soi, mizuna, and dandelion can all be mixed together (sometimes called "mesclun") for a healthy and tasty spring salad.
  • Savor the first peas of the season raw at lunchtime or as a snack.
  • Many local herbs are at their peak in spring - use them in salad dressings and seasonings and in sauces for meat, fish, or poultry.

    Summer
    Summer is the peak of the season for northeastern fruit such as peaches, cherries, raspberries, blueberries, and melons. Many of our favorite vegetables such as tomatoes and sweet corn are best when picked at the peak of ripeness and eaten while still very fresh. This is a great time of year to visit a farmers market, roadside farm stand, or U-pick farm.

    Summer treats:

  • Eat fruit salad for breakfast, or for a dessert treat top it with nonfat vanilla yogurt.
  • Try a salad of fresh local tomatoes sliced and topped with chopped fresh basil and pressed garlic, or one of chopped peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and crumbled feta cheese.
  • Grill fresh sweet corn in the husk with your summertime barbecues. If the corn is very fresh, it needs very little cooking and can even be eaten raw.
  • Steam summer squash and top with Parmesan cheese and fresh basil for an easy summertime side dish.
  • Add fresh vegetables - onions, peppers, tomatoes, squash, and eggplant - to kebobs, or try all-vegetable kebobs at summer picnics and barbecues.
  • In very hot weather enjoy gazpacho - cold soup made from tomatoes and cucumbers.
  • Make pancakes with buckwheat, an important northeastern grain, and top with fresh northeastern berries for breakfast.

    Fall
    Fall is the peak time for broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. Broccoli thrives in the cool weather and is a good source of vitamin A and vitamin C. Fall is also a good time to enjoy many northeastern fruits such as grapes, pears, and apples.

    Savor fall produce:

  • Warm up with leek and potato soup.
  • Roast pumpkin seeds in a hot skillet, adding a little salt. But beware - this tasty treat is very high in fat and calories. So even though these seeds contain some important vitamins and minerals such as folic acid and iron, enjoy this snack only in moderation.
  • Cut fat from apple pie by avoiding fat-laden crust - make apple crisp instead. It's quicker, too.
  • For an easy meal saute chopped broccoli with garlic (add thinly sliced beef or chicken if you like) and toss with pasta.
  • Toss steamed cauliflower with chopped parsley and a little vinegar.
  • Drink hot apple cider for a real treat on a cool fall day.

    Winter
    Winter vegetables grow during the summer, are harvested in the fall, and can be stored for use throughout the winter. Some fruits, such as apples and pears, also store well during the winter. Many winter vegetables are old standards such as potatoes, onions, carrots, cabbage, beets, and winter squash. But many more that may be less familiar are nutritious and can add variety to your winter diet. Have you ever tried Jerusalem artichokes, parsnips, burdock, kohlrabi, celeriac, turnips, or rutabagas?

    Winter vegetables are nutritionally important. One whole potato supplies one-third of the RDA for vitamin B6 and vitamin C. One cup of cooked beets supplies one-quarter of the RDA for folic acid. One-half cup of baked butternut squash provides nearly 100 percent of the RDA for vitamin A, 50 percent of the RDA for vitamin C, and is a good source of potassium. One cup of raw Jerusalem artichoke provides 5.1 mg of iron, which is 50 percent of the RDA for men and children and 33 percent of the RDA for women. With good planning, it is possible to eat a nutritionally adequate diet by eating seasonally, even during the northeastern winter.

    Winter vegetables are easy to use:
  • Cut winter squash in half, scoop out the seeds, place upside down in one inch of water in a baking pan, and microwave for 10-15 minutes on high or bake in a conventional oven at 350ˇ for 30-45 minutes until soft. For a real treat, drizzle maple syrup over baked squash.
  • Shred carrots and red cabbage for a colorful winter salad - no lettuce necessary!
  • Cut root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, and rutabagas into half-inch rounds and steam or roast together for a tasty - and healthy - side dish. Season with dried rosemary for a real treat.
  • Combine potatoes, parsnips, carrots, and onions with chicken, beef, or beans to make a wonderfully nutritious and hearty stew.
  • Saute garlic and onions, add cubed carrots and turnips, and season with thyme and oregano for a delicious winter side dish.
  • Bake potatoes and top them with nonfat yogurt, chopped red onions, and shredded cheese for a quick and easy light meal or side dish.
  • Boil beets, peel them, then marinate in vinegar and garlic or try shredding raw beets into a salad for a healthy and colorful addition.
  • Use canned tomato paste or puree as a good source of vitamin C during the winter.
  • Peel and slice kohlrabi to replace broccoli (which is not harvested in the Northeast during the winter) in most recipes. Kohlrabi can be used cooked or raw and is excellent with carrot sticks at lunchtime or as a snack.
  • Replace celery, a summertime crop in the Northeast, with celeriac, a closely related root vegetable, as a seasoning in soups.
  • Blend fruits frozen from summer with low-fat yogurt to make a refreshing treat in the winter.

    Resources to Help you Season your Kitchen

    From Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Farm-Fresh, Seasonal Produce. Published by Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition (MACSAC). 1996. This resource was developed to help members of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms meet the challenge of eating seasonally and locally. Becuase the seasonal availability of produce in the Northeast is similar to that found in the Madison, WI area, this food book provides excellent information and useful recipes for seasonal and local eaters in our region. Direct all inquiries to Laurie McKean/ 1228 Rutledge St./ Madison, WI 53703. Phone: 608-251-8049.

    Recipes from an Ecological Kitchen - Healthy Meals for You and the Planet. By Lorna J. Sass. New York: William Morrow & Co., Inc., 1992. This cookbook emphasizes the use of regional and seasonal produce as well as other simple guiding principles of environmentally concious cooking.

    FoodBook - For a Sustainable Harvest. By Elizabeth Henderson and David Stern. This cook book provides nutrition information and recipes for a wide variety of common and not-so-common fruts and vegetable that grow each year on Elizabeth and DavidŐs CSA farm. Order from: Rose Valley Farm/ 4209 Covell Road/ Rose, NY 14542-0149.


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