What’s in Season: Summer!

Summer is officially here!

Early summer can be confusing, we get teased with hot days followed by gray cool days as we await for the warm weather to finally stick. Once mid-summer hits, we know those cool days are over, and are ready for fun in the sun! Then late summer comes and we savor the last few weeks of hot weather as the days start to shorten into early fall. 

With these weather shifts also come shifts in the produce we find locally. Strawberries are usually ripe and sweet in early-mid summer and continue to be harvested into later months, with melon and stone fruits like peaches, apricots, and plums popping up in late summer. We don’t see veggies like zucchini until mid-summer and we have to wait for all the way until late July/early August for those juicy tomatoes, eggplant, corn, and peppers.

While you can eat these year-round or earlier in the season before they are locally harvested, it’s nice to know what truly is in season locally to you. When you eat produce grown and harvested nearby, it will taste 1000x better and has higher concentrations of nutrients.

Read more on the benefits of eating seasonal produce in my Spring blog post here!

The transition from Spring to Summer

In spring we were crawling out of the dark winter moving from hearty soups, stews, and foods to lighter, brighter meals. The weather was still chilly, so light soups and hot foods were still appealing. Now that the weather is getting hotter, you’re likely craving lots of fresh veggies, salads, and refreshing fruits.

Our bodies have a really great way of telling us what it needs through what we crave. Since it’s hot during the summer and we’re likely sweating more and dehydrated, you might crave veggies and fruits with high water content (cucumber, celery, tomato, fennel, pineapple, watermelon, etc…). You also might notice you aren’t as hungry or have a lower appetite for hotter weather. That’s because our bodies don’t have to work as hard to stay at their optimal temperature, whereas in the winter it had to work really hard to stay warm.

Cool off with a fruity smoothie, like this Strawberry Recovery “Milkshake” or this Peachy Mango Cucumber Cooler or make these electrolyte-rich Strawberry Lemon Balls (an old favorite post-run summer treat!).

Thankfully, nature has a way of producing exactly what we crave based on the climate. Now that the weather is warming up, those refreshing fruits and veggies are ripening.

I love summer because cooking becomes as simple as throwing something on the grill and making a simple salad. The produce is so flavorful and fresh that it doesn’t need much to taste good.

Find all salad recipes linked below (filter by “summer”).

What’s in season during the Summer months?

(Mid-June until mid-September)

Now, we all live in different parts of the country and world, so what’s in season can vary from state to state. I’m going to list off what is in seasons here in Maine, but it also applies to other parts of the country that experience the four seasons.

Below is a list of produce by when it generally starts popping up at the farmers’ markets. There is often a lot of carry-over from early to mid to late.

My goal with this post is to encourage you to incorporate more seasonal produce into your meals. If you’re cooking along with the Cooking Club, you’ll be doing just that. Happy Summer!!

Find all summer recipes below and filter by “salad” or “dessert” or “grilling”!