Are you scared of fruits and vegetables?

Introducing The Salivating Seattleite’s new monthly feature, The Seasonal Seattleite.

Each month, a seasonal ingredient will be selected for a special post that will include not one, but two (!) fabulous recipes, techniques, or suggested uses. I hope that you discover new ingredients and possibly even rediscover old ones (that you didn’t know you liked). Besides enjoying different flavors and textures each month of the year, there are many other benefits to eating seasonally (let me just hop on my soapbox real quick and then I promise I’ll get right back down):

1.      Foods eaten at the peak of their season taste like they’re supposed to; which shouldn’t be anything short of delicious.

2.      Produce also happens to have the highest nutritional value at the peak of its season.

3.      Seasonal foods are usually much less expensive than non-seasonal foods.

And that list is only the tip of the iceberg. However, the objective of this blog isn’t to shove opinions or ideas down your throat; I just aim to share some thoughts, a little info, pictures and recipes with you. So, I’ll stick to my three main reasons for eating seasonally, with the first being the most important: flavor. Everyone knows that tomatoes taste like crap in January, but many people just buy the same produce items every time they shop out of habit. Are you one of those people? Well, it’s time to leave the dull, mealy, and pale specimens alone and reach for the fresh and flavorful (but maybe foreign) produce you never knew what to do with! While incorporating a new item into your “normal” diet can be challenging, the best approach is to try the item multiple times, prepared several different ways-that way, you can be sure you won’t have a bunch of one-trick-ponies going limp in your crisper drawer.

Are there any fruits or vegetables that you’re scared of? Have you always looked at the turnips and wondered how the heck to cook them? Are you sick of carrots and celery? If you have any suggestions for foods you think should be featured in The Seasonal Seattleite, please leave a comment on this post and I’ll see what I can do!