Fruit Buying Guide for August

by Tom Kovacevich of Best Fruit Now.

This time of year you must make the time to go to your local farm or farmer’s market and see the fresh fruit offerings. Fragrant, and tender to the touch, peaches. Small yet full flavored “Tristar” strawberries. Plump and perfect blackberries. Juicy and refreshing watermelon! These are a few of my favorites! Each tastes great and may remind you of how fruit tasted years ago…This is a particularly excellent year for local cantaloupes and actually all melons have been running great. With cantaloupes, avoid fruits that have any sunken areas, look for fruit that is firm, fragrant and heavy. With Blackberries, bigger is better, unlike local strawberries where generally the smaller berries are most sweet. Store berries in the refrigerator, and do not wash them until just before you are ready to eat. There are lots of great recipes for berries, but try also serving them plain naked! When buying peaches, look for ones with a little bit of give and that also have a sweet aroma.

For more information remember Tom’s Rules of Fruit Buying and always buy peaches RIPE! Firm peaches are a poor gamble. Buy ripe and buy often!

For Tom’s complete list of buys and buy not’s and video instructions on how to cut and prepare certain fruits, go to Best Fruit Now.