Produce Guide - A

Apple

A is for apple, as the nursery rhyme goes, and this fruit seems to belong to beginnings. From the forbidden fruit that caused man's exile from Eden to the specimen that hit Newton on the head and got him thinking about gravity, the apple is a real self-starter. Now the time to enjoy local apples from Nova Scotia! From now until early December is the time to get your fill of these and other local orchard fruits. There's nothing like a new-crop of Cortland or Gravenstein, whether you munch it right off the tree, slice it into a cheese salad, or pop it into a pie.

From Australia we import great keepers, such as the traditional acid-green Granny Smith, which was actually named for one Mrs. Smith, who found a chance seedling in her garden. Because it keeps its shape in a pie, the Granny Smith makes a great cooking apple when our own tart local apples are past their prime. Other popular mainstays from the Southern Hemisphere are New Zealand's sweet Royal Gala, the sharpish Braeburn, and the pear-like Fuji.

On the other side of the equator, our best apples come from Washington State, British Columbia, and small pockets of orchard country, especially in Ontario and Nova Scotia, including the Annapolis Valley. Because our local apples don't tend to store well, from late September through early December is the time to get your fill of these and other local orchard fruits. There's nothing like a new-crop Cortland or Gravenstein, whether you munch it right off the tree, slice it into a cheese salad, or pop it into a pie. For my money, I like to get my teeth into a crisp Russet. This small apple has a brownish skin, fine flesh, and subtle pear-like flavour. The Russet is a real old-timer and tends to be popular with folks from England, who swear by it for both cooking and eating.

Apricot

The apricot is a real peach of a fruit...so to speak. It belongs to the rose family and is closely related to the peach, plum and cherry. The arrival of the apricot signifies the beginning of the soft fruit season, and what a way to start. It's a lovely, delicate fruit, with a velvety skin that can range in colour from blushing gold to a deep, burnt orange. But while customers from the Middle East and the Mediterranean load up on the little golden orbs when they appear in the Frootique, apricots have yet to really catch the imagination of many Canadians.

Although they are grown in British Columbia, and even in small pockets of Ontario, apricots really need a warm, dry climate to thrive, and we get most of our summer imports from California in May and June. Around Christmas we can expect to see them coming from Chile and Argentina, but by February these too have trickled off. And the farther they've travelled, the less likely the delicate fruits are to have that sweet flavour that sometimes hints of almonds. Don't expect the juicy punch of a nectarine or peach, as apricots are quite dry, almost dense in texture.

When buying apricots, look for firm but tender fruit, with good colour. Picked and shipped before they've fully ripened, imported apricots never have the same bright sweetness as those picked fully ripe off the tree. But you can leave them out on a countertop and hope their flavour develops as they soften. Store ripe apricots in a plastic bag in the refrigerator to prevent them from turning too soft or mealy. But always handle them with kid gloves. If you pack them in the bottom of your shopping bag, they'll be smushed by the time you get home. And as with berries and other delicate soft fruits, don't wash apricots until just before you eat them, and then a quick rinse under cool water is sufficient.

Artichoke

Artichoke aficionados consider this vegetable food for the gods. Its botanical name, Cynara scolymus, is in honour of Cynara, a beautiful woman who, according to Greek mythology, was transformed into an artichoke plant by a jealous god. A bit hard to swallow, perhaps, but artichokes are nothing if not legendary. First written about over 2000 years ago, they were considered a luxury item at the height of the Roman Empire, and then fell into obscurity until they were reintroduced in Italy during the Renaissance. Our modern globe artichoke is derived from this plant, which was introduced to Cali-fornia by Spanish explorers in the late 1900s. Today, Castroville, California, claims to be the artichoke capital of the world and certainly produces the lion's share of all artichokes eaten in North America.

Technically a thistle, the artichoke plant grows as high as six feet, resembling a giant fern. The artichokes are the immature flower buds, which, if left to grow, transform into huge purple flowers. The name artichoke comes in a circuitous way from the Arabic al kharshuf, meaning "the thistle," which was borrowed by the Spanish (alcahofa), corrupted by the Italians (articiocco), and nicked by the French (artichaut), until the English finally adopted it as artichoke. It worked out nicely, since the artichoke has both a heart and a choke. Not surprisingly, the heart is found at the centre of the artichoke, the tender, pale, nutty-flavoured inner leaves. To get to the heart you have to scrape off the "choke," a light layer of fuzz, which I don't suggest you eat.

Arugula

Arugula is one of the stellar greens that have made North Americans dive into their salad bowls with new gusto. Europeans have been eating and cooking this pungent leaf for centuries (Italian rucola, French roquette, English rocket), but it wasn't until fairly recently that we could find arugula at our local supermarkets. Arugula has a complex flavour that reminds me of roast beef, pine nuts, and pepper. Its tender green leaves are not just for the salad bowl. They add a welcome bite and dynamic flavour to soups and sauces, as well as dishes that feature starches, such as potatoes, rice, or pasta.

Arugula can be bought year-round, and will generally be found with either the lettuces or the fresh herbs. It comes in bunches, often with its roots still attached. Its emerald-green leaves, which look similar to dandelion leaves, will not be crisp, but neither should they appear limp or wilted. Despite its robust flavour, arugula is delicate and very perishable. If you wrap the roots in paper towel (first removing any elastic bands or twist-ties) before popping the arugula in a plastic bag, it will keep in the refrigerator for two or three days at the most. You'll need to rinse the leaves thoroughly before using as they can hold traces of grit. Slicing the roots off beforehand will get rid of a lot of it, but rinse the leaves in a sink full of cold water, and then spin or pat them dry. If the leaves are large, you may want to tear them in half; otherwise leave them whole.

Asparagus

It wasn't that long ago that the arrival of asparagus was the harbinger of spring. Those first slim and tender green shoots announced the end of winter and were celebrated with reverence, in light of both their limited availability and their high cost. Now, thanks to modern transportation and innovations in post-harvest cooling methods, asparagus can grace our tables most of the year. Beginning in the southern hemisphere in October, in countries such as Chile and Peru, the asparagus season shifts gradually northwards to Mexico, then to California and Washington, before our own home-grown asparagus is harvested in May. Late-season or secondary Canadian asparagus is available into August and even September.

Even so, despite our global economy, asparagus is considered the Rolls-Royce of vegetables, and though it's better value than ever before, we still approach those delicate spears with some veneration. And rightly so, for local seasonal produce is almost always superior to imports, and like other vegetables, asparagus begins to lose its sweetness almost from the moment it is cut. So the arrival of domestic asparagus does indeed call for celebration.

Avocado

Avocados technically fruit, avocados grow on trees that bear some botanical kinship to the glossy-leafed laurel. Also known as avocado pears, due to their shape, or alligator pears, because of the lizard-like skin of certain varieties, their name actually comes from the Aztec word ahuacatl. A New World fruit native to Central America (famous for guacamole), avocados are now produced also in California, Florida, the West Indies, South Africa, Australia, and Israel. The Israelis were the first to develop a mobile, chariot-like lift that enables pickers to move rapidly up, down, and around the trees, choosing only those avocados prime for harvesting. Avocados are a bit of an anomaly in the world of produce, as they can ripen only after they're picked, and instead of sweetening as they mature, they develop a high fat content, which gives them their buttery, velvet texture and rich, nutty taste.

There are many varieties of avocados, but the Hass, imported from Mexico and California, is by far the most popular and most commonly available. Small and pear-shaped, it has a dark, purplish skin, knobbly in texture, and beautiful creamy flesh - like eating butter out of a shell. The Fuertes avocado, which comes mainly from Florida, has a smooth bright green skin and a drier flesh, with only about half the fat of the Hass variety.

Bananas

There are few things we're more fussy about than the ripeness of our bananas. Some people can't even look at them once they're showing more than a hint of yellow; others like to play connect-the-dots with the brown spots until the skins are almost blackened. I live somewhere between the two extremes, preferring the sweet flavour of the ripening banana to the starchy glueyness of the underripe article. But even if we can't agree on when to eat them, we're almost unanimous that this portable snack is top banana, since it's the number one, best-selling fruit in North America.

Despite the 300-plus banana varieties grown around the world, in Canada the Cavendish is our year-round standard. Grown in Central and South America especially for the Canadian market, the Cavendish is thick-skinned and robust, travelling well and boasting a consistent flavour. Bananas grown for export are picked when completely green, and they are partially ripened in sophisticated temperature-controlled units once they arrive in Canada. As they ripen further, whether in transit or on your kitchen counter, the starches convert to sugars, and the fruit emits an exceptionally high volume of ethylene gas. This gas encourages ripening and development of colour, so that a bunch of bananas will tend to ripen more rapidly than a single banana. You can also speed up the ripening of other fruits, such as green tomatoes or hard avocados, by placing them in a paper bag with a ripe banana or two.

Beans

Pod and shell beans despite the mountains of beans available in the Frootique each summer, every year I plant about forty scarlet runner beans in my own garden. Rarely sold commercially, these prolific climbers (they'd grow up your leg if you stood still long enough) produce an enormous yield of delicious, crunchy beans, as well as gorgeous red flowers. But even if you don't grow your own, there are plenty of other varieties available at the supermarket.

Once upon a time, all fresh beans were referred to as string beans, whether yellow or green, because of the tough thread running down the length of the pod. Children were set the endless task of pulling the fibrous strings from the beans before dinner. In time, botanists developed a new, threadless strain of bean, and children were free to play throughout the long days of summer. Fairy tales do come true. Now we divide beans into two groups, pod beans and shell beans.

Shell beans include fava (broad) beans and cannellini. Most shell beans grown commercially are dried, and we commonly purchase them cooked and canned or rehydrate them and use them in dishes such as Boston baked beans. However, if you're able to find them fresh, young shell beans can be cooked and eaten pod and all, and have a tender, starchy quality that's enhanced by a bit of butter and black pepper. If they are longer than three inches, you'll probably need to shell them. I find shelling them after boiling works best, since it mellows the bitterness of older beans.

Beets

Many people believe that beets grow in jars on their grandmother's pantry shelves. Not true. These globe-shaped beauties are the sweetest of the root vegetables as well as the most colourful. However, I have to admit that, with the exception of pickled beets, this is one of the few vegetables I've never grown to like. But beet lovers will tell you that there's nothing like the fresh article - steamed lightly, roasted or baked, or even sautéed with garlic and a smidgen of caramelized onions.

There are four main beet varieties: the sugar beet, from which most of our white sugar is processed; the mangold, harvested for livestock feed; the leaf beet, or Swiss chard, which is grown for its greens (see page 141-143); and the common or garden beet, which is the vegetable in question here. The garden beet is available almost year-round, but its growing season is during the summer and early fall. New beets arrive with their leafy greens still attached, which can be eaten raw in salads, stir-fried, or braised slowly to bring out their mild flavour.

Blueberries

You might expect the folks in Oxford, Nova Scotia, to be a bit blue around the gills, especially during pie season, because Oxford claims to be the blueberry capital of Canada. These plump, sweet berries are a summertime treat right across the country. But while most provinces have their wild blueberry patches - and British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec cultivate them commercially - the Maritimes are the real business for blueberries. Nova Scotia is by far the largest Canadian producer of wild blueberries.

Commercially grown wild blueberries come from lowbush plants, growing up to a foot high in barren-looking fields that appear to the inexperienced eye to be filled with wild heather. Whether by hand or mechanically, lowbush blueberries are harvested with wide, curved rakes that are dragged through the bushes, capturing the small, sweet-tart berries on their inside edge. The season is short - usually from mid-August through September - and the berries are highly perishable, so much so that 98 per cent of them are sold for processing. They are frozen, dried, and made into juice. The remaining two per cent are sold locally, and few can resist snapping up a quart or two when they appear in the supermarket. Hand-picking wild blueberries is a labour-intensive but enjoyable alternative that many Maritimers use as an excuse for a day in the country. I usually head out with good intentions....and come away with a full belly and an empty pail.

Bok Choy

Bok choy, also known as pak choi, is another entry in the growing list of vegetables with sometimes-confusing names. Although bok choy is at once Asian and a cabbage, it is not the same as either Chinese cabbage or napa (see page 36). In appearance it looks like a pale version of Swiss chard, with thick, silvery-white central stalks and slightly furled bluish-green leaves. Its flavour is mildly hot and cabbage-like, making it a perfect foil for the sweet and spicy flavours of Asian cooking. Unlike Chinese cabbage, which is ideal for eating raw in salads, bok choy is better when cooked briefly; its leaves become brilliant green and their flavour more intense, while its stalks remain succulent and crunchy.

Once found only in Asian specialty markets, bok choy is now readily available year-round in most supermarkets. There are a number of different varieties, but usually bok choy will be fairly squat, with large, wide leaves, or else have longer stems with narrow leaves. The chubby variety is great in soups, and the more elegant-looking kind is ideal for stir-fries, as the abundant stems provide a second vegetable. Either way, look for firm, white stalks and crisp, vivid leaves. Avoid any that appear tired or wilted, as bok choy is extremely perishable and there is no way of reviving it. You should also look out for "baby" bok choy, or "hearts," which are ideal for braising or steaming and serving whole.

Breadfruit

This is something that many of my Caribbean customers request, although it's seldom available in Nova Scotia. You are more likely to see breadfruit in specialty markets in Toronto, which has a large Caribbean population. In any case, most people will agree that breadfruit is an acquired taste. It certainly looks quite strange, ranging in size from a small melon to a man's head, with a rough skin marked with raised hexagonal scales similar to those on a pineapple.

When it is available, breadfruit is imported mainly from Jamaica and Brazil, but it is also a staple throughout the Caribbean, the South Pacific, and tropical Africa. The fruit is cooked and eaten primarily as a vegetable. Usually harvested when underripe, the green fruit is treated much as we do sweet and white potatoes - boiled, baked, fried, and roasted. I've eaten fried breadfruit in French Guyana, and I have to say that it's got hash browns beat. When left to ripen, the fruit softens much like an avocado, becoming creamy and even runny, like very ripe Brie cheese. Ripened breadfruit is popular for sweet desserts and puddings. Taken to the extreme, the fruit is sometimes buried in a pit and allowed to ferment, and the yeasty-smelling pulp is used to make cakes and other sweets.

If you do come across breadfruit, look for one that's firm and green, with largish scales. Very small fruit will be immature, and any that feel spongy are past their prime. Depending on how you're going to cook it, you can use the breadfruit immediately, or store it at room temperature until it softens. It can also be peeled, cut in chunks, blanched briefly, and frozen for later use. To boil breadfruit, peel and cut into chunks, trimming away the central core. Cook in salted boiling water for 25-30 minutes, and serve piping hot with a salsa or nippy cheese sauce. Alternatively, slice in thin strips, and parboil before deep-frying.

Broccoli

If you forget to buy your loved one roses on Valentine's Day, consider presenting him or her with a head of broccoli. It's a beauty of a vegetable, a vibrant bouquet of florets and budding sprouts that tastes as great as it looks. And once you're done admiring it, you've got any number of options. Eat it raw, with a creamy dip; steam it just until tender, and then drizzle with melted butter; braise it with garlic, anchovies, and wine; or stir-fry it in a black bean sauce. Now that's a recipe for passion.

Broccoli is a member of the cabbage family, a sort of cousin to cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, and kale. We can thank Italy for this magnificent vegetable (broccoli is Italian for "small shoots"), and in particular the Calabrians, from whom broccoli gets its other name, calabrese. North America produces very good broccoli, and I have to say that the stuff grown here in the Maritimes is the best I've ever eaten. Available year-round, broccoli peaks when the weather is cool, from late summer to early spring. Broccoli is sometimes offered pre-wrapped in cellophane, but it's preferable to buy it loose, both because you can see what you're getting and because wrapped vegetables tend to deteriorate more quickly. Look for heads with small, tightly closed bud clusters and firm but tender green stalks. The buds should be dark green, with a purple or bluish haze. Avoid heads that are sprouting or yellow in colour and stalks that look either woody or rubbery. As with most vegetables, the best thing you can do with broccoli once it's in your kitchen is to eat it. Broccoli is very perishable, but it will keep in good condition for about three days when stored in a plastic bag in the refri-gerator.

Brussels Sprouts

"Eat your greens!" My mum's words echo in my ears as if it were yesterday, and I still feel like a bit of a fraud when I hear myself telling my kids the same thing. Greens, when I was growing up, didn't mean Caesar salad or steamed asparagus. Greens meant Brussels sprouts (and my mother meant business). These days I actually like my sprouts, and ironically enough, like many other vegetables of humble origins, they are becoming somewhat fashionable. After all, any vegetable that shares its name with an elegant European city is bound to have a certain mystique. And if you're used to buying Brussels sprouts loose, seeing them on the stalk only enhances their enigmatic personality.

If you're not already enamoured of these doll-sized cabbages, buy a pound and try them again. They have a sweet, nutty flavour, tasting nothing like their giant cousins. However, like other cabbages, Brussels sprouts benefit from either quick cooking or slow braising. Anything between can ruin them, giving them the characteristic sulphuric smell and flavour that lends all cabbages a bad name.

Although available year-round, Brussels sprouts are a cold-weather vegetable, at their best from September through March. They're usually sold loose, but if you have the chance, buy them on the stalk, where they grow in knobbly rows of tiny, hard rosettes. Either way, look for tightly wrapped, bright sprouts; they should be no more than 1 1/2 inches (3 cm) in diameter and feel heavy for their size. Avoid any that seem puffy, with loose or yellowed outer leaves. Store them, unwashed, in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to five days. The sooner you use them the better, as their flavour grows more "cabbagey" with age.

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