Mid-Season Mania!
Welcome back Gleaners!!
July is a month full of produce, fun food holidays and celebrations. Hopefully you and your friends and family have been getting out, enjoying good weather and exploring around both outside and in your kitchen!
Happy Independence Day!
Celebrate this year with friends and family and maybe enjoying the fruits of the season as we hit some mid-summer harvests! Try your hand at making a new dish out of colorful ingredients and make sure you spend some time appreciating the incredible outdoors of America!
(And just in case you want this delicious flag recipe and some more for a Fourth potluck, you can find the link here!)
July is Baked Beans Month
July starts off a few food months, the first of which is baked beans month! Of course it is a staple we see at most picnics throughout the summer and into the fall, but there are quite a few recipes that you may not have ever enjoyed if you’ve only partaken in the typical “Boston style” beans served there! Give a shot to some different styles like teryaki, Texas, hamburger, hog-apple, and Jack Daniel’s beans! And make sure you celebrate with an extra helping on July 3rd since that’s Eat Your Beans Day!
History of Baked Bean Month and Recipes
Blueberry month
Blueberries are an incredible fruit! They’re not only delicious but they offer a variety of health benefits even in addition to those mentioned above. You can enjoy them freshly picked, frozen and in a variety of pastries salads, and smoothies (even with meats if you get adventurous!). This isn’t the only blueberry related holiday this month—July 10th is Pick Blueberries Day and July 11th is conveniently Blueberry Muffin Day!
Famous Department Store Blueberry Muffins
40 Recipes to Make with Fresh Blueberries
Picnic Month
Picnic month is a time to go out and enjoy the outdoors and a meal with friends, family and partners! You can plan a day of adventure exploring a new trail in a forest near you or maybe head out on a road trip to find somewhere you’ve never been. Maybe take time to explore a theme park or another attraction you’ve always wanted to see. Pack a delicious lunch and bring it along (remember to bring your own silverware and serving plates—sustainable picnics are the best kind!). If you need some ideas check out the links and see what adventures await your picnic month exploration!
Out of the Basket Picnic Ideas
History and Ideas for National Picnic Month
Watermelon month
July rounds out as watermelon month! These incredible fruits offer a variety of health benefits with the delicious red parts but did you know that the seeds are actually healthy, too? And no worries—they won’t make watermelons grow in your stomach if you eat them! Enjoy this incredible fruit while you can this summer. Maybe even try the knocking trick— knock on the fruit and the more sound it makes (echo) the better the water content and generally the “riper” the fruit. You could also look for the watermelon with the biggest yellow spot—this means the melon sat in one spot and had a real chance to ripen as it did. Let us know if you have another way to find the perfect watermelon!
July 4th is Caesar Salad Day!
Salad is the last thing we typically associate with independence day where there are more likely to be smatterings of watermelon, BBQ, cobblers, pies and baked beans but today’s holiday focuses on this hearty salad!
Why is it called Caesar, besides it’s dressing, though? It was not named after Julius Caesar as is commonly thought—it’s actually named after Caesar Cardini, it’s Italian restauranteur who was born in northern Italy before settling in North America and stumbling on his creation! After Prohibition began, Caesar moved to Tijuana Mexico, a place untouched by alcohol laws, and it is there that his daughter claims the salad was invented as Cardini ran short on ingredients and threw the salad together.
If you want to try this Italian-Mexican-American dish on the fourth, give a shot to the recipe below with homemade dressing and croutons—you may never look at this salad or the fourth the same way after that!
July 5th is Graham Cracker Day
Graham crackers are a staple of summer and today is the day to celebrate! Take your taste buds through a tour of the many boxed varieties you can purchase (chocolate, honey, cinnamon—the list goes on!) or get adventurous with using them as ingredients (can you say graham cracker crust!?). If you love store-bought, you’ll be delighted to know you can make graham crackers at home for when those s’mores cravings hit and you don’t feel like going out—and they’re a lot less complicated than you might have expected!
How to Make Homemade Graham Crackers
45 Desserts that Start with Graham Crackers
July 7th is World Chocolate Day
Everyone (except those with allergies) seems to love chocolate. It’s no wonder that there are days dedicated to it (February 8th is National Chocolate Day—coincidence it’s before Feb. 14th? We think not). How did this holiday celebrating a treat that can be eaten by itself in a variety of forms as well as in addition to recipes both sweet and savory?
Chocolate comes from seeds of the theobroma cacao tree which grows in the tropics of Central America and Africa. The seeds are then processed to produce cocoa solids and cocoa butter and then these are mixed to produce various types of chocolate. These seeds have been used since 1100 BC (on record) but why do we celebrate on July 7th? Because that was the day in 1550 AD that chocolate finally found its way to Europe for the first time.
Celebrate this holiday with some of the surprisingly savory recipes below or just go out and enjoy a piece as you relax and enjoy a summer evening (maybe with those home made graham crackers, huh?).
July 9th is Kebab Day!
Kebabs are a great way to enjoy the flavors of summer in a portable way and a delicious way to eat around a fire with friends long into the evening with a nice crackling fire! What if you’ve never had a kebab or aren’t sure what it is? Never fear—we’re here to help!
Kebabs consist of cut or ground meat, sometimes with vegetables or fruits on a skewer and are cooked over a fire. Some kebabs can be baked in a pan in the other or prepared as a stew, but the most familiar is the skewer variety. This style of cooking originated in the Middle Eastern countries (skewer) but other countries in the region and into Asia may lean more toward the baked or stewed types of kebabs.
If you’d like to try your had at this style of cooking, give it a shot with some of the incredible recipes below! If you find that you maybe want a night out, why not search for a restaurant nearby that serves kebabs and give them a shot that way and let the pros handle the cooking!
July 11th is Rainier Cherry Day!
Cherries, the sometimes sour, sometimes sweet snack we all love to enjoy throughout the summer in every form imaginable including fresh picked! Today is of course Rainier Cherry Day, one of the many colorful and flavorful varieties of cherries you have to choose from! These cherries are special because they have lower acidity than most other cherries therefore they have a higher sugar content making them sweeter than Dark Sweet varieties although their growing season is short so enjoy them while you can! The health benefits of cherries abound so make sure to try and work these delicious treats into your summer time snacking!
Apples
Apricots - these fruits only ripen on the tree and once picked they become softer but not more flavorful. Look for fruit that is bright with no green tinge to it’s color! Be careful eating them, too, there is a pit inside!
Arugala
Basil
Beets
Broccoli
Cabbage
Cantaloupe
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Cabbage
Cherries
Chili Peppers
Chives
Cilantro
Collard Greens
Corn - most everyone is familiar with corn and looking for ears that are firm, plump and unblemished. But instead of stripping the husk down to look, just squeeze the cobs down the ear to feel for bald spots. Stripping the husk too soo before you plan to cook your corn can lessen the flavor!
Cucumbers
Eggplant - Eggplant are grown in a variety of shapes and sizes: green, white, purple, orange, globe shaped, long and slender and circular. Look for glossy, unblemished skin and firm texture!
Garlic
Gooseberries
Green Beans
Green Onions
Ground Cherries - these sweet, tart yellow-orange fruits grow in a papery husk and are oven covered in a sticky substance that should be washed off gently. Leave the husks on until you’re ready to eat them to help protect and preserve them!
Kale
Kohlrabi
Lamb’s Quarters
Lavender
Lettuce
Lima Beans
Melons
Mint
Mushrooms
Mustard Greens
Onions
Oregano
Parsley
Peaches
Peppers
Purslane
Radishes
Raspberries
Rhubarb
Rosemary
Sage
Shallots
Shell Beans
Snap Peas
Snow Peas
Sprouts
Summer Squash
Sunchokes - sometimes called Jerusalem artichokes, these are the root of a native North American plant family in the sunflower family. Look for roots that are firm to the touch with no spongy or mushy areas!
Thyme
Tomatillos
Tomatoes
Watercress
Watermelon
Zucchini