Cooking for Geeks, 2nd Edition

Inspiration by Seasonality

There’s something magical about late spring strawberries and fresh summertime corn: flavor! It’s no secret that cooking with fresh ingredients brings great flavors to foods. Limiting your shopping list to in-season items is a fun way to challenge yourself, and because in-season ingredients tend to pack more of a flavor punch, it’s easier to make your cooking taste amazing. There’s another perk of using in-season ingredients: they’re generally priced lower, based on the laws of supply and demand. Grocery stores have to figure out how to sell all those zucchinis when they come up for harvest!

Next time you’re at the grocery store, take note of what new fruits and vegetables have arrived and what is in dwindling supply. Corn on the cob is one of the most seasonal items where I live, nearly impossible to get out of season. Other produce, like peaches, is available in my local store almost year-round, but rarely delights and usually disappoints. Try this cooking challenge for inspiration: treat any food that’s outside its growing season as off-limits. Peach pie in April? Out. Even if you can get a peach in April, it won’t have the same flavor as a mid-summer peach, so your pie will invariably taste bland.

Of course, not every item is a seasonal one. Cellar onions, storage apples, and pantry goods such as rice, flour, and beans are year-round staples. If it’s the dead of winter and there’s a foot of snow on the ground (incidentally, not the best time to eat ...