Summer

Like cherries, apricot season is short, typically 4-5 weeks sometime during May-August. Skip a couple of weeks at the farmers' market, and poof! they're gone. So as soon as you spy some, buy some.

Here are some tips on how to select and store fresh apricots:

Look for firm, though not hard, fruits with soft, smooth skin. Choose richly colored fruits -- apricots range from pale yellow to darker orange-yellow, and some sport an attractive reddish blush. Avoid apricots that have a greenish hue as they will not ripen. Tiny brown freckles are OK, but skip fruit that has knicks or bruises. And don't forget to take a whiff. Fully ripened apricots will emit a delicate, floral scent.

Fresh apricots are highly perishable. They can be stored unwashed on the counter-top for one to two days. After that, they should be refrigerated. Apricots are too delicate to be placed in the fruit bin with other fruits; instead, store them separately in a covered bowl or plastic container. Allow fruit to come to room temperature before eating.

For an interesting twist to serving iced tea, add these watermelon and mint ice cubes. I've adapted a recipe from Relish magazine, an excellent new food magazine that can be found as a supplement in your Sunday paper.

The ice cubes go well with any drink you want to liven up, not just tea: add it to punch, lemonade, mixed drinks, and so on. This recipe also works well for making freezer pops and granita.

Watermelon and Mint Ice Cubes

2-1/2 cups watermelon, cubed
1 to 2 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
24 mint leaves

Into a medium bowl, press the watermelon cubes through a fine mesh strainer. Discard the pulp. To the watermelon juice, add honey to taste, sugar, and lemon juice. Combine and strain the liquid again into a measuring cup to make for easy dispensing. It should equal 2 cups, which will fill an ice cube tray entirely. Place mint leaves in ice tray and pour the liquid over the mint. Freeze for at least two hours before using.

Yield: 24 ice cubes.

Joseph Erdos is a New York–based writer and editor, but above all a gastronomer and oenophile. He shares his passion for food on his blog, Gastronomer's Guide , which features unique recipes and restaurant reviews among many other musings on the all-encompassing topic of food. 

What does one do with 2 dozens limes, freshly picked from a friends tree and a few too many strawberries bought at the local farmers market? Strawberry Limeade Soda anyone??

I tend to be fairly conscious on my weekly trip to the farmers market. But sometimes, “a special” gets the best of me. A flat of strawberries at a special price was something I could not pass up.

Strawberry protein smoothies, a batch of Strawberry Shortcake Cookies for friends, and a strawberry-blueberry crisp made a very small dent in, what felt like, a bushel of berries. I began to think about what else I could create.

I have been making a lot of fruity “sodas’ this summer, using Pelligrino as the carbonate and wanted to have something new on hand when the kids arrived home from camp. Last year, I made a Fresh Strawberry Lemonade, so why not use the limes I had on hand and make a limeade-strawberry cocktail? So I did.

Has this ever happened to you? You're strolling through the farmers' market on a balmy August day when you spy a table heavy with heirloom tomatoes.

There's a youthful, striped Green Zebra sitting next to a grandfatherly, bulbous Cherokee tomato the color of red wine. You scoop up a couple of each. Your mind is swimming with juicy possibilities -- tomato and mozzarella salad, tomato and goat cheese tart.

As you're walking toward the farmer to pay for your tomatoes, you spot a perfectly scalloped white patty pan squash. You've never seen a white squash before, so you select three. Then the farmer points out his captivating purple string beans. You say you'll buy a pound of those too. No one passes up purple string beans.

You hand your heavy sacks to the farmer who weighs them and says, "That'll be $28 dollars, please."

You blanch. You only have $20 left in your wallet. What do you do?