It's summer! Time to don a wide brimmed hat, hum your favorite tune, and stroll through fields of olallieberries. Bring a wine and cheese picnic with you, and maybe some greens to toss up a fresh strawberry salad. Check with farms in your area for local harvest schedules. This is usually the perfect time to pick strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and olallieberries. Oh, and Kiwis too. Pick berries that are ripe and refrigerate them as soon as you can.
Phipp's Farm, in Half Moon Bay, is one of our favorites for picking Olallies and Strawberries. I think we tuck away as many in our tummy as we gather in our baskets. At home, we cool off by topping large scoops of ice cream with larger scoops of berries or making strawberry shortcakes. If you're a popsicle lover, then try making these mouth watering icepops. For more berry fun, make jams and pies. Canned preserves also make delightful hostess gifts for summer barbecues. If you're unable to go to a farm, then make a trip to your local farmer's market to enjoy freshly picked produce.
And no talk of fruits or summer can be complete without mentioning the king of all fruits: Mango! Check out these amazing mango creations. Growing up in India, summer days were punctuated with multiple servings of fresh mango, mango lassi, and mango panna (green mango juice). We had three mango trees in our backyard that had to be constantly guarded against urchins on summer vacation. My granny would cut green mangoes to make fresh pickle while I waited impatiently to lick the left-over sauce. Nagesh and I rediscovered mango heaven last year in Brazil and Thailand, duly seasoned with salt and red cayenne pepper!
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