Meet Summer’s Finest Ingredients
Even though the calendar and school banners say it’s time to start thinking back to school, the weather and our minds keep us in summer mode. Which is a good thing… still lots of tasty fruit to whet your palate and keep you hydrated, and many fruits can be frozen for later use when you reminisce about your summer vacation.
Based on the ancient Nahuatl word for ‘avocado sauce’, guacamole is one of the nation’s most popular party foods even when The Big Game isn’t in season. Melissa’s makes having a party easy with our ready to scoop or dip Party Guacamole, Mild or Spicy. Made with all the standard ingredients for guacamole and a small amount of jalapeño, our Mild guac is chunky and perfect to serve as is or dress up with your personal secret ingredients (like maybe a bit of Melissa’s Hot Pepper Sauce, Green or Red). Of course, if you prefer a bit more kick, consider our chunky Spicy Party Guacamole made with jalapeños and serrano peppers and a side of Melissa’s Hatch Pepper Taqueria Salsa made with guajillo and de arbol peppers). Whether mild or spicy, as is or amped up, these guacamoles are ready to grab and go for last minute picnics, office potlucks, game night, binge watching, or for easy weeknight and weekday condiment served with corn chips, veggie crudité, the ubiquitous schmear on crisp toast or sammies, garnish for a chimichanga or enchilada. And who says you need to share??? Available year-round. Product of USA.
Citrusy in flavor with a mild crunch and a fun shape to eat, this fruit originated in China as does most citrus and yields a fun star shape when crosscut. Loaded with Vitamin C, this is a fun fruit to consume and to help protect from sun burns as well as help with overall immunity. Add them to fruit salads, last of summer grilling with fish, or candy them and use as garnish for smoothies, frescas, and mocktails. Sauté them with slices of beef or chicken dressed in Asian influenced sauce or add them to Asian cold noodle bowls. For zing, lightly sprinkle with Melissa’s Chile Lime Seasoning.
Select starfruit that is slight yellow with floral scent, firm with no blemishes or soft spots. Store at room temperature until fully golden or deep yellow. Some people prefer to slightly trim edges prior to slicing. Be mindful of edible seeds. Available August to mid-February. Product of USA Florida.
This small egg-shaped fruit with feelers or ‘hair’ protruding from its skin is like lychee, but with a less floral flavor. Once washed and the skin is gently scored with a knife, rambutan are grape -like in texture, and have a large, inedible pit in the center. Including rambutan, all members of the lychee family are tasty with a bit of chili pepper heat as sorbet or as a fruited salsa for seafood, or pair well with all other tropical fruits. Add them, chopped, to coconut rice or curries, or simply peel, pit, and pierce with a pick as a garnish or sidecar on a cocktail.
Select rambutan that are firm, with no ruptures, mold, or moisture. Refrigerate, unwashed, in a perforated plastic bag up to 5 days, or on the counter at room temperature for 2 days. Wash before preparation. To peel, score the skin around its equator just deep enough to cut through the skin. Twist off or peel to reveal the opaque, juicy skin. Discard pit. Can be peeled and frozen, up to four months. Available August through October. Product of Guatemala or Mexico.
What could be cuter and sweeter than a baby elephant? A baby Elefante Green Gold™ Pineapple! Pineapples are often viewed by many consumers as an acidic fruit with digestive side effects. Kinda like a bad blind date… looks intriguing on the outside, but once you get to know the person, you might get a bit of indigestion!
Here at Melissa’s, we don’t think you’ll have a bad experience with our Baby Elefante Green Gold™ Pineapple because it is a low acid pineapple, thus yielding a naturally sweeter flavor. The average weight is about 1.5 pounds versus full sized Elefante at three pounds, so no commitment. Once you taste this baby with its edible core, you’ll find it to be a positive, long-lasting relationship.
Elefante Green Gold™ Pineapples are native to Ghana. They are the sustainably farmed ‘sugarloaf’ variety, naturally green-skinned with a firm, dark green crown. Harvested ready to cut, select Elefante Green Gold™ Pineapple that is slightly firm and heavy for its size with no soft spots or dried eyes. Store, unwashed in a ventilated area at room temperature up to three days, or unwashed and refrigerated up to one week. Available Year Round. Product of Ghana.
As mentioned in the past, with many produce items, Melissa’s follows the seasons around the world. The Southern Hemisphere is now in late autumn, ready to harvest beautiful citrus varieties, with the luxury of citrus in late summer and early fall. This also helps us to maintain good health by improving our immune system, hearth health, and indigestion. Vitamin C is also beneficial to skin health, helping toward off negative effects of the sun. So, don’t be shy, dig in and enjoy the fabulous tasting citrus from Down Under!
Named for the color of its flesh and a city in Venezuela, Cara Cara oranges are a cross of Washington navel (an heirloom orange) and a Brazilian navel. Beautifully pinky-orange flesh with a low acid raspberry-orange flavor, this juicy blood orange can be consumed as is or as an amped up standard orange substitute. Of course, it pairs well with any fruit (especially tropical) or berry as well as dark leafy greens, spice and heat, fat, or proteins from Melissa’s Pressed Tofu (grilled) to seafood, fowl and meat. A fun desert: halve orange around its equator, brulé under a broiler with sugar, and top with crushed Coconut Clean Snax®! Select firm fruit, heavy for its size with no soft spots. Unwashed fruit may be stored at cool room temperature up to one week or refrigerated up to three weeks. Available August-October. Product of Australia.
Grape season is at its peak in August. There are few natural snacks more refreshing (sans watermelon) than chilled grapes! Loaded with anthocyanins- healthy antioxidants to retard oxidation in one’s body- vitamins, and minerals to help prevent heart disease, improve brain and bone health, and hydration. Besides, once washed, they are a fab car snack, lunch addition, or afternoon pick me up.
Grapes pair well with any course of the day in hot or cold cereals, chopped in tuna or chicken salad, side green salad, with yogurt or smoothies, roasted or grilled with meat or fish, or added to fruit kabobs and grilled as dessert! A quick, easy granita can be made by processing a bunch of washed seedless grapes with a squeeze of lemon or lime, then storing in a shallow container and grating/stirring with a fork as it freezes to make fluffy grape granita. Spike it if you wish!
Select grapes that appear to be plump and firm, best on the stem. If loose from the vine, ensure the grapes are firm and no mold is evident around the cavity. Stems should look fresh, not dried out. Overall, grapes should be free of shrivel, discoloration, soft spots or mold. Refrigerate unwashed grapes until ready to serve. Rinse thoroughly in a colander under cool running water. Pat dry and serve or prepare as your recipe directs. Washed grapes off the stem may be frozen and added to beverages as ‘ice’ or puréed, or as a snack but will thaw soft. Be mindful not to choke on these frozen balls.
Quite popular since introduced some years ago, this seedless grape is truly reminiscent of a day at the county fair! Really tasty when served with morning bagels with cream cheese, baguettes with chestnut purée, cheeses, herbed sorbet (rosemary, thyme, savory or mint), popcorn and pretzels!!! Available August through September. Product of California
The only grape varieties Melissa’s currently offers from Korea. It’s hard to believe, upon first sight, these shiny perfectly round orbs are fresh grapes and not from granny’s plastic fruit bowl arrangement! Fresh, sweet green grapes with floral notes, this crunchy seedless grape is considered a premium fruit. If you want to try something different, wash and dry grapes, then coat in softened cream cheese and coat in toasted nuts. Serve on frill skewers for added flair. Peak Season: August. Product of South Korea.
Now THIS IS A GRAPE! Reminiscent of the P-B n’ jelly of last century, this grape variety is a hybrid of Concord and Thompson grapes, resulting in thin-skinned and seedless ‘berries’. Such a tasty, juicy, sweet grape perfect for car snack or mid-day office snack as well as grazing boards, cooking down and straining for sauce or making your own grape jam for sammies or for drizzling over coconut ice cream or sorbetto, schmearing with ham or turkey, glazing BBQ meats, or the classic potluck dish- crock pot meatballs! The profile of this variety grape pairs well with salty dishes and cured meats as well as fatty (plant, meat, or nut) or dairy centric dishes. All Melissa’s organics are USDA Certified Organic, regardless of origin. California grown. Available August-September.
Looking like little red jewels in a cup, Melissa’s Pomegranate arils are sweet, crunchy, and juicy!! Considered an ancient Biblical fruit, a symbol of fertility, and written about in Roman and Greek mythology, pomegranates are a versatile fruit though quite bothersome and messy unless you are adept at seeding them. Melissa’s has made this healthy snack fruit much easier to eat and pack for travel by offering only the seeds in a cup to ‘drink’ for a burst of energy, sprinkle over yogurt, green salads and cut fruit, roasted veggies, garnish hummus and mutabal (roasted eggplant dip), freeze into ice cubes, fold into tuna and salmon salads or coleslaws, serve on grazing boards and such. For those who’d like to make their own pomegranate syrup, we’ve sped up the process… just empty several pom aril cups into a processor, whirl around and put the lot into a pot. Add a bit of water and sweetener, cook down on low simmer. Add a pinch of vinegar for gastrique, or simple syrup and reduce further for dressing desserts. Make a shrub base and add to still or sparkling water or something a bit stronger. Pomegranates pair well with citrus, stone and tropical fruits, leafy greens and crucifers as well as game, fish, and fowl, fats and ices. Keep refrigerated. Available Year Round. Product of India/Peru.
Have you ever drizzled this essential savory sauce, like Vietnamese style ‘ketchup’, on veggies bowls, fries and chips, eggs, wraps, guacamole, grilled veggies, rice bowls, grilled foods, and the like? It’s the slight heat, tang, and sauciness that complements fresh fruit, too! Try it on a regional Mexican snack parfait ‘gazpacho’ of mixed seasonal fruits-shards of Melissa’s organic sliced coconut, cubed Caribbean Papaya, slices of Sapurana mango, Honeyglow® Pineapple, red onion ribbons, and avocado chunks, for example, with drizzles of Costa Azul throughout and topped off with a healthy squeeze of lime. Add a bit of zing to summer melons or stone fruit. It’s a lot of flavors exploded by the pockets of Costa Azul Sauce. Just enough tang and tart to stimulate your palate and bring out the flavors of the fruit. The best feature of Melissa’s Cost Azul Sauce is that it is shelf stable (in a cool spot away from heat) so dormitory or single room residents don’t need a fridge and do without because they’ll be able to have The Sauce- Costa Azul Sauce! Available year-round. Product of USA.
