The Best Vegetables to Enjoy This July

Grilling across the nation is high on everyone’s list, with simply enjoying the outdoors once the frost melts away and temps are comfy. Time to gather with family, friends and acquaintances. Time to get the grill ready for apps, entrées, sides and desserts. Don’t forget the condiments and drinks!

NEW! MELISSA’S PICKLE KIT
Canning has been having a resurgence ever since 2020, and if you haven’t yet learned how to can or ‘put up’ as granny would say, here is your opportunity with Melissa’s Pickle Kit. The kit contains the basics: pickling cucumbers, Melissa’s Pickling Spice Blend, and a head of garlic. Recipes for quick pickling cucumbers or other produce items can be found on the package QR code or on our website, or our pickling recipe page.   

Refrigerate or use with 4 days. Do not use damaged or spoiled cucumbers in pickling. NOTE: Pickle Kit contents contain an allergen, mustard seed. Available Year Round. Product of USA. Mexico 

HATCH ONIONS
Ramp up your Father’s Day grilling and Grad Party celebrations with Melissa’s Hatch Onions, your gateway ‘habit’ to the tasty produce grown in the Mesilla Valley of Texas.  Hatch Onions not only add the crisp to your fresh salads and burgers, but also a bit of sweetness and flavor.  You may also serve them cut into rounds and grilled as a side dish with grilled fresh chile peppers for that smokey taste.  Add them to your pickle kit for condiment sandwich toppers and egg salad!  Available June-July. Product of USA, Hatch, NM.

BULB ONIONS
This fresh, green onion is the true grilling green onion. They withstand high heat from grilling or longer cooking in braises and crockpots, and their round bulb can pack a big onion flavor.  For a colorful platter of grilled veggies, include Melissa’s Organic Sweet Mini Peppers or Long Sweet Peppers, a few jalapeños, baby corn or corn wheels, Japanese eggplant halves, and tatuma or white squash. Available Year Round, now peak season. Product of Mexico.

SHISHITOS WITH TOGARASHI SAUCE
Here’s a super easy appetizer from Melissa’s you can prepare while chatting with guests. It is best served directly from the grill or heat source. Simply wash and pat dry the shishitos, put them on a hot grill or hot stove top pan and sear or sauté, then dress or serve on the side with the togarashi sauce.  

Togarashi sauce is soy-sauce based (contains wheat) sauce with a pinch of heat, sesame, and ginger. You may be familiar with Togarashi as a dry chili pepper spice blend. Oi-shi!                                 
Shishito Peppers are thin-skinned, flavorful pepper originally from Japan. They are the perfect appetizer or addition to a side dish for flavor and sometimes a spark of oomph! Shishitos can be eaten raw, but grilling or sautéing them adds an extra layer of smokiness.  

Select Shishitos with fresh stems and green fruit (yes, they contain seeds). Texturally, they will appear flexible. Wash, pat dry, then grill, sauté, or add to mixed veggies or pickle, though they will not crisp. Refrigerate, unwashed, up to five days. Available Year Round.  Product of Mexico and USA.

CHINESE EGGPLANT
Long, tapered purple cylinders with a slight curve at the bottom, and pretty green calyx at the top, Chinese eggplant are fleshy and a fun addition to the grill. Different from Japanese eggplant which are dark purple and shorter in length with dark purple calyx, Chinese eggplant is a bit fleshier and denser.  Simply wash, cut off the calyx and slice into rounds for kabobs or halve for veggie platters. Salting is optional with this variety, but a light brush of oil on the cut side to prevent sticking to grates is helpful.  Season as you’d like with Melissa’s Grinders ranging from Himalayan Salt or Rainbow Peppercorn to Spicy Sesame, Tuscan, or Everything Spice. Cook until tender, but not mushy unless puréeing for a dip. Go Asian and brush with miso/sake dressing just before serving, or go Italian with a bit of sun dried tomato pesto or a simple sprinkling of toasted pine nuts and parm.

Select any eggplant with shiny skin and fresh calyx and is firm and heavy for its size with no signs of bruises, brown spots, or mold. Refrigerate, unwashed, in a plastic bag up to five days. Wash before use. Eggplant is a versatile ingredient in curries, soups, and stews, roasted and stuffed, wrapped around vegetables or proteins, or puréed for dips or sauces.  Available Year Round. Product of Mexico.

MELISSA’S ABC'S of STEAMED AND READY TO USE ITEMS
With every picnic or barbecue, the reason is to gather, but it’s really about the food and activities. And who says you must slave over a stove or oven to make the sides?  Melissa’s can help put a dish on the picnic table with our steamed line of beans, beets, artichokes and chestnuts as well as pre-cooked quinoa, polenta, and pressed tofu.

Our selection of steamed, ready to use items, artichokes, beans, and beets, are steamed and vacuum sealed to retain flavor and better shelf life. Melissa’s Steamed baby artichokes are ready for quick marinating or puréed for dip. They are also great when added to potato, pasta, rice, or green salads. Many former canned beet haters have become Melissa’s Steamed Baby Beets lovers as our baby beets are absent of the metallic aftertaste. They are sweet, earthy, and toothsome, ready to halve and char on a screamin’ hot grill, or serve sliced or quartered in grain, green, or bean salads. They also make really quick pickled beets!! Melissa’s line of steamed beans really speeds up prep time.  Just open and give an optional rinse and drain, then use as your recipe directs.  From Six Bean Medley to garbanzos, favas, black-eyed peas and lentils, you can have baked or chili beans, lentil patties, or curried chickpea salad in no time. Our USDA-certified organic chestnuts are peeled, roasted to add flavor, then steamed and vacuum-sealed. You’ll find them meaty and tasty as a snack, glazed as a side, added to salads or puréed with cream to spread with jam on crackers, or use as a plant-based protein source.  

If you’re still stumped what to prepare, why not try our plant-based ‘go to’ items: Cooked Quinoa, Pressed Tofu, or Gluten Free Polenta, also all are ready to use. Melissa’s Cooked Quinoa can become burger bites or crumbled and made into grain salad with vinaigrette.  Pressed tofu can be marinated then grilled or sautéed and added to a baby heirloom salad or vegan skewers.  Melissa’s Polenta is made in a gluten free facility and available in original, Italian Herb seasoned, Sun-Dried Tomato, or Hatch seasoned, ready to lightly grill as rounds, or air fry as fries or cubes and top with marinara and toasted nuts.  

MELISSA’S GUACAMOLE AND SALSA KITS
Who knew guacamole and salsa would be essentials at a party?  It was only fifteen to twenty years ago only neighboring states to Mexico, especially California, were aware of these must haves. If you’ve read this far, you are not surprised Melissa’s had it figured out nearly 20 years ago with Melissa’s Guacamole Kit and Melissa’s Salsa Kit. All you need, sans salt and pepper, a fork and kitchen knife, to make a good, fresh, basic salsa or guac.  It’s all there. Really! Avo, garlic, tomato, jalapeño, lime, and shallot –all fresh ingredients- in our Guacamole Kit and fresh Roma tomatoes, garlic, jalapeño and lime in our Salsa Kit. IT’S PARTY TIME WITH MELSISA’S!!!! Available Year Round. Packed in USA.