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Tomatos
Whether you put them in a salad, on a burger or stuff them, it’s always the show-stealing tomato that hits the palate first — juicy, tangy, delicious.

PRESERVE     
Tomatoes are summer’s fruit, and whether you’ve grown cherry tomatoes, large and knobby heirlooms or plain old Beefsteaks, once they’re gone, they’re gone — right? Not according to chef Ryan Rivard. He’s the executive chef and co-owner of The Combine, a farm-to-table restaurant in Norfolk County, Ontario. He recommends canning excess tomatoes. Then “you’ll have a delicious meal any time of the year reminiscent of the summer garden.”

You’ll need: about 6½ pounds tomatoes (Rivard likes San Marzano or Roma), 1 tablespoon kosher salt, 1 bunch fresh basil, bottled lemon juice (to prevent bacteria), 32-ounce canning jars with lids, a large soup pot, a canning pot or a second large soup pot, tongs and a funnel.

Instructions
1. Core and quarter tomatoes, add to a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes to prevent burning.
2. Uncover and cook another 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Pass through a food mill or large strainer to remove seeds and skins, then salt to taste.
4. Sterilize jars in water by boiling right-side-up for at least 10 minutes. 
5. Place 2-3 leaves of basil and two tablespoons of lemon juice in each jar. Fill with tomato sauce, leaving ½-inch of space at the top of each jar, then cover with lids.
6. Cover jars with at least 1 inch of boiling water and boil on highest heat setting for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let jars sit for 3 minutes. Remove from the water and allow to cool completely.

BONUS: At a loss for what to do with those pesky green tomatoes at summer’s end? Pickle them by using your favorite pickle recipe and following steps 4 and 5, substituting basil in the jars for another pickling herb.

USE
Caprese salads are great, don’t get us wrong. But why not try a lesser-known but equally delicious panzanella salad? Brian Conley is the chef at the Blind Perch in Vermilion, Ohio, and also sells his own heritage tomatoes at the Oberlin farmers market. Here’s his recipe for a salad to impress:

Ingredients
3 large tomatoes, large diced
2 shallots, shaved
2 dozen cucamelons (or 1 English cucumber), medium dice
1 large green pepper, medium dice
10 mint leaves, torn
10 basil leaves, torn
1 cup of your favorite vinaigrette 
1/2 loaf stale or toasted ciabatta bread, medium dice
6 ounces goat cheese 
Kosher salt and fresh-cracked black pepper to taste

Directions
Combine all ingredients except goat cheese and let it marinate in the vinaigrette for about 10 to 15 minutes. Right before serving, crumble the goat cheese on top.

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Zucchini
The chameleon of the veggie world, zucchini can take on whatever flavor you want it to, but slice, brush with olive oil and grill and it tastes simply like summer.

PRESERVE
Delicious though it is, zucchini bread isn’t the only tasty way to keep all that green squash from going to waste. High in vitamin A and potassium, this vegetable (technically a fruit) is one of summer’s most delicate delights. For those who want their fix beyond the summer months, here are two ways to keep zucchini around until your next bumper crop.

Freeze
Frozen zucchini can be used in baked goods, casseroles or mixed vegetables for sautéing. But don’t just chop and freeze. Moisture in the squash can form ice crystals, which ruins the texture if not processed properly. 
1. Wash and dry zucchini thoroughly.
2. Halve the squash vertically, then slice into ¼-inch half-moons.
3. Bring a pot of heavily salted water to a boil and quickly blanch the zucchini slices for about a minute. Transfer immediately to salted ice water to halt the cooking process, also known as shocking.
4. Thoroughly drain in a colander or between clean dish towels.
5. Line a sheet tray with parchment paper and spread the zucchini in a single layer. Freeze at least three hours.
6. Store frozen zucchini slices in a resealable bag and use as needed.

Dry
Dehydrated zucchini chips are an excellent, healthy alternative to fried potato chips. Make sure the slices are completely dry before storing, as too much moisture can make them soggy.
1. Wash and dry zucchini thoroughly.
2. Using a mandolin or a very steady hand, thinly and evenly slice the zucchini.
3. Sprinkle both sides lightly with salt and allow slices to sit at least an hour.
4. Dab excess moisture with a paper towel and arrange in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet or dehydrator tray.
5. Dry for seven to nine hours at 125 (most ovens won’t stay that low; you may have to turn the oven on and off every half-hour or so).
6.  Ensure the slices are no longer flexible, which indicates moisture, and store in an air-tight container for up to a year. 
BONUS: To make quick chips, follow the first four steps, then brush each side of zucchini with olive oil and bake at 225 degrees for about two hours or until crisp. Store up to three days in an air-tight container.


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Blackberries
If you don’t grow your own blackberries, find someone who does. No store-bought berry can compare with one plucked off the bramble just as the drupelets are about to burst.

PRESERVE 
In 1914, Edward Awald’s grandfather founded Awald Farm in Erie County, New York. A hundred years later, Edward and his wife, Millie, still operate the family farm. Every summer, the Awalds open their fields to crowds of pick-your-own enthusiasts — not to mention their 20 grandchildren — who load up on plump blackberries and raspberries while they last. Though blackberry season hits its peak around the third week of July and only lasts about two weeks, Millie keeps some on hand all year-round by freezing and canning. 

Blackberries won’t ripen once picked, so make sure you’re selecting ready-to-eat fruit. “Most of them are pretty easy picking,” she explains. “If you have to pull and pull, they’re maybe not ripe enough.” To freeze, Millie recommends lining a cookie sheet with waxed paper and freezing the berries in a single layer. “When they’re frozen they’re like marbles,” she says, “and that way you can just take out a cup at a time; they’re not frozen in a mass.”

Millie also makes lots of jam every year, though she admits that at her age she no longer has to use a recipe. “After you [cook] so long you say, ‘All right, this is about right,’ and you don’t really measure,” she laughs. For those who need a little guidance, though, she recommends this recipe. For a boost of nostalgia, label your jam the old-fashioned way. “Blackberries used to be called ‘thimble berries,’” Millie recalls.

Quick and Easy Blackberry Freezer Jam 
(yields 7 cups)

Ingredients
3 pints blackberries
5¼ cups granulated sugar
1.75 ounces powdered fruit pectin

Directions
1. Wash and rinse 1- to 2-cup plastic containers with tight-fitting lids. 
2. Crush blackberries, 1 cup at a time, with a fork or potato masher for best results. 
3. Press half the berries through a fine mesh strainer to remove some of the seeds, if desired.
4. Measure 3 cups crushed fruit into a bowl and add sugar. 
5. Mix well and let stand 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Add pectin to ¾ cup water in a small sauce pan. Bring to boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Boil one minute and remove from heat.
7. Stir pectin into fruit and sugar mixture. Stir until no longer grainy, about 3 minutes.
8. Pour into containers, leaving ½ inch at the top to allow room to expand in the freezer. Cover and let stand at room temperature overnight.
9. Store in the freezer for up to a year; when ready to use, thaw overnight in the fridge.

USE 
When New York State Sen. Patrick Gallivan visited Millie Awald’s berry farm last summer, she knew she had to make something special, so she turned to the 1955 Gold Medal Jubilee recipe book given to her by her mother. “And he loved it,” Millie says.

Blackberry Upside-Down Cobbler
(serves a crowd)

Ingredients
½ cup butter, soft
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour (“They say sifted because this is an old book, but I think the flour comes sifted now,” Millie explains.)
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
About 5 cups blackberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Directions
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Sift your dry ingredients together and stir into the butter-sugar mixture, alternating with the milk. Beat till smooth. Pour batter into a greased 9x13 pan or 3-quart casserole. Combine berries with sugar and water in a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until a little thickened. Pour the fruit and juice over the top of the batter in the pan. Bake 45-50 minutes or until the top springs back when you touch it lightly. During baking, the fruit and juice go to the bottom, and the cakelike layer comes to the top.

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Herbs
Anyone with a pot and a bit of sunshine can grow herbs and reap the flavor-adding rewards all summer long — and beyond.

PRESERVE 
Most gardeners know that most herbs grow faster than you can eat them. So what do you do if your garden has sprouted bushels of the stuff? Dry them and make your own herbal tea blend to enjoy for months in just a few simple steps. You’ll need: garden shears, clean dish towels, baking sheet, parchment paper and either the leaves from mint, lemon verbena or basil plants or the flowers from chamomile, rose, jasmine or lavender plants. Pick flowers or snip leaves, leaving a little more than half the plant if you want more growth.
1. Rinse well and dry between two clean dish towels.
2. Preheat your oven to the lowest setting, about 150 degrees, and adjust the rack to the topmost position.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the herbs out evenly in a single layer.
4. Allow herbs to dry for about two hours, checking periodically to avoid burning.
5. When herbs have cooled, lightly break apart the dried leaves or flowers and discard stems. 
6. Store in an opaque, tightly sealed container at room temperature, either on its own or blend with your favorite white, green or black tea.
 
BREW 
After plain old water, tea is the second-most-popular beverage in the world. We asked Lana Lewis, proprietor of Lana’s Little House tea shop in Forestville, New York, near Chautauqua, for advice on how to brew the perfect cup of herbal tea. “To have great tea, you’ve got to have great water, you have to have a good filtration system … [and] you have to use the correct water temperature,” she says. For herbal teas — also known as tisane — Lewis recommends 1 level teaspoon of leaves per 6 ounces of water. Bring water to a rolling boil, steep for exactly five minutes and filter through a fine metal mesh strainer. And skip the tea balls. “They’re OK,” Lewis concedes, “but tea needs room to expand.”
For iced tea, make a normal pot of tea, then pour into a thermos, cover tightly and chill in the refrigerator. “You don’t want any of it to be exposed to air,” Lewis says. “Tea is like a sponge, so it soaks up all the aromas around it.” Like yours sweet? Lewis offers the same advice she tells her customers: “Don’t put anything in your tea yet. Taste it first.” Then, if you must, use high-quality, raw demerara sugar or honey.

USE
Think beyond basil for your pesto. In your food processor, combine ½ cup olive oil, 1/3 cup Parmesan, ¼ cup toasted pine nuts or walnuts, salt and pepper to taste and 3 cups tender herbs such as mint, basil, tarragon, cilantro and parsley. Use all one kind of herb or blend two or more. Makes enough for about one pound of pasta.

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Cucumbers
Once considered nutritional deadbeats, cucumbers are now praised for their potentially cancer-fighting polyphenols. Plus, they’re oh so refreshing on a hot summer day.


PRESERVE 
  The first year chef Doug Katz started selling pickles at his Cleveland restaurant Fire Food & Drink, he made 36 jars. His spicy, garlicky dill spears — called Dr. Katz’s pickles for his father, who taught him the recipe — have become so popular the restaurant now makes them in 5 gallon buckets. “If we made jars, we’d sell 2,400 a year,” Katz says. What makes this recipe so special? These cukes are brined and fermented rather than cooked and canned in vinegar. “The brine is much different in terms of flavor,” he explains. “You’re tasting the spice from the peppers and the salt, and you’re tasting the garlic. Vinegar sometimes can overpower the brine.” 
Most people are more familiar with a classic vinegar pickling process, but fermented pickles are actually easier to make and allow the flavors of the produce to come through. For another spin on an old favorite, Katz uses dill that has just flowered. The blooms look a little like Queen Anne’s Lace, and “the flavor from the flowers give you a much more intense dill flavor,” he says.
These pickles need to sit about six weeks before they’re ready to eat. While the chef recommends storing jars in the refrigerator, the salt will keep these pickles preserved even at room temperature. Inspect before you eat them, though. Bubbling and sediment are normal, but “if the seal’s broken or if there’s … mold or something on top I would say they aren’t good,” advises Katz.

Dr. Katz’s Pickle Recipe
Ingredients
1 tablespoon non-iodized kosher salt
1 teaspoon pickling spice
3/4 finger hot chili pepper
1/2 banana pepper 
3 cloves garlic, peeled
2 crowns of fresh flowering dill, plus stems
5 medium or 8 small cucumbers, stem end trimmed
Distilled water

Directions
1. Thoroughly wash a wide-mouthed, 1-quart jar. 
2. Add the ingredients in order, then cover with distilled water, making sure the jar is completely filled.
3. Screw the lid on tightly, then tip the jar back and forth to mix.
4. Store in a cool, dark place such as a pantry or cellar for at least six weeks. The flavor will intensify over time. Open the jars periodically to allow gas to escape.

USE — Old School
It’s a Betty Crocker classic that grandmothers across the country served at summer cookouts. But it’s still hard to beat, even 64 years after the original cookbook came out. Thinly slice two cucumbers and place in a bowl. In a bag or sealed container, shake to combine 1/3 cup white vinegar, 1/3 cup water, two tablespoons sugar and a bit of salt and pepper. Pour over cucumbers and chill for three hours. Drain cucumbers, add a bit of chopped fresh dill and serve.

USE — New School
Chef/owner Cesare Avallone has been shaking up the dining scene in Sandusky, Ohio, with his Zinc Brasserie and Crush Winebar. A particular favorite is his Thai cucumber salad.
Salad
1 locally grown large cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeded and sliced into quarter-inch crescents
1 medium carrot trimmed, peeled, and cut into 1/8-inch rounds
1 small red onion, julienne
1 teaspoon chopped mint
1 teaspoon chopped cilantro
2 ounces peanuts

Dressing
1 tablespoon sambal (chili paste)
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lime juice
Stir together all ingredients

Toss all veggies in the dressing. Stir in cilantro and mint. Sprinkle peanuts on top. 


BUY
No time for a garden? Order a subscription to a local farm and have the bounty of the season planted and picked for you.

•Farmer Jones Farm in Huron, Ohio, specializes in heirloom vegetables and is unusual in that it ships orders as far away as Japan. A 15-pound box is $45 or $243 for six monthly deliveries. 888-200-8470, farmerjonesfarm.com
• Lee and Maria’s Market in Kingsville, Ontario, delivers four different sized bins of food across Windsor-Essex ranging in price from $28 to $48 CAD. Add-ons such as eggs, honey and jam are also available. 519-733-9328, leeandmarias.com
• Covered Bridge Gardens in Ashtabula County, Ohio, requires a commitment to the entire 15-week season for $362 for the singles/couple size and $548 for the family size. Produce must be picked up weekly, but there are five pick-up sites across Northeast Ohio. 440-862-1682, coveredbridgegardens.com
• Edible Earth Farm in Tionesta, Pennsylvania, has pick-up sites in seven counties in Pennsylvania and New York, including Erie, Pennsylvania, and Lakewood, New York. The 20-week subscription costs $400 for a small share and $550 for a large. Add a whole natural poultry share for $75 or a cheese-and-butter share for $125. 814-303-9663, edibleearthfarm.com