Most people are used to thinking of treats as something sweet - dessert, ice cream, candy. But I think of some fruits and vegetables that way, because they are available fresh, locally, for only a short time. Berries and peaches fall into that category, but so do asparagus and peas. Of course, these days you can get these fruits and vegetables year round, if not fresh then frozen. But fresh from across the country - or maybe half way around the world - is not the same, or as good, as locally grown foods. The taste just cannot compare to something grown in your own area and picked at its proper time and ripeness.
Asparagus - something we do not currently grow ourselves - is so good when it has just been cut, but tough and strong tasting when it has been shipped in. Canned asparagus is just mush to me. Why waste the money? So next year seek out a local producer and enjoy the treat.
Young, tender, fresh peas are another treat. The sugar snap peas are crunchy and sweet raw, and wonderful steamed. They can be stir fried quickly and still retain their crunch. But the best ones are only available in spring and early summer. If there is an abundance, they do freeze fairly well, but they do not taste the same afterward. Snow peas are a favorite of many people and can be used much the same way as the sugar snaps. I prefer the snaps, but if you are cooking Chinese dishes, snow peas are the way to go.
The first ripe selection of any vegetable is special. Lucky me, I usually get the first ripe selection of everything! The first tomato is really important to me because there is nothing better. I love tomatoes fresh from the garden and never, ever buy out of season tomatoes. They are always a disappointment in comparison to fresh ones.
Fruits are the same way. Taste strawberries grown locally, if you can get them. Raspberries, blueberries, and peaches are at their best when produced near your home, as well. When they are picked ripe or as near to ripe as possible or, given the need, picked into baskets and transported only a short distance, they so outweigh store bought canned or frozen in taste. These fruits are easy to freeze yourself if you want to buy in quantity or pick your own. But when thawed they get mushy so are best used in cooked dishes such as pie or in a still frozen state. Children usually love to eat frozen fruit as much as they do popsicles. If you have a food processor, you can make a very intense sorbet simply by processing the frozen fruit until it is the consistency you like. Seeds of berries add some texture to this kind of sorbet and the taste is outstanding.
The first ears of corn are special for us because we usually do not buy sweet corn. We wait for our own, which is always better than any you can buy, making it a short seasonal treat. When there is enough I freeze for the winter - not on the cob, but cut off, in a form that is about half way between whole kernel corn and creamed corn. The corn we eat and freeze is also ‘younger,' or less mature kernels, than the corn you buy frozen and canned (or even fresh from most farms), so it is tender and sweet right down to the last pint bag in the freezer (we finished last year's frozen corn at the end of May). Corn is a wonderful treat just picked off the stalk - you can even eat it raw or roasted on the grill!
Potatoes, onions, and carrots are so common and store so well that no one considers them treats, but you might be surprised at the difference in taste when they are fresh from the farm. Young, tender carrots, their tops just removed, are better than the high priced ‘baby carrots' in little bags at the supermarket. Fresh onions are also quite different than stored onions. And real new potatoes - those just dug from the ground with their very tender skins - are exceptional. Most ‘new potatoes' sold in stores are just small red skinned varieties and are not newly dug at all. And new potatoes can come in all colors of potatoes! But among the root crops a real surprise for many people is beets. If all you have ever eaten are canned or pickled beets, you are in for a sweet vegetable treat if you buy fresh ones from a local farm.
Other fresh, locally grown veggies fit into the treat category, too, when compared to their much- traveled counterparts: broccoli and cauliflower, cabbage, kale, mustard and Swiss chard, even spinach, taste different, better, fresher. Lettuce comes in so many varieties, with so many subtle flavors, and most of them are not available in stores. So don't dismiss vegetables until you have tasted the freshest. Eat local.