Here’s a deal you’ll only catch every four years: 29% off on the finest produce you can find, from Melissas.com.

Here’s your opportunity to take advantage of all the delicious products and gifts that Melissa’s has to offer—which includes a selection of fruits and vegetables that are difficult to find elsewhere.

On Leap Day, February 29th—next Wednesday—just enter coupon code LEAP29OFF at checkout. You can start ordering at midnight on the 28th, until 11:59 on the 29th. (Shipping is not included).

The online store has everything you can imagine in fruits and vegetables, including exotic and organic varieties.

Take a look.

Find more of our favorite fruits and vegetables.

Treat yourself to Ataulfo mangoes: Of 500 different varieties, it is the “champagne” of mangoes.

Raw bay scallops make a healthful and
delicious starter. Photo courtesy Arch Foods.

Both sea scallops and the smaller bay scallops are delicious raw. Bay scallops have an even sweeter, more delicate flavor that is wonderful plain, with no seasoning whatsoever (although some people enjoy a squeeze of lemon or lime).

In fact, we think they taste best when raw. In season, you can find them at sushi bars, served gunkan-style (wrapped in a seaweed “boat”) or in a cucumber cup.

Bay scallops are what most people picture when they think of scallops. The fluted shells are between two and three inches wide. Sea scallops have much larger, saucer-sized shells that are very flat, without flutes.

For a light first course—that just happens to be nutritious and low in calories—serve raw scallops. If your family doesn’t like the idea of “raw,” call it “scallop sashimi” or use the Italian word, “crudo.”

You can serve the scallops family-style on a platter, or as individual servings atop a lettuce leaf, watercress, shredded cucumber, tomato concasse or other salad vegetable. Think beyond the plate: The scallops will look terrific in a Martini glass or glass dessert dish.

How To Buy Scallops

It’s always best to buy seafood the day you plan to use it. When you buy fresh scallops, they should have a clean scent and no “fishy” aroma.

The scallops also should be beige, not white.

White scallops indicate treatment with sodium tripolyphosphate (STP). STP is a safe food additive that is used to prevent the scallops from drying out. But it also increases the weight of the scallops by causing them to absorb excess water. You want to pay for scallop meat, not water. Plus, if you cook them, over-treated scallops won’t brown when seared; and the delightful fresh flavor will be impacted.

A little STP is okay. But if the scallops look artificially white and/or are oozing a milky liquid, they’ve been over-treated with STP.

Another scallop-buying tip: Avoid jumbo “scallops” that are not scallops but less expensive skate wings. When scallops are in short supply (or for other unscrupulous reasons), fishmongers can punch round “scallops” from skate. In addition to their large size, another giveaway is that the scallops look like they’re falling apart.

Scallop Nutrition

Scallops are low in calories: 31 calories per ounce, or just 93 calories for a three-ounce starter portion, which delivers 6 grams of protein.

Scallops are a very good source of phosphorus and selenium, and a good source of calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium, vitamin B12 and zinc.
Seafood does have cholesterol (15 mg/ounce), but no saturated fat. Enjoy!
More scallop recipes.

But with the current consumer love* for Greek yogurt—a style that is triple-strained into a thicker form—the new product line took form. The inspiration was a staff member who ate regular Greek yogurt every day for lunch.

This week, the company introduced four new pints made from Greek yogurt:

 
Plus, plain vanilla frozen Greek yogurt will be available at Ben & Jerry’s scoop shops.

Creamy and rich-tasting with a soft, lilting tang, the frozen yogurts have another bonus: fewer calories than Ben & Jerry’s ice cream (from 180 calories/serving for Strawberry Shortcake to 210 for the Peanut Butter Banana, with Blueberry Vanilla Graham and Raspberry Fudge Chunk weighing in at 200 calories).

The line is certified kosher (dairy) by KOF-K.
 
*In the $4 billion yogurt category, Greek yogurt has gone from almost nothing 10 years ago to 25% of the category.

When you’re a food writer, you get invited to events to taste new products—and although we took home four pints, it’s a once-a-year temptation at best.

We had the time of our life trying the four new pint flavors plus two scoop shop items:

Check out our Ice Cream Glossary.

Find more of our favorite ice cream, frozen yogurt and sorbet: products and recipes.

Others, like a garlic press, an egg separator, a mandoline, an egg slicer and a cherry- or olive-pitter make difficult jobs easy.

With olives and cherries, you get a two-for-one gadget: The same pitter works with each. (Food fact: when used for cherries, it’s called a stoner, since cherries have stones, not pits.*)

If you’ve ever bitten into a plump olive in a salad, sauté or stew—only to crunch down on the pit—you’ll recognize why you need one of these gadgets.

A few olives add lots of flavor to dishes—at least, the really good olives, which usually are not pitted by the manufacturer, do. The pitted, canned variety are very bland, adding color but not flavor. With all due respect to the people who enjoy mild olives, we choose olives for their bite.

Try them in an avocado and grapefruit salad or a blood orange and arugula salad.

You can also have fun stuffing the centers of the olives with something unexpected—like pineapple slivers, or an olive-chive garnish (with the ends of the chives sticking out of each end of the olive).
Get an olive pitter/cherry pitter online.

And plan ahead for cherry season (May to July for U.S. cherries).

 
*Why? Blame it on the evolution of the English language: who used what term and what caught on. Stone derives from the Greek stion, pebble. Pit derives from the Dutch word for kernel, which is related to the Old English pitha, meaning core or heart.
  

February is National Sweet Potato Month. Yet how many of us only think of sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner?

We enjoy them year-round, baked or sliced and steamed in the microwave for a tasty side or snack. But there’s a lot more to enjoying sweet potatoes.

Join Alton Brown as he demonstrates Chipotle Sweet Potatoes, a couldn’t-be-easier recipe that mashes diced, steamed sweet potatoes with canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (a piquant sauce made with tomato paste, garlic, paprika and other spices, vinegar, and salt).

Steaming maintains the vitamins and flavor nuances of the sweet potatoes, and chipotle adds smoky flavor and heat.

Food Fact: Sweet potatoes are not yams, just as buffalo is not bison. Check out the difference.

How many types of potatoes have you had? Check out our Potato Glossary.