September is National Fruits & Veggies Month, a holiday established by the USDA to bring greater attention to the health benefits of eating fruits and vegetables.

The message is not only to “make the most of summer produce while it’s still available,” but to integrate more fruits and vegetables into your daily meals. It’s pretty easy: Here’s how.

So who’s tops in produce?
 
 
WHAT AMERICANS ARE BUYING

The Fresh Produce Association shared these results from a trade industry survey, The Packer’s Fresh Trends 2022. The study reflected consumer behavior in 2021.

More specifically, it surveyed consumers on their most-purchased fruits and vegetables.

 
 
CHANGES FROM LAST YEAR

The chart below lists the most frequently-purchased fruits and vegetables in 2021 in the U.S. What’s new?

 
O.K., maybe that’s not so exciting unless you’re a grocery store produce manager. But take a look:

Where do your favorites rank on the list?

[1] What are America’a Top 20 fruits and veggies? Apples are the #4 fruit (photo © Envy Apples | Facebook).

Broccoli[/caption]
[2] Broccoli is #6 on the vegetables list (photo © Burpee).

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[1] What’s for brunch? A bagel with citrus cream cheese and papaya ribbons. The recipe is below (photo © Southern Selects).

[2] There are numerous subspecies of Carica papaya, demonstrating different sizes, shapes, and flavor nuances (photo © Alleksana | Pexels).

[3] A shorter, rounder variety (photo © Little Plant | Unsplash).

[4] The papaya “tree” isn’t a tree, but a giant herb—just like the banana. The green fruits turn yellow when ripe (photo © Brooks Tropicals).

[5] Green papaya salad. Here’s the recipe (photo © Rasa Malaysia).

[6] A papaya boat can be a first course, or served with yogurt or cottage cheese for breakfast. Here’s the recipe (photo © Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog).

September is National Papaya Month and it’s the weekend, so how about something outside the box: papaya on a bagel instead of smoked salmon? Lemon cream cheese brings the right counterpoint so that the papaya is right at home on the bagel of your choice.

The recipe, Papaya Ribbons with Lemon Cream Cheese on Toasted Bagels, was created by Southern Selects, a grower of premium products, as a creative way to use its papayas.

> The history of bagels.

> The history of cream cheese.

> The history of the papaya is below.

> There are more delicious papaya recipes below.
 
 
RECIPE: PAPAYA (OR MANGO) RIBBONS WITH LEMON CREAM CHEESE ON TOASTED BAGELS

We didn’t have a ripe avocado when we made this recipe, but we didn’t miss it.
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. CUT the papaya (or mango) in half, scoop out and discard the seeds. Slice the halves into 4 sections lengthwise. Trim the skin from the flesh.

2. USE a vegetable peeler or a mandolin to thinly slice the papaya flesh into ribbons.

3. CUT the flesh of halved avocado into thin slices. Cut the onion into thin slices and place both on the side.

4. ZEST the lemon with a grater. Combine the lemon zest, cream cheese, and honey. Toast the bagels. When the bagels are ready…

5. SPREAD the cream cheese mixture on one side of the toasted bagel and top with sliced papaya and then avocado. You can add a couple drops of lemon juice on top of the bagel, or serve it with a lemon wedge.
 
 
MORE PAPAYA RECIPES

Savory Recipes

Today, the fruit can be found in a variety of cultures and their foods, ranging from savory to sweet. Note that you can easily substitute papaya for mango in most recipes.

 
Sweet Recipes

 
Cocktails

 
 
 
PAPAYA HISTORY & USES

The papaya, Carica Papaya L., is believed to have originated in southern Mexico and eastern Central America. Also known as the pawpaw*, the papaya is one of the 22 species in the genus Carica of the family Caricaceae, a family of flowering plants in the order Brassicales. (If that sounds familiar, see footnote †).

The name arrives from ababai, a word in the Carib language of South America.

It may represent the fusion of two or more species of Carica that are native to Mexico and Central America [source].

The papaya was first domesticated in Mesoamerica, in the area of modern-day southern Mexico and Central America. By the time the Spanish arrived, in 1529, the papaya had already spread throughout Central America and into South America.

Spanish invaders greatly enjoyed the salmon-orange-colored fruit and planted it throughout the Caribbean and South America. The Spanish then introduces it to Asia via the Philippines. It spread to India, and eventually to Europe.

By the 17th Century, Dutch and Portuguese colonists had brought papaya to Africa and then onto the Far East, where it became an integral part of the cuisines of Southeast Asia [source].

By the 19th century, the fruit was being cultivated in all of the world’s tropical regions [source].

And why not: The succulent fruit, moderately sweet, has those special qualities that say “tropical!” even if you were blindfolded and given a bite.

The fruit became popular for breakfast and green salads, pies, not to mention confections, juice, pie, sherbet, and other desserts. You can also toss halves on the grill, or add them to skewers.

 
Like the banana, the papaya is botanically a berry. It may look like it grows from a tall tree, but both papaya and banana are the fruits of an herb.

In 1932, Papaya King, a New York City hot dog stand, was the first to start what became a papaya juice craze. It’s still around, replicated by other mini chains such as Gray’s Papaya and Papaya Dog.

In 2020, India produced 43% of the world supply of papayas [source].

Papaya (is the third most cultivated tropical crop worldwide [source].

*Among other names for papaya are mamao, melon zapote, and papayo. But wait: Papaya is also known as papaw in Australia and other parts of the world. However, in the U.S., a pawpaw is not a papaya but an indigenous, mango-shaped fruit.

†Brassicaceae (brah-si-KAY-see-ay), a high-antioxidant Brassicaceae family of flowering plants, was formerly called the Cruciferae and is sometimes called the Brassicas. cruciferous vegetables, mustard family, or cabbage family. The vegetables are nutritional powerhouses, packed with potent, cancer-fighting phytonutrients. Members include arugula, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, horseradish/wasabi, kale, kohlrabi, mizuna, mustard greens, radish, rapeseed/canola, rapini, rutabaga, tatsoi, turnips, and watercress, among others.

‡Carib or Kari’nja is a Cariban language spoken by the Kalina people (Caribs) of South America. It is spoken by around 7,400 people mostly in Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and Brazil.
 
 

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The New York Coffee Festival, New York City’s flagship coffee event, is celebrating its return to the City That Never Sleeps (even after all that coffee) for the first time since 2019. The three-day festival runs from October 7th through October 9th, 2022.

It’s an opportunity for coffee lovers from all over to head to Manhattan’s Metropolitan Pavilion to discover different types of coffee, food, and coffee cocktails while enjoying presentations, live music, and art.
 
 
THINGS TO DO AT THE FESTIVAL

There are unlimited tastings from more than 100 of the most exciting and innovative exhibitors of coffee tea, and nibbles. Just a taste of the exhibitors: Blank Street, Bodum, Nguyen Coffee Roasters, Oatly, Parlor Coffee, Raaka Chocolate, Rishi Tea, and Slayer Espresso Machines. There’s lots to discover!

You’ll also be able to purchase great goodies. The last time we were there, we scored big on Chalo Chai (a terrific brand, not readily available in the U.S.) and discovered Mr. Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur.

 
 
FOR MORE INFORMATION & TICKETS

Head to NewYorkCoffeeFestival.com.
 
 
> The different types of coffee.

> The different types of espresso drinks.

> The history of coffee.

> The history of espresso.

[1] There are lots of coffee cocktails to try (all photos © New York Coffee Festival).

[2] You may possibly run into some Instagrammable characters.

[3] Coffee cupping enhances your skills at detecting the complex aromas and flavors of coffee.

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[1] Butternut squash soup with spicy Latin garnishes (photos #1, #2, #4, and #5 ©‎ Pointed Leaf Press).

[2] The star vegetable: butternut squash. Here’s the difference between butternut and acorn squash (photo © Good Eggs).

[3] Soup garnishes: chiles, chorizo, cilantro, lime, pepitas.

[4] The author enjoys this soup with a glass of her Terra y Vino Grenache. “The berry notes and medium tannins found in Grenache,” she says, “balance the spice in the chorizo and bring out the richness of the butternut squash.”

September 7th is National Acorn Squash Day. We have a collection of delicious acorn squash recipes, including this Acorn Squash Soup With Gnocchi.

But today we’re horning in on acorn squash’s celebration to present a butternut squash soup recipe (there is no Butternut Squash Day and no inclusive National Squash Day, either).

Butternut and acorn squash are similar in flavor and texture. Here are the differences between them. You can substitute one for the other.

In fact, you can use any winter squash—acorn, buttercup, butternut, carnival, delicata, dumpling, hubbard, kabocha, sugar pumpkin, etc.—interchangeably in recipes.

Editors’s note: The plural of squash is either squash or squashes. “Squashes” is not commonly used in the U.S., but it is correct.

The recipe is from the new book, Caren Rideau: Kitchen Designer, Vintner, Entertaining at Home.

Caren Rideau is a kitchen and interior designer, entertaining enthusiast, vintner, and owner of wine label Tierra Y Vino. The book highlights her colorful lifestyle, beautiful kitchen designs, inspirational entertaining spreads, delicious recipes, and wine pairings, with plenty of gorgeous photography.

Inspired by her upbringing, Rideau’s work brings together the vibrant hues and styles of her native Southwest with a love for celebration fostered by her Mexican and Louisiana Creole roots.

You’ll find a lot of that in this recipe!

> The history of squash.

> The history of soup.
 
 
RECIPE: BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP WITH A LATIN TWIST

 
Ingredients

 
For The Garnishes

 
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September is National Chicken Month. Here’s a tasty chicken recipe that’s off the beaten track—inspired by Morocco, to be precise.

The recipe is courtesy of the National Chicken Council, which features recipes for lunch and dinner on their consumer website, ChickenRoost.com.

We have to take exception with the given name of the recipe, which is Moroccan Chicken with Eggplant-Zucchini Ragout. That’s not accurate.

Ragout (rah-GOO) is not a dice of vegetables; it is a stew. Like stews, ragouts can be made from different meats, seafood, and vegetables, with different seasonings. They can be vegetables-only.

The key difference between a ragout and a stew:

 
The lesson here is one you’ve heard before: Just because you read it in print doesn’t make it true.
 
 
THE WORD “RAGOUT”

The word “ragout” is the American spelling of the French ragoût. The English spelling drops the circumflex over the “u.”

Ragoût, in turn, derives from the verb ragoûter, meaning “to revive the taste.”

A similarly-sounding word in Italian is ragù, but it refers to a sauce, typically used to dress pasta.
 
 
WHAT SHOULD THIS RECIPE BE CALLED?

This is a chicken dish with diced vegetables (photo #1). In French cooking, there are four sizes of dice:

 
See the chart showing the different sizes, below.

This recipe calls for a 1/2 dice of the vegetables, or parmentier in the language of French-trained chefs. But doesn’t Moroccan Chicken With Parmentier Of Eggplant & Zucchini” sound more tempting than Moroccon Chicken With Diced Eggplant & Zucchini?

If you agree, you have our permission to call the recipe as we have renamed it.

> The history of chicken.

> The different cuts of chicken.
 
 
RECIPE: MOROCCAN CHICKEN WITH PARMENTIER OF EGGPLANT & ZUCCHINI

The principal Moroccan seasoning, ras el hanout*, is a blend of ground spices: allspice, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, ginger, paprika, and turmeric.

However, since most American kitchens don’t have ras el hanout, the recipe was developed with other flavors of Morocco that most of us keep in the pantry.
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. WARM 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the leg quarters with ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Add the leg quarters to the pan, skin-side down. Brown the chicken, turning once, 8 to 10 minutes per side. Remove the chicken to a plate and drain off all but 2 tablespoons of oil.

2. ADD the eggplant to the hot pan and cook, stirring for 5 minutes. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, along with the zucchini, onion, and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. RAISE the heat to high and add the white wine to the pan, stirring to scrape up any browned bits (the fond). Add all of the remaining ingredients, except the parsley, and place the chicken legs back in the pan.

4. BRING to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 35 to 40 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through (an instant-read thermometer should read 170ºF).

7. TO SERVE: Place some of the eggplant-zucchini mixture onto plates, top with a leg quarter, and sprinkle with parsley.

[1] Moroccan-style chicken with eggplant, zucchini, olives and capers (photo © Chicken Roost).

[2] Chopped pimento-stuffed olives go into the eggplant-zucchini mix (photo © Recipeland).

[3] So do briny capers (photo © iGourmet).

[4] Diced tomatoes contribute to the sauce. Our favorite brand: San Marzano (photo © DeLaurenti).

[5] You need only one eggplant (photo © IT Delice).

[6] And one zucchini. The singular form in Italian is zucchini. In the U.S., the same word is used for the singular and plural forms (photo © Good Eggs).

*In Arabic, ra’s al-ḥānūt means “top of the shop,” referring to the highest quality spices sold in a shop.
 
 

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