[1] Crunchy Asian pears were reserved for the nobility and the wealthy. Now, they are the most popular fruit in all of Asia per an American grower, Virginia Gold Orchard (photo © Wonderful Fruit).

[2] Born in the USA: The boysenberry is a cross among the European raspberry, European blackberry, American dewberry and American loganberry. The loganberry itself is a hybrid of the North American blackberry and the European raspberry. Thanks to American horticulturists for all that hard work (photo © Good Eggs)!

[3] The galia melon is a cross between a honeydew and a cantaloupe. The rind is netted like a cantaloupe, but the green flesh is like a honeydew. The flavor has notes of banana (photo © Melissa’s Produce).

While we can get much of our favorite produce year-round, fruits and vegetables in season taste better, are better environmentally (less fuel expended to import them from faraway places), and support American farmers.

Today, we focus on summer fruits. Tomorrow, summer vegetables.

Some of the items are harvested for only a few weeks; others are around for months. So peruse the list, note what you don’t want to miss, and add it to your shopping list.

The list was created by the Produce For Better Health Foundation. Take a look at their website, FruitsAndVeggies.org, for tips on better meal planning with fresh produce.

We’ve included the less-familiar produce in footnotes below (e.g., black crowberries).

And in the photos: fruits that most of us don’t eat often enough.
 
 
30+ SUMMER FRUITS TO PUT ON YOUR PLAATE

 
 
MORE SUMMER PRODUCE

 
 
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*Plus: Acerola/Barbados Cherry, Black Crowberry, Breadfruit, Elderberry, Loganberry, Longan, Loquat, Mulberry, Olallieberry, Rose Apple

Iced coffee fans who’d like to try something new can whip up these two iced coffee recipes including Iced Irish Coffee, both made with cold brew coffee and a hit of Slane’s Irish Whiskey.

Thanks to Slane’s Irish Whiskey for the recipes.

We really liked them as is, but we took the recipes one step further: by making them into floats with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (coffee ice cream works, too).

Can you use coffee other than cold brew? Yes. Cold brewing produces coffee with much lower acidity, greater smoothness and sweetness, and little or no bitterness. It’s very fashionable now, and fans prefer the different flavor profile. However, feel free to use your favorite coffee, iced.

Can you leave out the syrup/sugar? Yes. You can use the sweetener of your choice.

> The recipe for Iced Irish Coffee is below.

> The history of Irish Coffee.

> Here’s how to make cold brew coffee, and the history of cold brewing.
 
 
RECIPE #1: SLANE’S COLD BREW
 
Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

If you’re making a float, use a glass that will accommodate the scoop of ice cream.

1. ADD ice to a shaker; then add the whiskey, maple/honey/agave, and cold brew coffee, Shake or stir well to dissolve the syrup.

2. STRAIN into a glass over fresh ice.
 
 
RECIPE #2: SLANE’S ICED IRISH COFFEE

Most of us have only had hot Irish Coffee. Here’s a delightful alternative. It uses demerara sugar syrup instead of regular simple syrup.

Why? Demerara syrup uses demerara sugar in place of regular granulated sugar. Demerara is a less processed, raw cane sugar that has a delicious caramel/toffee flavor.

Those flavors in a simple syrup add deeper flavor notes to the drink. Here’s how to make simple syrup: It couldn’t be easier.
 
Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

If you’re making a float, use a glass that will accommodate the scoop of ice cream.

1. ADD all ingredients to a Collins glass over ice. Stir and serve with an orange twist.
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF COFFEE
 
 
> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF COFFEE
 
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*Demarara sugar is simple syrup made with demarara (raw) sugar instead of white granulated sugar. It has much more flavor.

[1] Recipe #1: Cold brew iced coffee with a hit of Irish whiskey (photos #1 and #2 © Slane’s Irish Whiskey).

[2] Recipe #2: Iced Irish coffee is creamy, thanks to half & half.

[3] Maple syrup (shown), honey and agave are unrefined sweetener alternatives to granulated sugar (photo © Rent Mother Nature).

[4] Demamara is a raw sugar that has much more flavor than white table sugar. It is available in granulated and cube forms (photo © Katharine Pollak | THE NIBBLE).

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

[1] Que Pasa’s limited-edition Liberty Chips for July 4th (both photos © Que Pasa).

[2] Look for this bag.

[3] Want to make your own star-shaped chips? Here’s the recipe for both the chips and the salsa (photo © Wisconsin Dairy Farmers).

Almost everyone will be serving some kind of dip over July 4th weekend. Show your patriotism with these limited edition Liberty Chips from Que Pasa.

A festive mix of red, white and blue chips, they’re made from the highest quality organic, non-GMO ingredients.

These authentic chips are made in the traditional Mexican way: whole organic corn kernels ground between hand-cut volcanic rock.

They’re also certified kosher by OU.

You can find the chips at:

 
…and other fine retailers and e-tailers. Check the Que Pasa website for a store locator.

And if you can’t find them, here’s a hack:

Make your own mix of white corn tortilla chips, blue chips and red chips (individual colors available from Garden Of Eatin’, Que Pasa and others).

We actually serve a mix of colors year-round.
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF JULY 4TH / INDEPENDENCE DAY
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF TORTILLA CHIPS
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF TORTILLAS
 
 
>THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TORTILLA CHIPS & CORN CHIPS