With June comes the tail end of spring and the the start of the glorious bountiful summer produce season.
What a month for fruit! Strawberries starting coming in a month ago, and now they are joined by cherries, apricots, and blueberries. It’s the season for tropical fruit as well—pineapples, mangoes, and papaya.
For veggies, we may still find remnants of spring—local asparagus, morels, favas, and sweet peas. The first zucchini of the season arrive, as well as cucumbers, peppers, and even corn. Lettuces abound, along with radishes, carrots, and cauliflower.
What’s your favorite early summer fruit or vegetable?
For me, June is all about the cherries and apricots. Cherries ripen here in Sacramento in late May early June, and usually all at once. If you have a cherry tree, you’ll need buckets!
Just get to the cherries before the birds do. Sweet bing cherries and Rainier cherries start arriving from Washington state in mid June.
If you have a generous friend with a Bleinheim apricot tree, you’re in luck! Bleinheims are the sweetest, most flavorful variety of apricots. But they are delicate, so usually what we get at the market is a sturdier variety.
If the fruit is hard, it won’t be pleasant to eat. Wait until the apricot gives a little before cutting into one.
Scroll down for the recipes!
Cherries
Eat cherries fresh by the handful, or bake them into a cobbler, pie, or classic French claufoutis custard
Do you love strawberry ice cream? Like, REALLY love strawberry ice cream? Then this is the recipe for you. Fresh strawberries and velvety texture, this is the ultimate summer treat.
Quinoa salad with fresh strawberries, arugula, toasted almonds, mint and a citrus vinaigrette
Blueberries
Make the world's best blueberry pie, or if it's too hot to use the oven, a stovetop blueberry slump. Then throw a party with blueberry pitcher margaritas!
Got fresh apricots? Make this easy Apricot Chicken skillet dinner! It's ready in under an hour and makes a great change from your usual weeknight chicken routine. (You can swap in dried apricots, too!)
Mangoes & Papaya
Chop up fresh mango and make a salsa for fish or shrimp tacos, make homemade mango lassi, or toss with a curried chicken salad.
Cut papaya in half, scoop out the seeds, cut into wedges, cut away the peel, and sprinkle with lime and a little salt. Papaya is great for digestion!
Using delicate, thin skinned cucumbers, this cucumber salad recipe includes mint, feta cheese, red onions and sliced radishes with a simple oil and vinegar dressing.
This cucumber salad is amazing with tahini dressing, lemon and herbs!
Zucchini
When the first zucchini come in, cut them lengthwise and roast them with garlic and herbs, or sauté them and toss them with pasta for a quick pasta primavera.
Like zucchini bread? Try this lightly sweet lemony zucchini bread with rosemary, you'll love it!
Corn
Have you ever tried microwaving a corn-on-the-cob in its husk? It's the easiest way to cook one or two ears of corn, and full of flavor because the corn steams in its own juices.
Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
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Sally
This is one of my favorite features. I also like “What to Cook” in the current month. Scrolling though the recipes helps me remember things I’ve made in the past and have dropped out of the rotation, or things I wanted to try, but for some reason never did.
Ginger Ramirez
Great article ,very helpful .Keep up the good work.
What’s in Season – June Produce Guide
This is one of my favorite features. I also like “What to Cook” in the current month. Scrolling though the recipes helps me remember things I’ve made in the past and have dropped out of the rotation, or things I wanted to try, but for some reason never did.
Great article ,very helpful .Keep up the good work.
Thanks Ginger!