A quick stroll through the market right now and it's clear that August might be the BEST month for refreshing fruits and vegetables, everything from Avocados to Zucchini. Because everything is so fresh and ripe, you barely have to prep, let alone cook, any of them! Use this list of all the fruits and vegetables in season right now, along with the BEST recipes and ideas to eat. Shall we?
Fruits and Vegetables in Season in August | Recipes and Ideas for August |
Fruits and Vegetables in Season Year-Round
Fruits and Vegetables in Season in August
Here's the tl;dr list easy to copy and paste into your grocery list for the week ahead. Peep the following section for more details, and the best recipes that are fast, fresh, easy, and of course, healthy.
- Apples
- Avocados
- Blackberries, raspberries, and all the "brambleberries"
- Cantaloupe, honeydew, and other melons
- Corn
- Cucumbers
- Eggplant
- Figs
- Green beans
- Herbs, soft leafy ones like like basil, cilantro, and dill
- Grapes
- Nectarines and peaches
- Stone fruit like apricots, plums, pluots, and fam
- Pears - first of season
- Peppers
- Tomatillos, tomatoes
- Watermelon
- Zucchini and summer squash
Recipes and Ideas for August
Apples. You might think of apples as the quintessential back-to-school/September/fall fruit, because that's when most apples are harvested, then kept in cold storage to make them available year-round. But some earlier apple varieties are available in August.
Avocados. In my world, avocados are an all day, every day, all season vegetable—guac and chips in the dead of December? absolutely—but most varieties of avocado do have a season, which is summer. If you're getting avocados from the farmers' markets, grab what' you can's left of them from the summer.
- Avocado Hummus
- How to Cut Avocado in 5 Ways
- Avocado Cucumber Salad with Spicy Chili Garlic Dressing
- Avocado Citrus Salad
- Avocado Green Goddess Grilled Cheese Sandwich
- California Sushi Rolls and Summer Rolls with Avocado and Cucumber
Blackberries and raspberries are known as "brambleberries," which grow on large bushes called "brambles," often with sharp thorns like rose bushes. In fact, brambles and roses stem from—ha ha pun intended—the same botanical family, rosaceae. If you have access to local farms, farmers markets, and specialty growers, you might find all the cousins of blackberries and raspberries like boysenberries, cloudberries, marionberries, olallieberries, and salmonberries!
- Berry Chia Seed Jam with Any Berries
- add to Chia Pudding and Chocolate Chia Pudding
- Lemon Olive Oil Cake with Berries
- Chocolate Olive Oil Cake with Berries
- Substitute any berry into Butter Mochi Cake
Cantaloupe, honeydew, and other melons are at their absolute PEAK in August. If there are melon varieties beyond the usual cantaloupe and honeydews that you haven't tasted before, now's the time to try them. Santa Claus melon, anyone?
Corn. Where I'm from, the Midwest, corn out in the field is "knee high by the 4th of July" and ready for harvest at their absolute peak in August. If the farmstands and produce tables are overflowing, grab extras that you can freeze to use through the fall, especially for everyone's favorite Corn Soufflé for Thanksgiving!
Cucumbers. There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING more satisfying than the refreshing crunch of cucumbers in the sweltering heat of summer, made even better when dressed with a spicy, salty, umami sauce that makes you sweat a little. Japanese cucumbers, Korean cucumbers, and Persian cucumbers are great for salads because their skins are thin so they don't need peeling.
- Tzatziki with Cucumber for the MOST EPIC Mezze Platter
- Spicy Korean Cucumber Salad
- Cucumber Salad, Din Tai Fung Dupe
- Cucumber Avocado Salad with Garlic Chili Vinaigrette
- California Sushi Rolls and Summer Rolls with Avocado and Cucumber
Eggplant.
- Baba Ghanoush, Mediterranean roasted eggplant dip
Figs.
Green beans.
Herbs, soft herbs like basil, cilantro, dill, and parsley.
- Italian Salsa Verde with Parsley
- Aji Verde with Cilantro
- Green Goddess Dip
- Dill Pickle Vinaigrette
- Dill Pickle Chopped Salad
Grapes
Nectarines, peaches, and all the stone fruit, especially plums and pluots!
Pears.
- Pear Arugula Salad
- Korean pears on top of Spicy Buckwheat Noodles Salad Bibim Naeng-Myeon
- Asian pears on top of Buckwheat Noodles in Chilled Broth
Peppers like bell peppers, hot chiles, and shishitos
Tomatillos, tomatoes.
Watermelon.
Zucchini and summer squash. August is the month when everyone and their mothers and their mothers' neighbors have zucchini overflowing in their gardens. And it's not just a lot of zucchini and summer squash, it's a lot of HUGE zucchini and summer squash! Pretty sure zucchini bread was invented specifically to use up all the gifts of baskets full of giant zucchini left on everyone's front porches.
- Healthy Zucchini Bread
- Easiest One Bowl Zucchini Bread
- Zucchini Parmesan
- Zucchini Baba Ghanoush
- Thomas Keller's Roasted Zucchini
- Zucchini Pistachio Pesto Pasta
Fruit and Vegetables in Season Right Now and Always
These fruits and vegetables are considered "always in season!" At least here in California!
- artichokes
- beets
- broccoli, cauliflower and fam, except brussels
- cabbage
- carrots
- flowers, edible and otherwise!
- fruit, dried
- Brownie Baked Oatmeal with Prunes
- Pinot Prune Jam
- Healthy Chocolate Spread aka "No-tella"
- Chocolate Salami for Dessert Platters
- Homemade Hoisin Sauce
- Cauliflower Sicilian-style with Raisins and Pistachios
- garlic
- herbs
- Rosemary Olive Oil Cake
- Rosemary White Bean Dip
- Olive Salsa Verde
- Italian Salsa Verde
- lemons
- Lemon Vinaigrette Dressing
- Lemon Olive Oil Cake
- Marcella Hazan's Roast Chicken with Lemons
- lettuces and leafy greens
- mandarins and tangerines
- mushrooms
- onions
- oranges
- Orange Olive Oil Cake
- for your Cheese and Charcuterie Boards: Candied Oranges
- for your cocktail garnishes: Dried Oranges
- potatoes
- radishes
- Pickled Radish
- Vietnamese Pickled Carrots and Radish Do Chua
- Soy Sauce Pickled Radish and Onions
- Spicy Radish Salad, aka musaengchae
- Radish Kimchi, aka "kkadugi"
- strawberries
- Strawberry Salad
- Strawberry Mochi Cake
- Strawberry Ice Cream
- How to Keep Strawberries Fresh
- sweet potatoes
- Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Feta and Pomegranate
What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season, by Month
Planning ahead? Here's what fruits and vegetables are in season for the months coming up:
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in September
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in October
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in November
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in December
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in January
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in February
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in March
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in April
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in May
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in June
- What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in July
You don't NEED a reason to celebrate, throw a dinner party, gather friends and family to grill, but if you do, here's an entire monthly calendar of food holidays in July to celebrate!
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