The Seasons of Arizona

July 3, 2013

It is eggplant season in Italy and they are certainly the belle of the ball! Last night I shared a wonderful meal with a couple of friends and in almost every dish eggplant made an appearance. It was a garnish, a sauce, a seasoning. A dish was not complete without a hint of eggplant. As we greedily devoured the purple plant and shared our mutual admiration of this fleshy veggie, I couldn’t help but ponder the beauty of eating with the seasons. The anticipation of cherry season approaching or the first corn cob of the summer somehow adds flavor and gittyness to the eating process.

Of course the first step to eating with the seasons is knowing what the seasons are in your area. As soon as I arrived in Italy I discovered a visual Italian Season Wheel that helped me to know what treats I would encounter in the markets. It is due to this amazing tool that I decided to make one for Arizona. Armed with Google, I found a few websites that listed vegetable and fruit seasons and produced the chart below. It of course does not have everything but hopefully the chart will be a good place to start. Please feel free to pass it on.

If you are not from Arizona and would like to create one of your own, I would be more than happy to send you the PowerPoint file I created it in and you can then move the icons around to fit your needs. Just send me a note and we will be in contact!