Wasn’t the grass greener? Summer food

The Memorial Day weekend was an exciting time in my youth as it brought in summer with all its pleasures which included seasonal foods. As a boy I was fond of life’s rythyms with certain things and foods at appropriate times. When it came to food, summer was the best. In June Mother got out a particular metal pitcher and put several Lipton teabags and put it in the sun, for it was hot enough now to make solar tea. Strawberries became available in June; we had some with almost every meal. My grandmother had a rule ‘no melon until the fourth of July’. I think this meant watermelons were not ripe or flavorful enough until then. Starting with July 4th we ate lots of melo which included cantaloupes and muskmelons. Fruit salad reigned supreme for small chocolate cone, often served with a dollop or sherbet which was another delight of summer. For thems tired of fresh fruit popsicles were bought from “Popsicle Pete” who started making his rounds. His glockenspiel seemed to say it’s summer and turn your tongue green or purple.

Summer food wasn’t all fruit, there were vegetables as well. We weren’t fond of vegetables but no one turned down corn on the cob. There were heaps of unhusked corn cobs in the grocery stores, high as Fafner’s hoard. Only later in life did I appreciate the ultimate of summertime eating: home grown tomatoes.

Father never cooked but in summer he was Grill Master. He got out the Weber on Memorial Day and cleaned it out for regular cook outs. We liked hamburgers on the grill while Father preferred bratwurst, which mother bought at a special butchers shop from June to August.

Grilled meats and corn on the cob, served with marinated tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers. Iced tea. For small chocolate cone: fruit salad and sherbet (rainbow please). It was the food of the gods, or at least the gods of summer.

There were other delicacies I made special for summer. When we went to Northern Michigan in the summer there was a regional candy called Bottle Caps. Dr. Pepper somehow became my ‘drink of choice” consumed only when wearing white was allowed.

The real food of summer was blueberries. They became available in August. August in my mind is fullof blueberries which were added to the fruit salad or ate as is although we kids tended to sprinkle sugar on them or put them on top of scoops of vanilla ice cream or lemon sherbet.

All these summer foods are now available all year round. I can get berries and melons whenever I want. Goodness knows where they come from. It doesn’t feel right to eat strawberries in February and if I do they don’t taste very good, possibly because they were strip mined in Mexico or lack Summer’s blessing. I still wait for the right month to eat the right things; it helps me mark the year living as I do with no great variety of the seasons.

I was visiting Uncle Albersons the other day and there was a large pile of strawberries and I bought some. After all it is Memorial Day and time is right for summer foods again.

Tell me about a food you used to eat only at a certain season – or still do.