Crisp, slightly sweet, savory with rosemary, and packed with fruit, nuts, and seeds, these twice-baked crackers are the kind of thing that instantly makes a cheese board feel special. They’re elegant enough for entertaining, but surprisingly simple to make at home — and far less expensive than the gourmet versions sold in specialty markets. The...Read More

There is something especially satisfying about taking a simple ingredient from the farmers’ market and transforming it into a pantry staple you normally reach for at the grocery store. Fresh peanuts from KT Farms give us just that opportunity. Homemade peanut butter is remarkably simple: peanuts, a little salt, and perhaps a touch of honey...Read More

Sweet, floral, earthy, sometimes almost spicy—honey is far more interesting than a spoonful stirred into tea. In the kitchen, honey is one of those wonderfully useful ingredients that can move easily from sweet to savory. A little honey can soften the sharp edge of vinegar in a vinaigrette, balance mustard or chile in a sauce,...Read More

And Why a Little Time in the Kitchen Matters… Changing the way we eat doesn’t have to begin with a complete pantry overhaul. Sometimes it starts with one small habit. Make your own salad dressing instead of buying a bottle filled with thickeners, stabilizers, flavorings, and preservatives. Stir together a simple vinaigrette with olive oil,...Read More

An electuary is an old-fashioned preparation in which finely ground herbs or spices are blended with honey, creating a concentrated mixture that can be taken by the spoonful or stirred into a warm drink. This golden version combines honey with ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, black pepper, and clove for a fragrant, warming blend that is especially...Read More

Once everyday kitchen staples, traditional animal fats are finding their way back into the skillet. Open an old cookbook and you’ll find an ingredient that has largely disappeared from modern recipes: rendered fat. Pie crust might call for lard. Potatoes were roasted in beef dripping. Chicken fat flavored everything from onions to dumplings. Bacon grease...Read More

Before the figs are ripe, the leaves may be hiding one of the most delicious flavors of the season. If you have a fig tree growing in your yard, chances are you spend most of the year waiting for the fruit. But perhaps we’ve been overlooking half the harvest. Those beautiful, deeply lobed fig leaves...Read More

Two local farmstead cheeses, exceptional olive oil, and a handful of herbs turn one of the simplest appetizers into something worth lingering over. There are recipes that ask us to transform an ingredient, and others that simply ask us to recognize how good the ingredient already is. Marinated feta belongs firmly in the second category....Read More

Sweet, chewy, and intensely pear-flavored, dried pears are one of the simplest ways to capture the season — and you don’t necessarily need a dehydrator to make them. When pears are plentiful at the farmers market, it can be tempting to bring home more than you can possibly eat before they ripen. Fortunately, pears are...Read More

There is very little wrong with a perfectly ripe melon served exactly as nature intended: chilled, sliced, and eaten with juice running down your wrist. But when melon season is at its peak—and the farmers market tables are piled with fragrant cantaloupes, honeydews, specialty melons, and watermelons—it is worth looking beyond the fruit bowl. Melons...Read More