The Cooking Cardiologist

Between mid-August and the end of September is what I like to call the fifth season in Colorado. It’s not yet fall, nor is it fully summer. The heat is slowly subsiding. And cantaloupe is peaking.

Being a “seasonal eater”

A commitment to eating seasonally has very real health benefits and can help you move toward a plant-based foundation diet.

As the different crops arrive throughout the year, seasonal eaters break out of their cooking and eating patterns. During the fifth season in Colorado, I love to eat fresh, local cantaloupe. This is the perfect time of year to enjoy this melon because it’s flavors will be the most intense.

With abundant crops, you can use cantaloupe for more than a snack, a dessert, or to accompany your morning cereal. These melons, and other seasonal fruits for that matter, find their way into gazpachos and other soups, salsas, and salads.

Two Color Chilled Melon Soup is one of my new creations and has both honeydew and cantaloupe. It will impress your friends and guests, but is easy enough to prepare for even if it will only be you enjoying the dish. The chilled soup makes a refreshing appetizer or desert on a hot summer day.

Farm shares

Another great way to go seasonal is to purchase a “share” of the harvest of an area farm. Each week, the farm will provide a collection of that week’s crops to you. It is up to you to figure out what to do with all the chard and strawberries that arrive early in the season; the summer squash, green beans, and peaches that come next; and the tomatoes, eggplant, apples, and butternut squash that follow. Along the way, you also will be provided with bunches of herbs, like parsley, mint, basil, and rosemary.

Eating seasonal fruits and vegetables will help you enjoy the variety every season has to offer, and it will be good for your heart.