Originally published in the Journal de Montréal on August 28, 2010.

The hot summer days are becoming numbered and vacations are drawing to an end. One way of letting the summer mood linger, is to consume autumn strawberries and raspberries. Late varieties of these tiny delights are now ‘reddening’ the fields right up to the first severe autumn frost, sometime in mid-October.

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Originally published in the Journal de Montréal on June 21, 2008

Each year, we wait impatiently for them, and now, here they are again, at last! Since they are only picked once fully ripened, and the journey between the field and our plates is quite short, the taste and nutritional value of locally grown strawberries are beyond compare.

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Originally published in the Journal de Montréal on May 31, 2008.

To make the most of freshly arrived cherries in the market, I’d like to share a very different dessert with you this week, known as “clafouti”. Native to the Limousin region in France, clafouti gets its unusual name from “clafi”, a dialect word that means “filled” (with cherries).

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Originally published in the Journal de Montréal on May 30, 2009.

I am going to start a new tradition with this column. From now on, I will try and concentrate on all things ‘local’. Each week, we’ll talk about early fruits and vegetables in the marketplace, and also suggest recipes that include them.

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Originally published in the Journal de Montréal on April 17, 2010.

Originating in Asia, most likely in the East Himalayan region, the lemon and its cousin the lime were probably introduced in America by Christopher Columbus. We believe that it was in 1493, during his second voyage, when he set up his first permanent establishment on the Island of Hispaniola (now called Haiti and Dominican Republic). Nowadays, these two fruits are cultivated in all the tropical and subtropical regions of the planet.

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When it comes to cancer prevention, a newly released study shows that the benefits of fruits and vegetable consumption may not be as strong as previously believed. Should we then eat less? Not at all, say many experts, who are pointing out that this study did not measure the effect of some specific groups, such as cabbages, garlic, onion, berries, and many others, with well known anti-cancer properties. Besides, even this study shows that fruit and vegetables are good in fighting cardiovascular disease.

So please relax and continue to use the SOS Cuisine menus, which include the right mix of fruits and vegetables.

Originally published in the Journal de Montréal on April 4, 2009.

Dehydration is one of the oldest food preservation techniques. Once our ancestors observed that fruits left hanging on the branches remained edible, they started to deliberately dry fruits in the sun. This was done in order to preserve them for the winter.

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