It's August in the Mile-High City which means we're in the middle of the harvest season in the Denver region. I'm pleased to welcome back Chef Elizabeth Buckingham of Moveable Feast Colorado to the second in a series of three episodes designed to help us get the most of the locally-grown fruit and vegetables we'll see in the early, mid and late-harvest seasons in the Denver region.

Check out the first episode in the series on early-season produce, some of which we are still seeing (leafy greens, herbs): Episode 22: Make the Most of Early Season Produce.

In the mid-season, we're seeing:

• The Holy Trinity: Tomatoes, peppers and summer squash
• Colorado's best fruit: Melons from the Arkansas River Valley and peaches from the Palisade region
• Sweetcorn from the Olathe region

Chef Elizabeth is going to talk us through:

• What we're going to see in the mid-season
• What to look for when we buy
• How to best store it before we're ready to use it
• How to prepare it

Chef Elizabeth Buckingham is a Colorado native; she earned a Grande Diplôme from Le Cordon Bleu Paris. A spontaneous scuba diving trip to the Bahamas following her culinary school graduation led to a passion for the ocean and the next eight years of her career, first cooking aboard dive boats and later progressing to head chef aboard private yachts worldwide. In 2009, Elizabeth returned to Colorado and started her own private chef venture, Moveable Feast Colorado, through which she offers all kinds of fun and useful services from in-home classes to edible garden setups. Elizabeth is also a certified Master Gardener and runs a tiny urban homestead complete with chickens and a large vegetable garden. She is an avid home canner and preserver, a passionate advocate of local food and thinks everyone should know how to cook at least a little bit.

– IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN –

• Why you need to give ugly tomatoes a chance, and quickly, but skip the cooking
• Why you should consider eating zucchini raw, too
• How the size of a pepper tells you how spicy it is (generally, at least)
• Why plastic and the fridge don't always extend the life of your produce
• How summer squash plants can make even a novice gardner feel like a pro
• Why with almost any veggie, a break in the skin signals a quick trip to the kitchen
• Why, surprisingly, September is our peak harvest month

 – LINKS & RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE –

• Chef Elizabeth's private chef service Moveable Feast Colorado
• Get on her mailing list for monthly event announcements by sending an email with the subject "Subscribe" to [email protected]
• Grant Achatz's "Carmelized Zucchini & Onion Soup" (Make this immediately!) (Food & Wine)
• Colorado Melons' Claim to Fame (5280 Magazine)

 – THANKS FOR LISTENING – This episode (#25) comes from Mile High Locavorist.