Fruit Category

This sweet, juicy melon is a honeydew-cantaloupe cross. Its biggest drawback is its relatively high price.

You can find these throughout the year at all but the most poorly stocked markets. The ones you find in supermarkets are usually waxed to hold in moisture and improve shelf-life--these should be peeled or at least scrubbed well before serving. Unwaxed cucumbers don't need to be peeled, but better cooks often do so since the peels tend to be thick and bitter. It's also a good idea to remove the seeds from these kinds of cucumbers; just cut them in half lengthwise and scrape them out. Select cukes that are firm, dark green, and rounded at the tips.

These are tiny eggplants, the size of an egg or smaller. Their color ranges from white to greenish-yellow.

These small, bumpy greed cucumbers are used to make Gherkin pickles or, if pickled while still small, cornichon pickles.

Ghost peppers are a very hot (over 1,000,000 scovilles) hybrid between Capsicum chinese and Capsicum frutescens. It is grown and used in northern India.

Look for this in Asian grocery stores.

red, green and yellow versions.

You can stuff these and bake them, or slice and sauté them.

This sweet apple is good for eating out of hand, baking, and for making pies. The yellower the better.

This is an orange-red variety of Hubbard squash

This has a pleasant flavor, but it doesn't have as much flesh as other squashes and the heavy rind makes it hard to cut before cooking. Select specimens that are heavy for their size, and that have a dull finish. Those with shiny rinds were probably picked too young, and won't be as sweet.

These are more tart than ordinary raisins.

This is a blonder, milder version of the red raspberry. Don't confuse it with the Golden Raspberries (Razzies), which are given out to honor each year's worst films and performers.

These large, tart berries are in season only in June and July, but canned gooseberries work well in pies and fools. American gooseberries are round and about 1/2 inch in diameter, while European gooseberries are oblong, and about twice the size of American gooseberries. They're very acidic, and so they're great with roasted meats, like goose. The freshest gooseberries are covered with fuzz.

This is a firm, tart apple that's good for baking, making pies, and eating out of hand. They tend to have thick skins, so you might want to peel them before serving.

This category includes red grape juice, white grape juice, and sparkling grape juice.

A grapefruit is a large, slightly tart kind of citrus fruit. The rind is yellow, though often tinged with green or red. Grapefruits are categorized by the color of their pulp: red, pink, or "white" (actually honey-colored). The color of the pulp doesn't affect the flavor. When buying grapefruit, select specimens that are smaller, thin-skinned, and heavy for their size. Some varieties are seedless. They're best in the winter and spring.

This comes either sweetened or unsweetened.

Many varieties of grapes are turned into wine, vinegar, jelly, and raisins, but table grapes are for eating out of hand. They're classified by their color--red, green, and blue--and by whether they have seeds or not. Seedless varieties are popular because they're easy to eat, but often the seeded varieties offer more flavor and better value.

Bags of grated coconuts are usually stored among the baking supplies in larger markets. Varieties include dried or desiccated coconut, flaked, angel flake, moist, sweetened and unsweetened, toasted and untoasted, and macaroon coconut. To make your own: To grate, peel off the brown skin, then grate the white flesh with a grater, food processor, or vegetable peeler. To toast, spread unsweetened grated coconut on a baking sheet and bake in a 350°F oven until coconut is golden (about 5 minutes).

This is a good, all-purpose apple, but it's best suited for making applesauce and pies.

A generic black Greek olive is large, dark purple and brine-cured. Popular varieties include Kalamata, Amphissa, and Royal.

Napfilion and Ionian olives are the most common types of green Greek olives.

Middle Eastern cooks use these in stews and desserts.

This has a very mild flavor.

Green olives are picked from the tree before they're completely ripened. The most common variety is the Manzanilla olive, which is often pitted and stuffed. Other green olives varieties include the Agrinion, Arauco, Arbequina, Atalanta, green Cerignola, cracked Provençal, Kura, Lucque, Nafplion, Picholine, Sevillano, and Sicilian.

Southeast Asian cooks like to shred these into salads.

These are picked before they turn red. Southerners like to fry them.

One of the more popular Mexican chilies, the guajillo (or dried mirasol chili) has a fruity flavor and medium heat (Scoville heat scale of 2,500 to 5,000 SHU). It's smooth, shiny, and reddish-brown, and it has a tough skin, so it needs to be soaked longer than other chiles. These are commonly used for marinades and adobos.

These bruise easily, so markets usually sell them while they're still hard and green. Allow them to ripen at room temperature until they become yellow and very aromatic, then either eat or refrigerate them. The peel and seeds can be eaten along with the juicy pulp, but some people remove them.

These are moderately hot.

Don't confuse dried habaneros with the fresh version, which goes by the same name. These extremely hot chiles are wrinkled and orange.

These extremely hot orange chiles have a fruity flavor. They're best in the summertime.

These amber-colored sweet chewy halawi dates are grown extensively in Iraq.

This is available year-round and has a rich flavor and creamy texture. The skin turns almost black when the avocado is ripe, which can camouflage bad bruises. This is the best variety by far for guacamole, but it turns a bit mushy in salads.

These are like bell peppers, only they're sweeter and have thicker walls. They come in different colors.

These are hot.

This is a juicy, meaty olive.

This is just like a honeydew melon, only it's smaller, rounder, and covered with netting.

These large, choice melons have either green or orange flesh. As honeydews ripen, they turn from green to creamy white to yellow. Avoid green ones, but a creamy white one will (unlike other melons) ripen on your counter in a few days. A perfectly ripe honeydew will yield just a bit to pressure at the blossom end and have a sticky, velvety rind.

This variety has tasty flesh, but it's too large for many families to handle and the rind is hard to cut though. Some grocers cut them into smaller pieces before putting them out.

These are similar to blueberries, and they're great for making preserves and syrups. Some specialty markets carry them in the summer.