Summer Fruit: 5 Nutritious, Quenching Faves

Each year and season that arrive seem to bring with them greater anticipation of accessible fresh fruit; thus, each new turn of season brings with it a greater excitement than the last!

Fruit Appeals

Summertime brings big change to diets in the form of seasonal, juicy fruits abundant in nutrients and water content. In their unprocessed forms, fresh flavors and aromas of summer fruit invigorate the senses (sweet & tangy!) and supply our bodies with valuable energy and power to stave off disease.

While availability varies according to locale and climate, summer grocery and garden picking generally involve an abundance of melons, berries, and plums. These watery, nourishing parcels of naturally flavored water quench thirst while they work to maintain health. Their bright colors attract pickers of many kinds, including birds, insects, and bears!

Such qualities make these fruits exciting indicators of the approaching hot season.

Most everyone can name a favorite summer fruit—likely a list of them, for depending on quality of fruits any particular summer, we may concentrate on berries one year and watermelon the next. Still, it’s best to aim for a variety of fresh summer fruits, which ensures we’re supplying our bodies with a wide variety of nutrients in a natural way.

Top 5 Summer Fruit Favorites

Here are five tasty and juicy personal summertime fruit favorites that I always seek first, in rough order:

1. watermelon
2. black plums
3. blackberries
4. strawberries
5. okra

Based mostly on abundance and relative affordability of produce in my area, these are the choices I crave each year.

When black plums are at their best, they’re one of the juiciest summer fruits available, with generally very tart contrast in the skin. Plums also make one of my favorite jellies. Back home, we had plums every year and mom would make jars and jars of plum jelly.

🍓Strawberries are listed at #4 due to tart tendencies throughout on a regular basis. Tart strawberries have no appeal to me. Should a windfall of strawberries—or any berry for that matter—occur, preserves, jelly, or jam are my best bet. This year though, I’ve bought the darkest, sweetest strawberries yet and enjoying them this week.

🍉Both watermelon and berries are typically abundant picking from local areas, as well as being more available in stores during peak months. Watermelon makes the most sense when it’s really hot outside and we’re outside! Berries, too, carry a good portion of water.

Summertime Energy =
iced tea (water + caffeine)
+ watermelon (sugar water + nutrient)

Blackberries have seeds, but mash the blackberries with your tongue against the roof of your mouth and all the juice and berries just wash right down. Blackberries are generally super-sweet with minimal tartness (when best) and quite quenching: much more so than raspberries or blueberries.

🍑Peaches surely make many lists of 5 favorite summer fruits: that would make good sense, they being juicy and sweet. They’ll usually sit on the counter awhile, too, which is of great benefit. But, they’re expensive this year, and I’ve replaced them with okra.

Biologically speaking, okra is a fruit and has more calcium and vitamin B6, while a peach has more carbs and similar amounts of protein.

Bonus: I love soups during summertime, and okra is a terrific addition to a variety of healthy soups and gumbos. *As a writer, I consider soup to be one of the best and most suitable meals. Soup can be prepared with minimal effort and sit idly warm on a stove for hours under a lid, spending little energy. Plus, it pairs well with fresh summer fruits!

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Post prompted by Five for Tuesday – Fruity Edition 7-26-2022

Poems of Summer Fruit

Avoid Dengue With Watermelon, by Kim Barney

Summer Fruits Poem by Liilia Talts Morrison

Further Reading:

15 Lesser-Known Berries You Should Try, by Jennifer Latham