Professor Produce

Any tips on kid-friendly produce? I want there to be healthy snacks around the house this summer to combat the ice cream truck.

Is there a more polarized summertime figure than the driver of the ice cream truck? She is beloved, she is despised. In the early days of June, the jingle sounds nostalgic and quaint, but by the end of August parents slam windows shut in 90 degree heat hoping to preempt the begging and wheedling that is ice cream truck negotiation. How many corn syrup and partially-hydrogenated soybean oil "milk-based" products on a stick can a kid crave, really? (Answer: meditate on it, it's practically a zen koan.) I want to prepare you for the reality that there's probably nothing to save you from the whole "ice cream truck thing." Once the children have tasted these things and had the experience of unexpected sugar delivered to them, well, have you ever met a vegetable that could compete?

For kid-friendly produce- June is the month, boy howdy! I hate to have to say this but, when it comes to vegetables, kids and grown-ups really aren't that different. Children will actually try, and like, new veggies more often than grown-ups due to the frivolous adult concept of preconceived notions (c'mon you know you have them). Plus, have you heard about (or experienced?) this "x-treme" fad? According to the candy shelf at SuperAmerica, kids these days love extreme flavors. So if your kids want it extreme, how about reacquainting them with an early June favorite, the raw red radish?

But seriously folks, there is one June vegetable that I feel confident in recommending to children and inner children alike. That is the vibrant sugar snap pea. Put away those tired baggies of slimy baby carrots, your lunch box/picnic basket is ready to make friends with a new favorite out-of-hand snack. Sweet and crisp as their name suggests, these cheerful and snackably-sized peas combine the best things about your typical shelled pea (flavor, sweetness, protein) with the best things about celery (juiciness, crunch, fiber). And as we know, peas and celery are old standbys on the kid-munchies circuit, standing there in line with peanut butter and macaroni and cheese. Best of all, they take almost no prep time whatsoever. You purchase, rinse and devour. Voila, the perfect beach day snack.

During June and July the Wedge produce department sells sugar snap peas tenderly plucked from the healthy, lush soils of Featherstone Farms near Rushford, MN. For years now, we have appreciated the excellent quality of the peas these folks grow. Sugar snap peas from California during winter months will run the gamut from rubbery and sweet to crunchy and starchy, all in all presenting themselves to be an underwhelming vegetable. But approach a display of Featherstone's peas and inhale a sweet fragrance reminiscent of walking through a meadow on a humid day- densely green, gently floral and summertime familiar. This is a vegetable that really works overtime to sell the concept of local produce to anyone skeptical of its superiority.

And do kids love these? I have seen the most suspicious child, ordinarily tight-lipped against all green vegetable matter, throwing these down like a hipster eating kettle corn at the uptown art fair. I'm not saying it will compete with that day-glo bomb pop, but it's certainly your best shot.

If you think that consuming raw vegetables is taxing on your jaws, or if your children prefer their items cooked to the textural equivalent of, say, pudding, please know that these beauties perform just as sweetly when cooked. I still remember the first year Featherstone sold us sugar snap peas- Jack brought in box after box, steamed and sampled them gently stuffed with chived cream cheese. Outstanding! One of the best simple, seasonal hors d'heures I've ever eaten. Cooked sugar snaps also pair well with pasta dishes, can be stir fried in any fashion, or combined with cashews, sesame seeds, or almonds for a simple and complete side dish. Experiment with joy.

That's really the critical part of getting kids to eat produce- a little enthusiasm and simplicity. Even if your veggie crisper doesn't play an excitement-inducing jingle, I applaud your efforts towards teaching your youngest family members better food choices at an early age. It's hard at times to compete with the kinds of fast food kids seem born to crave, but don't despair. I don't think I even knew what a vegetable was until I was ten. And now, look Ma... I'm a professor!