Summer...

How does the warm and tantalizing feeling of summer taste? To me, I always imagine sweet and natural flavors. Things that leave a lasting freshness to the palate such as strawberries, cantaloupe, and other fruits have long been my favorite parts of summer.

How about a succulent peach; fresh-picked. The scent of them has always called to me since I was a child and even now as I type about them the idea of having one appeals to me. Summer has not yet truly begun, but its early reminders that it is not too far off have ever made themselves abundantly clear.

Already, there has been a heatwave in California and the reminders of the season ahead begin to make me more aware of what will soon come, and go, just as quickly.

What then, would we call the tastes of summer? Are they sweet and vibrant like a strawberry's tanginess or a bit more subtle, like cooling ice cream?

I would say they are both. There is the refreshing and brisk sweet tea that we associate with or the mesquite smokiness of barbecued meats as they come fresh off the grill.

Or, for some, the taste of summer is the tartness associated with fresh lime and the bite from a quality tequila. If you ask me, a nice lemon drop is just what you need to unwind during the heat of summertime.

The taste of summer is, to me, like a golden sunbeam projecting glimmering light as I walk through a field of yellowing wheat. To savor this, would be like experiencing the finest of honey; drizzling down one’s lips with a stickiness that is both unlike any other, and so aromatic and sensuous that the gooey and glistening delicacy has been written about extensively for ages.

Summer, is like a fine wine, and as it crests just out of reach now we know that it will bring many wondrous tastes that will diversify and broaden our palates, and yet to describe summer in one comparable flavor or food seems almost a disgrace to the very beauty of summer’s magic; learning to experience what is fresh and exciting in the moments it is before us without concern to placing the perishing season into any one category but instead basking in the warmth of all the splendid dishes that are associated with summer’s immortal legacy of provocative and mouth-watering tastes?

So, with the endless possibilities that could describe summer the challenge is quite exciting. Summer is the prime time when all the most delicious berries and fruits come into season and often it is at this time that flavorful desserts that require the tartness of these abundantly delicious produce is almost synonymous with certain summer holidays. For example, how many of us remember a fond Fourth of July picnic. Would it have been complete with some mouth-watering watermelon or the smell of flaky fried chicken? I couldn’t imagine that myself! With a happy and rich childhood full of memories of barbecues at the lake and full days spent out by any body of water – these were the things that made the menu complete at event after event. Concert going is yet another experience where food comes to mind, and during the summer the sweet taste of refreshing lemonade is one that cannot be replaced. Especially when you’ve spent all day out mowing the lawn beneath the hot summer sun. Summer, if described in tastes, is a wide and diverse palate of both sweet and savory. It is the way you feel when a bit of barbecue sauce drops down your chin and you know that sweet and smoky concoction is what complements the entire experience. Summer isn’t just one flavor – it’s the blending of memories found in every succulent bite you taste.