Fruit

It's one thing to go foraging. It's yet another to know where to look! With the help of neighborhoodfruit.com , you can locate both fruit trees on public land, such as in parks, as well as trees on private property where the owners have offered the fruit to those willing to pick it. On the flip side, if you know of a publicly accessible tree, or have a fruit-bearing tree on your property that you can't or don't want to pick, this might...

Watermelon, adorned only with flaky sea salt, can be had for dessert at Woodberry Kitchen . Simple slices of fruit aren't typical high-end restaurant fare, but the dish is noteworthy for another reason: It will be on the menu through fall. Cold and juicy, watermelon is the quintessential summer fruit, one that many people forget about once the weather turns cool. But the melons are in season in Maryland through September and, if conditions are right, early October. "We'll keep it on [the menu]

New Zealand has long been known for its tangy Sauvignon Blancs that explode on the palate in a riot of pink grapefruit, but some new brands have entered the market that offer a true cornucopia of summer fruit, and vegetables. Mohua Sauvignon Blanc 2010, Marlborough New Zealand ($14), is pure passion fruit. Its flavors are lush, ripe and exotic, wrapped around such a core of vibrant acidity that each sip makes the mouth water. Positively stunning. It's flavors are so pure that it would be a pity to pair this wine with food; simply serve it up with friends and family.

We stopped at a supermarket in Baltimore County to buy some apples and peaches, possibly picked by undocumented immigrants employed by an orchard somewhere across the fruited plain. At the entrance to the store, a woman sat at a table offering an anti-Dream Act petition to Friday evening shoppers who appeared eager to sign it. They want to repeal a new Maryland law that would allow in-state college tuition to the undocumented children of undocumented immigrants. Of course, most of those kids, while not citizens, have been through our high schools already.

Choosy diners know that among the myriad offerings in pay-by-weight buffets, they are likely to find much that is mediocre and maybe a few reliable comfort food picks. Big Apple Tree Café runs a pay-by buffet and operates a sandwich counter at Baltimore and South streets. The café serves breakfast and lunch in a quadrant of the city teeming with government and private office workers. It sits within a couple blocks of the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse, the MD District Courthouse and City Hall.

Along a road in Wamunyu, Kenya, sits a water tank with a sign that reads: "This tank was built with funds from Southern MS, Lothian, MD, USA. " During the Thanksgiving holiday, Southern Middle School teacher Laura Groo visited the East African country to see the water tank firsthand and relish the fruits of a school read-a-thon project last year that raised more than $3,000 to finance the tank. The read-a-thon was so successful that there were funds left over, which were used to buy gym equipment for Kyamatula Primary School, where the water tank is located.

Tablescape. Is there a more perfect word to describe the collection of fruits, flowers and found objects that have taken the place of a conversation-stopping vase of posies in the middle of the holiday dining table? What your mother called her "centerpiece" has been replaced by an eye-catching profusion that runs the length of the table, charming guests with sparkle or whimsy. "I like to call it opulent simplicity," said Sascha Wolhandler of Sascha's 527 Cafe on Charles Street.

Another article in a series about the people and the jobs that define a Maryland summer. The building is a rustic, three-sided corrugated metal number, its contents a local food-lover's dream. Heirloom tomatoes, obscure orange-fleshed honeydews, peppers in every color of the rainbow but blue — nearly everything grown organically and on the premises — fill the Howard County farm stand that Dave and Lydia Liker started two years ago quite by accident. It is the sort of place that, in the midst of summer's bounty, makes people believers: in life without mealy supermarket tomatoes; in ecologically friendly food systems; in a new generation of farmers; in the wisdom of chucking everything and living a tranquil, purposeful life in agriculture.

In explaining the unhealthy eating habits that have fostered widespread obesity and other health problems in the inner city, Baltimore faces a chicken-and-egg (or, perhaps more accurately, Chicken McNugget-and-Egg McMuffin) issue: Do people not choose healthy foods because they are unavailable, or are healthy foods unavailable because people choose unhealthy ones? It's probably some of both. Supermarkets followed affluent residents to the suburbs, and the corner markets and convenience stores that remain rarely stock fresh fruits and vegetables.

Howard County elementary students displaying good behavior will soon be rewarded with fruit bouquets. A partnership between the school system and Edible Arrangements of Columbia, Ellicott City and Laurel was scheduled to be signed Friday at Elkridge Elementary. The agreement provides principals with 1,500 gift certificates, worth a total of $51,000, for the rest of the academic year. There are also plans to continue the program in the fall. Schools have been distributing the certificates for the bouquets since January.