If you ever see a salad green referred to as “rocket,” it’s simply another name for arugula, or roquette in French. Yet another brassicaceae along with kale and cauliflower, its delightfully pungent leaves have been cultivated in the Mediterranean since time was recorded. As such, arugula is a perennial favorite in Italian cooking.

Rather nondescript in appearance, arugula is often added to mesclun mixes…

A member of the sunflower family of vegetables, the artichoke is actually a perennial thistle. First cultivated in the Mediterranean region, artichokes became scarce after the fall of the Roman Empire. They made a comeback in Italy in the 1500s, and then appeared in the Americas after introduction by French and Spanish gardeners.

Today, California provides virtually all of the artichokes in the U.S. If left to grow wild, artichokes blossom into large purple flowers…

Ripe and golden with a luscious flavor and velvety surface – or a more intense shade when dried – apricots are closely related to peaches, plums, and nectarines. Grown on deciduous trees, they’re actually a drupe, with the seed central to the surrounding fruit and each having a fairly uniform size. They’re sometimes overlooked as a fruit, perhaps because there are so many fruits to choose from in today’s markets.

Already well-known in Greece in 60 BC, apricots were transported to Europe by Greeks who called…