Aside from including them as an essential ingredient in gumbo, my favorite way way to prepare okra pods is to pickle them. And no, okra pickles are not slimy (I know you were wondering).

This is my go-to recipe for pickled okra. But sometimes I like to turn up the heat with these spicy okra pickles.

Oh and about that gumbo: you don't need fresh okra for that. I blanch and freeze okra so that I can make delicious Creole-style gumbo even when okra isn't in season.

Photo ©Leda Meredith

From classic sweet relish to homemade mustard, the condiments that accompany so many of our outdoor summer meals are easy to make. And they aren't just for hotdogs!

Sure it's great on sandwiches, but you can also use your homemade mustards in salad dressings and marinades. Here is a collection of mustard recipes ranging from yellow and smooth to whole grain and spicy.

Relishes can be made with everything from the obvious cucumbers to beets to zucchini and more. These relish recipes include familiar ones such as hotdog relish, but also more unusual ones such as wild purslane relish.

You know what's coming up next, right? (Stay tuned for the ketchup recipe post).

Photo ©Leda Meredith

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is often treated with disdain as a common garden weed. But it is a valued crop in some countries, restaurant chefs love it, and I've seen it for sale at farmers' markets for as much as $7.50 per pound!

This "weed" is a nutritional champion loaded with vitamins and healthy Omega-3 fatty acids.

If you aren't already familiar with it, there's more about how to identify purslane as well as its nutritional and culinary benefits here.

Purslane is too succulent to freeze well, but that same juicy property makes its thick, crunchy stems perfect for purslane pickles and for making sweet and tangy purslane relish.

Photo ©Leda Meredith

Here's one for my friends in California or those of you lucky enough to live in a Mediterranean-type climate where almond trees can grow: pickled green almonds.

Green almonds are simply immature almonds, and they can be pickled at two different stages. When they are very young, the seed inside is almost jelly-like. At that stage, you can pickle them whole, fuzzy green hulls and all.

Soon after that, the seeds or nuts start to form but still lack the hard shell they'll eventually have. At this stage, you remove the green hulls and just pickle the seeds, as in this recipe.

The time for green almonds is mid to late spring, so get to them soon!

Photo ©Leda Meredith