Another Way to Feel Old: Seasonal Food

Fran had mentioned how we used to play telephone with two tin cans and a string -- and I said we would do it with frozen orange juice cans, and that got me thinking. Growing up, there were no cartons of orange juice -- just small cans of frozen. When I brought this up to Fran, she asked, "Remember the plop?" And I do. Then I'd be stabbing the concentrate repeatedly with a wooden spoon. I think making the orange juice was one of the first kiddie jobs.

I think cartons came into vogue in the early 60s. That got me thinking about what foods we could only get when they were in season. My father loved cantaloupe and I didn't like it at the time, but I was fascinated by it -- how my mother would shake it to see if the seeds rattled. She would cut it in half and another kiddie job would be to scrape out the seeds. But now you can get cantaloupes all year long.

The only one I can think of is those cherries with the stems and pits. They seem to be available only in July/August -- same with good corn on the cob. Anything else?