Earthly delights

Though you can easily hate Atlanta summers -- pollution, heat, those aggressive new tiger mosquitoes -- local fruits and vegetables and the many ways to eat them compensate considerably for the season's vexations. Humidity getting to you? Drop by a farmer's market, grab some tomatoes, cucumbers and onions and whip up an easy gazpacho in the blender. Another stock market dive? Maybe you need a nice bowl of cold watermelon or a fresh watermelon daiquiri. Just want comfort food? Make a proper Southern tomato sandwich, complete with mayonnaise, salt, pepper on -- what else? -- two slices of white bread.

Grocery store produce sections get a nice, shiny selection of fresh, even organic crops this time of year, but if you want local goods, you'll have to add an extra stop to your shopping routine. Whether you want to browse through aisles and aisles of earthly wonders, go organic, support smaller merchants or even pick your own, you have many options.

Large farmers markets like the DeKalb Farmers Market and the International Farmers Market are open year-round and sell exotic spices, flowers and wines in addition to the crates and crates of perishables, while the Morningside Farmer's Market is a seasonal market that specializes in organic fruits and vegetables. Street corners blossom this time of year with vendors selling homegrown crops from the bed of pick-ups or beneath makeshift stands. And if you don't mind getting your hands dirty, you can harvest your own, picking straight from the vine at one of Georgia's hundreds of U-pick farms. (For a complete list of produce markets, see page 13.)

Wherever you buy your fill of summer's bounty, keep in mind the following tips for selecting the best of the bunch:

Look for firm, heavy and unblemished produce. You want produce with some heft to it, this means it is dense with moisture.

Ripe berries are dark and full -- avoid any that look leathery, sunk-in or moldy.

Look for bruises, cuts, signs of neglect or mishandling.

After a visual inspection, sniff the produce. Does it smell like it should? Tomatoes should smell like fresh dirt. Peaches should smell sweet, as should cantaloupe.