There's something about fall that beckons us to spend more time in the kitchen. Like warm sunny days paired with cool autumn nights. Farmers markets, home gardens and produce departments are full of some of the most delicious foods of the year—tree fruit like apples and pears and vegetables like squashes and root vegetables—that are crisp, colorful and sweet.

The cooler weather makes it easy to cook with techniques like braising, wilting, roasting, mashing, puréeing and caramelizing to create fragrant dishes from the season's freshest ingredients. But there's more to the fall harvest than taste alone.

Venerable Vegetables

Some of nature's finest nutrient-packed produce plays a starring role this time of year. The phytonutrients found in such cruciferous vegetables as Brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, kale, bok choy and cauliflower are packed with healthful compounds like indoles, sulforaphane, carotenoids and flavonoids. Indoles and sulforaphane may help prevent breast cancer, while carotenoids and flavonoids may prevent other types of cancers.

Tasty orange-colored foods like carrots, sweet potatoes, yams, and acorn squash supply carotenoids, flavonoids and zeaxanthin—nutrients that help prevent cancer and atherosclerosis. Vegetables (and fruits) are also rich sources of dietary fiber. Fiber binds to and dilutes cancer-causing agents and speeds them through the digestive tract, helps control diabetes and high cholesterol levels, and may prevent diverticular disease.

Research conducted at the University of Washington suggests that some individuals have a genetic distaste for the very compounds that supply healthful properties to such vegetables as Brussels sprouts, cabbage and broccoli. Adam Drewnowski, PhD, who conducted the studies, suggests adding a bit of butter or cheese sauce to help mask the flavors if necessary. The key? Just eat them!

Fabulous Fruits

Harvest Time

Now is the perfect time to enjoy the best of the autumn season. So take a drive and pick up a basket of apples or some Brussels sprouts for your family. You'll tickle your taste buds and give your health a boost, too!

You'll "fall" for these tasty autumn recipes using the season's best fruits and vegetables:

Brussels Sprouts with Balsamic Vinaigrette
Roast Pork Loin with Wilted Baby Greens and Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette
Barley, Mushroom and Winter Squash Risotto
Jimmy Schmidt, The Rattlesnake Club, Detroit, MI
Shrimp Stir-Fry with Chinese Cabbage, Carrots and Broccoli
Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Pepitas
Nora Pouillon, Restaurant Nora, Washington, DC
Cranberry Nut Muffins
Harvest Apples
Fall Fruit Salad

The following chart lists valuable nutrients found in autumn fruits and vegetables.

Carot-  enoids  Flavonoids  Isothio-  cyanates  Phenols  Vitamin C  Gluco-  sinolates /Indoles  Other Apples         Cranberries       Catechins Grapes       Anthocyanins, Resveritrol Kiwi         Pears           Bok Choy   Dithiolthiones, Tannins, Terpenes Broccoli Dithiolthiones, Tannins, Terpenes, Sulforaphane Brussels Sprouts Dithiolthiones, Anthoxanthins, Sulforaphane Cabbage Dithiolthiones, Anthoxanthins, Sulforaphane Carrots         Cauliflower   Dithiolthiones, Anthoxanthins Eggplant           Terpenes, Anthocyanins Kale Terpenes, Sulforaphane Pumpkin       Squash (Acorn & Butternut)       Sweet Potatoes /Yams     Terpenes

(Adapted from "Overview of the health benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption for the dietetics professional: Selected Literature." Journal of the American Dietetics Association, December 2000)