Florida Foods – Miami | Discover America

When the local chefs claim they cook with indigenous items "right out of the backyard," they're telling the truth. South Florida's fortunate enough to have two annual growing seasons and plenty of warm, soothing ocean for tropically oriented fish and shellfish. In other words, Florida supplies fresh ingredients year-round, and it's not just about oranges and grapefruits anymore.

Take mangos, for instance. Lush and lovable, mangos show up on restaurant menus in salsas, coulis, smoothies, and of course, desserts. They have to -- hundreds of varieties grow here, yielding thousands of pounds of fruit, and anyone with a mango tree knows they ripen almost faster than you can eat 'em.

The same goes for avocados, which are big and bright green and have a firm, fleshy texture. And size does count. Florida avocados, also called by the fanciful name "alligator pears," have about half the fat and twice the girth of California avocados. They make excellent guacamole, but they're even better sliced simply over field greens along with some hearts of palm, another South Florida specialty.

Key limes have gotten a lot of play in recent years, upstaging the orange. Though key limes -- small, jaundiced-looking citrus fruit with as many seeds as Jim Carrey has teeth -- can be bitter, cooks prize them for their acidic qualities and particularly enjoy using them in tart custard pastries called key lime pies.

The key lime pucker usually comes at the end of a meal, while fish native to Florida waters receive prime-time attention. The snapper family -- including red, yellowtail, and hog varieties -- is a mainstay on local menus. Although dolphinfish, also known as mahi mahi, is a longtime favorite, grouper has almost replaced it in popularity, since its mild but fleshy fillets adhere well to almost any recipe. The coastal waters off the Florida shoreline also yield some flavorful shrimp: look especially for Key West pinks, which are as pretty as a sunrise.

Stone crabs -- a delicacy native to the region -- ensure a pre-dinner smile. You can enjoy these simply steamed claws, which are only in season from October through May, for several reasons: they're succulent and mild, with tender flesh; they're usually dressed with a creamy mustard dip; and while the crab sacrifices a claw, it isn't killed. In fact, stone-crab anglers take one claw from the crab and throw it back into the water, where a new claw will generate over time. Now that's a good growing season.

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