1. Figs - All year, we can enjoy dried figs. But, from now until early fall, markets sell the fresh tender succulent inverted flowers. The juiciness of these fresh figs tastes remarkable. And, from the perspective of a nutritionist, they have an extra high fiber content.
2. Pomegranate - The fruit alone looks gorgeous as a centerpiece. They can last up to three months if stored in the fridge. Its seeds are deliciously sweet, savory, and tart. And, they can be thrown into a salad or made into a sauce.
   
3. Grapes - We take them for granted the most since we can purchase them year-round. They're harvested in the fall. And so, you'll find a variety of different plump fragrant kinds, such as Thompson seedless, red globe, and Concord during fall.
   
4. Apples - Ah, the variety of apples we're about to see! There's 2,000 types grown in the U.S. My favorite are McIntosh. Besides savoring them plain, you can enjoy them in a pie, sauce, pancake, or cake.
   
5. Pears - Like apples, there are several varieties. Warm and soft poached pears are one of my favorite autumnal treats.
   
6. Squash - Thinking of the fall harvest conjures up images of dark green acorn squash, butternut squash, and of course bright orange pumpkins. I adore the sweetness butternut squash adds to a dish.
   
7. Parsnips - They are scrumptious in any roast vegetable mixture. Parsnips look like a white version of their orange springtime cousin, the carrot. Their flavor is brought out by being roasted, baked, or fried.
   
8. Cauliflower - It's in abundance during fall. Besides cooking it in boiling water and eating it plain with butter, you can transform it into a creamy sweet mashed vegetable dish.
   

For a foodie, especially a Slashfoodie, one of the best things about winter is that it signifies a changing of the guard, so to speak, when it comes to produce. Apples, pears and citrus replace the berries and melons of summer, opening up a whole new season of possibilities. Capogiro Gelato expresses all these possibilities with their seasonally changing menu, now geared up for winter. I was fortunate enough to sample some of the flavors from their summer line earlier this year and, this week, had the opportunity to indulge in a few of their winter offerings, as well.

While they still have their classic Italian and chocolate flavors available, Capogiro's holiday table menu is extensive, including Apple Cider with Clove Sorbetto, Castagne (Chestnut) Gelato, Cannella di Saigon (Cinnamon) and Melograno (Pomegranate). The flavors I tried were Zucca (Lancaster County Neck Pumpkin), Apple Cider with Clove, Sweet Potato with Pecan Praline, Meyer Lemon with Vodka, Moro (Blood Orange) and Pure King Leo Stracciatella.

The Pumpkin Spice drinks might the most popular seasonal beverages - hot or cold - at Starbucks and there are more than a few people who mark their calendars with the release date every fall, but their two more Christmas-y drinks - the gingerbread and the eggnog lattes - deserve their time in the spotlight, too. Especially since those flavors are popping up at other coffee houses. The gingerbread latte is made with a spicy gingerbread syrup that is blended into a regular latte and topped, if desired, with whipped cream. The eggnog latte is a bit different and is made with real eggnog, which is mixed with a bit of regular milk (whole, nonfat, etc) and steamed as usual. You might not expect eggnog and coffee to go well together, but the combination is actually quite good. Especially if you know a barista that will a little something "extra" to the eggnog lattes on Christmas Eve (not that that would ever happen or anything...).

Gingerbread is my favorite, as the spices are both warming and satisfying. Which do you prefer - or do you skip those typically seasonal flavors in favor of the peppermint mocha?

When I heard that Noah's Bagels and Einstein Bros. Bagels, which are owned by the same parent company, are introducing Candy Cane Bagels for the holidays, it didn't sound like an appealing concept. Cream cheese and peppermints? Not the best combination, especially not where breakfast food is concerned. Fortunately, the bagels are not mint-flavored at all, but merely shaped like candy canes. They are made of red and white potato doughs that are twisted together and bent into a hooked candy cane. They have a very light coating of powdered sugar, added partially for looks and partially to give it a little something to stand out from the ordinary bagels where flavor is concerned.

The company says that the bagels "taste as good as they look," but I'm not entirely sure that most bagel fans will like their look -- or the sugary coating -- when given the choice between one of these and a regular bagel. They are very cute, however, and would probably be well received at an office holiday party.

Cranberries are an under-appreciated fruit, but not because people don't enjoy them. In fact, over 90% of all the cranberries harvested each year are used for juice and juice blends, most of which are enjoyed year-round. But fresh cranberries might only be tossed into sauces, quick breads and cakes around the fall holidays, as the very tart flavor and a general lack of familiarity with the fruit stops people from experimenting with them. Cranberry Cooking for All Seasons is a book that can help with this by providing 125 different recipes for the berry, from Pumpkin Cranberry Bread and Cranberry Applesauce to dishes like Couscous with Dried Cranberries, Pinenuts and Fresh Mint, Tangerine Yams with Cranberries and Sauteed Chicken in Cranberry Balsamic Vinegar Sauce.

In addition to the recipes, the book provides the reader with a comprehensive look at everything you could have wanted to know about cranberries, from their history and the culture associated with the, to information about the growers and where around the world the berries end up.

The reason that one-pot dishes are so popular in the fall and winter is that they tend to be heartier meals, with slow-cooked vegetables and meats. The only problem with the one pot meals is that when it's cold outside, you're actually more likely to want to say in and do something complicated in the kitchen. But I digress. The Really, Truly, Honest-to-Goodness One-Pot Cookbook is a book of relatively simple one-pot dishes that are satisfying, but surprisingly innovative, which makes the book a lot more appealing than your average collection of stew recipes. In fact, they're not limited to stews and Dutch-oven recipes at all, some are made in a skillet or wok and the recipes are not limited to winter vegetables, so you'll get plenty of use out of the book all year round. The dishes include Moroccan Chicken with Cous Cous, Spice Coast Vegetable Curry, Short Ribs with Steamed Seasonal Vegetables and Cornmeal Crusted Halibut with Tomato and Pepper Stew. The chapters are divided up by main ingredient, whether pork, poultry or vegetarian, and there are a few general tops on one-pot/pan/dish/wok cooking, as well.

It's that time of year again. I'm not talking about the holiday season or the fact that there is a whole new array of winter vegetables in the produce aisle. I'm talking about the fact that late fall is when Nabisco puts out Mallomars again. Mallomars are a cross between cookies and candy, with a fluffy marshmallow topping a crispy cookie, all covered in a thin layer of dark chocolate. It is the chocolate layer, which hasn't been replaced with a chocolate-flavored, heat resistant substance, that makes Mallomars so vulnerable to destruction in warm weather. They are at the top of the snacking pyramid for marshmallow lovers and, as they are only readily available for a few weeks each year, they are quite the hot item, despite the fact that they can only be sold when the weather is cool.

They have been around since 1913, so they have nostalgic appeal in addition to generally being appealing to new, younger audiences. The place where Mallomars are the most popular is New York, which Kraft/Nabisco says makes of 70% of its annual sales of the treat. Not only that, but some of the vendors that carry it say it is their best selling cookie all year - probably because people are stocking up for the off season.

Moonstruck Chocolate Co. usually focuses on making some of the most beautiful confections that you're likely to see, with creation designs and precision artistry, but for Halloween, they do something a little different. In the spirit of the season, some of their seasonal offerings look more scary than sophisticated, which we love because it seems a little more appropriate for the holiday. The Halloween Horror Pizza is milk chocolate topped with a chocolate truffle eyeball and some gummy goodies that you wouldn't expect to find on any pizza. The Ivory Skull and Wormy Jack are both filled with gummy candies to give anyone who bites into the chocolate a Halloween trick, as well as a treat.

If you can't make up your mind as to which one you want, you can order a combo pack that contains one of each.

Fortunately for the readers, most books that are confident enough to use the word "bible" as a descriptor in their titles actually seem to qualify as must-haves for anyone interested in the subject. The Organic Cook's Bible is no exception to this rule. The book covers just about everything you could ever want to know about organic, seasonal eating and cooking.

The most important things that it covers - in addition to offering up tasty recipes, of course - is advice on why to opt for organic foods, how to select ingredients and how to figure out what to do with them. This last point is particularly useful when dealing with less common fruits and vegetables that you might be more likely to encounter when leaving the nearly seasonless mega-mart for a more season-oriented shop. And despite the artichoke on the cover that seems to promise delicious vegetable dishes (which it does deliver), there are chapters devoted to grains, meat, dairy, eggs and even kitchen staples, such as coffee and flour.

But despite the fact that organics are such a hot topic, Cox writes his book like someone who is passionate and well-informed on his topic, not like a fanatic. This makes the book a worthwhile read for anyone interested in exploring the organic movement, even if they don't intend to commit to it just yet.

Flavored beers are most often produced by smaller, regional breweries, while the national brewers tend to stick with the tried-and-true brands that they know their consumers already have a taste for. But it seems like more of the major brewers are catching on to the trend and releasing seasonal or flavored brews. Miller Brewing Co. is introducing a chocolate beer, Frederick Miller Classic Chocolate Lager, that will be sold throughout the midwest from October to December. The beer won a gold medal at the 2005 Great American Beer Festival and is made up of a blend of cacao nibs and six different malts, which supposedly give it a more complex flavor than regular beer. It will be sold in "sold in four packs of 12-ounce bottles and will be marketed for holiday gift giving."

I won't comment on the gifting value of a four-pack of beer, but I guess it's nice to know that the company encourages sharing.

Every fall, Starbucks adds their Pumpkin Spice Lattes to their lineup, much to the delight of the many fans of the drink. This year, it is joined by another seasonal drink: the Maple Macchiato. The drink is much like the company's caramel "macchiato," which is a latte with vanilla and caramel sauce added to it, only it uses a maple syrup sauce instead of the other flavors. It even has a little maple drizzle on top.

The drink has been test marketed in Canada and in some parts of the US, so if you live in the North East, you may have sampled the maple-goodness before. It is sweet, satisfying and very evocative of fall. All stores should have it in stock this week. Expect to see some seasonal maple-flavored pastries, as well, as the 'Bucks tends to pair their new coffee drinks with a similarly flavored muffin or scone.

Sometimes it seems as though all seasonal cookbooks are based on spring and summer fruits and vegetables, forgetting about the squashes, root vegetables and other wonderful foods that play a central part in the hearty meals of fall. You can't blame cookbook authors entirely, however, since tender asparagus, sinfully sweet berries and heirloom tomatoes are endlessly tempting, but it's still useful to have some seasonal ideas for the rest of the year. The Taste of the Season: Inspired Recipes for Fall and Winter tries to fill in the gap with a collection of recipes that are made for the months of colder weather.

Once you've been tempted by the photos, you'll want to dig in. The recipes tend to be a bit richer and more complex than the average grilled summer meal, with slow-cooked stews, roasts and braises making up a fair bit of the content. There are also distinctly seasonal breakfasts, salads and desserts. Ingredients used include pomegranates, persimmons, pumpkin, frisee and endive, to name a few of the most seasonally associated, as well as various meats and vegetables that can be found year-round.

Starbucks' seasonal Pumpkin Spice Latte, which returned to stores just a few weeks ago, is one of their most popular flavors. While it doesn't exactly taste like pumpkin, the flavors are undeniably reminiscent of fall and the upcoming holiday season. It's so popular, that other coffee chains are adding pumpkin drinks to their menus, too. The LA-based Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf has just introduced their Pumpkin Pie Latte and Pumpkin Pie Ice Blended drinks, which will be available only through November 1. Their drinks are flavored with a thick pumpkin spice sauce, which is sort of similar to the banana puree that they used to make their summery banana drinks - it's not like adding a scoop of pumpkin, so don't worry if you prefer your coffee without vegetables. Peet's Coffee and Tea, another west coast chain, is scheduled to release some pumpkin spiced drinks within the next couple of weeks, as well.