Stew Leonard’s has been committed to providing shoppers with high-quality produce since the early 1970s when the dairy store first began selling fruits and vegetables from local Connecticut family farms. Today, we sell more farm fresh, local produce than ever when it’s in season, and provide top quality produce from other areas when it’s not. Our customers get the best of both worlds! Wherever it comes from, it’s at the peak of freshess when we put it on our shelves.

Here’s the recipe for my fresh produce wash:

• Mix 1 cup of vinegar to 4 cups of water in a spray bottle
• Add a tablespoon of lemon juice
• Shake the bottle to combine
• Spray your produce
• Place the sprayed produce in a colander in the sink
• Scrub harder fruits and vegetables – such as potatoes and carrots- with a vegetable brush
• Rinse with cool water

Store your vegetables in the crisper of your fridge in a plastic bag or container. However, store your fruit in a different part of the refrigerator, away from the vegetables, so that it doesn’t ripen to quickly! And remember – don’t bleach the veggies or use chlorine on the fruit. No disinfecting wipes or isopropyl alcohol, either. Stew Leonard’s water, vinegar, and lemon juice produce spray will do the trick to thoroughly clean your farm fresh fruits and veggies. – Stew

We’re getting daily deliveries from our local farmers in Connecticut, New Jersey, The Hudson Valley and Long Island. The super sweet corn is incredible. Picked at sunrise. You don’t even need butter!

Until avocados can be grown in the tri-state area, count on Stew Leonard’s to bring you the very best from Michoacán, Mexico, where the “blooming” season is year-round. Michoacán has rich volcanic soil, the perfect amount of sunlight and rain, and a warm semi-tropical climate that gives the avocados a luscious flavor and texture!

Fourth generation Long Island vegetable grower Bob Nolan operates Deer Run Farms with the help of his wife Janet, son Samuel, daughter Valerie, and Uncle Henry Lohmann. They grow spinach, cabbage, and a wide variety of lettuce: Romaine, Boston, Red Boston, Red Leaf, Green Leaf, Red Oak, Green Oak, Red Batavian, Green Batavian and French Iceberg. Whichever is your favorite, you’ll find it just-picked-fresh at Stew Leonard’s.