Condiment

This syrup is perfect for French toast.

We like this butter on grilled steak.

Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from Justin Rashid of American Spoon Foods in Petoskey, Michigan. To read more about Rashid and the northwestern Michigan cherry harvest, click here. "This is a fresh, colorful salsa that I make at home — a nice alternative to cooked versions like the cherry-peach that we sell at American Spoon Foods," says Rashid. "Feel free to substitute sweet cherries such as Bings — you'll just need to reduce the sugar to 2 tablespoons."

Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from Justin Rashid of American Spoon Foods in Petoskey, Michigan. To read more about Rashid and the northwestern Michigan cherry harvest, click here. "In northwestern Michigan, we have more cherries than we know what to do with, so everyone cans to preserve the summer harvest," says Rashid. "I usually make this conserve with our local Schmidts, which are very black and sweet. But regular Bings, or any sweet variety, can be substituted. Be sure they're ripe, but not overripe — plump, glossy, and firm." The conserve is great on toast, croissants, or biscuits, or with bagels and cream cheese. It can even be thinned with a little red wine and used to glaze a roasted duck.

These sweet-and-sour peaches perk up the flavor of ham and fried chicken; they are also very good with vanilla ice cream.

Healthy bonus: Vitamin C from mangoes; iron from raisins

We like to serve this fresh salsa with grilled fish, chicken, or pork, or as a dip for tortilla chips.

The sweet sharpness of both the orange juice and the balsamic vinegar combines with the natural sugars in the onions to create a delicious snack that's perfect to serve with cocktails, as an addition to an antipasto assortment, or as an accompaniment to roasted meats.

This sauce, called caldillo de jitomate ("tomato broth"), has a consistency closer to a light tomato soup than an Italian marinara.

This is the perfect condiment to perk up a roast beef or pork sandwich.

Charoset, a traditional Passover condiment, represents the mortar used by Israelite slaves in Egypt. In this contemporary Mexican version, bananas and other fruit are puréed and cooked down to a sweet spread. "Some people say that the banana was the original 'apple' of the Garden of Eden," says Mexican-Jewish food writer Lila Louli, who collaborated with chef Roberto Santibañez on his Passover recipes. "It's also a very common ingredient in Mexican cooking."

Joy Ackerman of Cincinnati, Ohio, writes: "After cooking for a family of six for years, I've become a pro at streamlining recipes and being organized in the kitchen. My children are now grown and out of the house, but that hasn't changed how I cook or shop. I still make a monthly menu plan, and often find myself cooking my kids' favorite dishes whenever they visit."