Turning Your Summer Bounty into Delicious Delights

Summer is halfway through, which means it's time to start harvesting your summer produce. Never heard of harvesting your herbs?  Keep reading to learn more about what Schmidt Bros. tools you can use to harvest your favorite fruits, vegetables, and herbs. 

Microgreens: For harvesting microgreens, we recommend using a pair of MultiPurpose Utility Shears. Harvesting these greens will be quick and easy with just a pair of high-quality shears.

Herbs: For herbs, such as basil and mint, we also recommend using a pair of MultiPurpose Utility Shears to make harvesting quick and efficient. Depending on how much of the herb(s) you wish to harvest, you may even be able to use your hands to pick the amount you would like. Once you harvest your favorite herbs, use the herb stripper on the shears to detach the leaves from the stem. 

Peppers: To harvest peppers, we, again, recommend using our MultiPurpose Utility Shears to get the peppers off the vine, or a simple tug will do. To slice the peppers once they are harvested, we advise using an 8-inch Chef’s Knife. 

Tomatoes: To harvest tomatoes, all you have to do is twist and pull and the tomatoes will detach from the stem right away. Slice the tomatoes with a Heritage, 5-inch Serrated Utility Knife. 

Cucumbers: Similarly to peppers, we would also recommend that you use a MultiPurpose Utility Shears to detach the cucumbers from the vine. Once the cucumber is washed and ready to go, use an 8-inch Chef’s Knife to slice the cucumbers however you like. 

Berries: When harvesting berries, you actually do not need any tools to get them off the vine. For strawberries, just twist the strawberry and it should fall right off. Blueberries just require a little tug and they should detach right away. If you wish to harvest several berries at a time (or keep the stem attached), again, we would recommend a serrated utility knife for sawing the berries off the vine. A serrated knife is safer to use on vines than a fine-edged knife. 

Onions & Shallots: With shallots being a part of the onion family, they are harvested in the same way as other onion species. Tug the onions out of the ground by securely pulling them out by their stems. For easy chopping, we like using a razor-sharp 8-inch Chef’s Knife for onions. We prefer to use a 4-inch Paring Knife for mincing and/or slicing shallots, due to their small size. 

We don’t know about you, but for us, we are looking forward to making homemade tomato sauce, fresh salads, and more with our homegrown produce.