Summer temperatures got you in a pickle? Beat the heat with cool, crisp fruits and vegetables to help keep you hydrated, healthy and happy.

For the freshest, most delicious produce, look no farther than your local Strack & Van Til Produce Department.

Grill them, cut them up in a crisp salad or eat them alone as a snack: Fruits and vegetables are a “berry” tasty way to get important vitamins and nutrients. For the ultimate in freshness, be sure produce is locally grown.

Why local produce? Strack & Van Til Produce Director Andy Muller says the reasons are as plentiful as the corn fields of Indiana.

“When you buy local, your produce travels a shorter distance and hits our shelves fresher,” he explains. “Buying locally grown produce supports local and family businesses and farms. At Strack & Van Til, we’re a family-owned business with deep roots in the communities we serve, so we like to help others just like us and support our local communities.”

Muller notes that the produce experts at Strack & Van Til define “locally grown” as produce grown in Indiana or any bordering state and bought during the peak season to offer in their stores.

Grab a bunch of Indiana-grown fruits and vegetables that are available including sweet corn, green cabbage, red cabbage, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, pickling cucumbers, dill weed, jalapenos and muskmelons. Current Michigan-grown fruits include blueberries and a limited quantity of peaches. Choose fresh kale, collard, turnip and mustard greens grown in Illinois.

Year-round, enjoy Wilder Fields greenhouse-grown salad greens from Illinois, Earthbound Farms Great Lakes greenhouse-grown salad greens from Indiana or Local Roots herbs sourced primarily in Indiana.

Other year-round items include honey from Farmer Dan’s Honey from White Pigeon, Mich., Albanese Candy from Merrillville and Superior Nuts from St. John.

In August, you’ll find sugar-sweet watermelons, mouth-watering muskmelons, crunchy carrots from Indiana and tasty tomatoes from Indiana and Michigan in your local Strack & Van Til Produce Department. This fall, sink your teeth into apples from Michigan apple partner Hildebrand Fruit Farms from Berrien Springs, Mich., plus pick up some Indiana and Illinois-grown pumpkins for Halloween carving, baking and seed toasting.

“We work hard to source the freshest produce, regardless of the growing region. That’s why we have a buyer at the Chicago produce market who inspects the produce we buy. We also work with many of the same local farms year after year,” notes Muller. “We source locally grown fruits and vegetables to provide the freshest, most delicious eating experience. That means you can trust that Strack & Van Til produce is the best of the best.”