Can a cuisine match a season? It can in Wisconsin, where we have a rich mix of ethnicity and climate, and thus many great pairings to make throughout the year. Think how perfect German ribs and sauerkraut taste in the dead of winter, or how a French omelet with fresh herbs and chevre is the essence of spring. To me, high summer is expressed ideally in Hmong fare. Based in a farming culture, the cuisine features a large variety of vegetables, vibrant flavors and simple, healthful cooking methods.

Sounds like summer cooking, all right.

For high-season ingredient possibilities, look to Hmong farmers market stands, where you’ll find familiar choices like cucumbers and cilantro, but also Daikon radishes, bitter melons and long beans. There might be egg-sized Thai eggplants, curved bottle gourds and slender stalks of lemongrass. Most definitely there will be greens—Chinese broccoli, water spinach, purslane, mustard greens, squash tendrils—which Hmong families eat at nearly every meal.

In the kitchen Hmong cooks are lavish with garlic, green onions and fresh herbs…and above all, hot peppers. They place bowls of spicy chili sauce around the table to complement easy-to-execute stir-fries, cold salads and quick-cooked meat broths.

Local and seasonal are not catchwords in Hmong cooking; they are the fundamental basis of it. So when the harvest is on in Wisconsin, give summer its full expression: eat like a Hmong.