These tangy pork kebabs are rubbed with garlic and dry herbs, and basted with a vinegar wash. A regional favorite of New York State’s Southern Tier, their name derives from the Italian spiedino or spiedo (“skewer” and “spit”). Get the recipe for Spiedies »

Potatoes take on a floral, earthy note when they’re tossed with dried lavender before roasting.

A staple in New Mexico, this pork stew gets its flavor from an earthy, sweet chile powder available at most Mexican specialty stores. Get the recipe for Red Chile and Pork Stew (Carne Adobada) »

These spicy burgers are topped with roasted New Mexico chiles and two kinds of cheese.

For this recipe, skinless salmon filets are cooked in a spice-filled mustard sauce.

This fruity-spicy southeast Mexico staple is ideal on enchiladas or huevos rancheros.

This creamy all-purpose salsa is great on tacos filled with carnitas or grilled cactus.

Toasting dried chiles until they’re brown and brittle creates a dark, smoky salsa that complements robust meats such as lamb and goat.

This smooth peanut sauce, a take on a traditional salsa from Chiapas, is delicious spooned on roast chicken or shrimp.

Roasted garlic adds sweet depth to this classic green salsa, best served over steak, tacos, or rice and beans.

Try this tart, cooked salsa, a contemporary creation by Roberto Santibañez, spooned over seafood.

Pineapple’s firm texture and sweet-tart tang is perfect for salsa and an ideal foil for rich meats. Get the recipe for Salsa de Piña Picante »

This earthy roasted salsa is traditionally pounded to a smooth paste in a molcajete, but a food processor works just as well.

This Acapulco-inspired pico de gallo gets a briny boost from olives and capers. Serve it spooned over grilled fish or chicken. Get the recipe for Salsa Playera de Lujo (Fresh Tomato and Olive Salsa) »

This cocktail, from Jim Meehan of PDT bar in New York City, uses Frangelico to accentuate the nuttiness of fresh coconut water. See the recipe for Chairman’s Refresher »

Martin Cate of Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco combines Chartreuse and ginger ale in this refreshing tropical drink.

This alternative to rum and Coke uses lighter, brighter grapefruit soda, which lets the bold character of a pot-distilled English-style rum shine through.

“Trader Vic” Bergeron came up with this floral drink to showcase a 17-year-old gold Jamaican rum. Once all his bottles were gone, he re-created the drink’s complex flavor by layering two very different rums in the same drink.

Pot-still Jamaican rum is redolent of ripe banana, so it’s a natural combination with banana liqueur. Cinnamon syrup gives the drink a spicy depth.

Benjamin Jones of Clement rum distillery in Martinique shared his recipe for this cool, bracing cocktail, his country’s national drink.

Donn Beach, the founding father of tiki bars and restaurants, set a limit of two per customer for this potent drink made with three kinds of rum, citrus, and spice. Get the recipe for The Zombie cocktail »

Though this sumptuous stew is traditionally braised in a clay pot, we found a Dutch oven works very well.

CHINA The chicken in this stir-fry is coated in a mixture of egg white and cornstarch before cooking–a technique called velveting (see Smooth Move)–to preserve its succulence. See the recipe for Jiyou Jun Chao Ji »

Mushrooms, boiled until firm and succulent, are tossed with a dressing of chiles and sesame oil for this spicy salad. See the recipe for Liang Ban» Back to Season of Plenty: Yunnan’s Foraged Mushrooms »

This steamed egg custard is studded with gingery pork meatballs and topped with crispy fried chanterelles. See the recipe for Meiwei Mogu Naiyou Dong Zhrou» Back to Season of Plenty: Yunnan’s Foraged Mushrooms »

A homemade chicken broth flavored with ginger, garlic, and scallions, is the key to this soup’s richness.

This tangy salad brightens mild, delicately crunchy wood ear mushrooms with chiles and lime.

Duan Jan Pin, a cook in northwest Yunnan, makes this stir-fry with song rong mushrooms, but firm cremini are a fine substitute. Back to Season of Plenty: Yunnan’s Foraged Mushrooms »

This recipe combines tender pork with crisp peppers and succulent shiitake mushrooms in a satisfying stir-fry. See the recipe for Zhurou Chao Mogu» Back to Season of Plenty: Yunnan’s Foraged Mushrooms »

Garlic’s young shoots perfume this mild pesto, perfect for tossing with fresh egg pasta. If you can’t find scapes, substitute green garlic or a combination of garlic and chives. See the recipe for Garlic Scape Pesto»

German’s famed herb sauce is tangy with buttermilk and enriched with sour cream that features herbs like sorrel and watercress; it’s wonderful with boiled vegetables.

Toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) give this vibrant Mexican-inspired pesto a warm, toasty flavor.

This spicy, southern Italian-style pesto recipe was given to us by Rocco Arena, owner of San Rocco restaurant in New York City. A touch of ricotta in this pesto tempers the flavor of the red peppers, and makes it an excellent bruschetta topping. See the recipe for Pesto Calabrese»

Italians have long used walnuts for pesto; they lend a rich earthiness to the sauce. This pesto is perfect as a pasta sauce and a bruschetta topping. See the recipe for Pesto di Noce»

The rich flavor of pistachio is balanced with lemon zest in this bright-tasting sauce. Pistachio pesto is rather sweet, making it great with roasted vegetables. See the recipe for Pesto di Pistacchio»

Capers and anchovies lend briny depth to this parsley sauce, which is fantastic tossed with grilled or boiled vegetables, and with rich fish like mackerel.

This peppery pesto is fantastic drizzled over steamed artichokes, grilled fish, or ripe tomatoes. See the recipe for Pesto di Rucola »

In this classic version of pesto, the basil leaves are blanched in boiling water, then quickly shocked in ice water, to give the sauce a brilliant green hue and to reduce any bitterness. See the recipe for Pesto Genovese »

This pesto, thickened with almonds, gets its intense red hue from the sun dried tomatoes and Aleppo pepper, which brings sweetness and heat to its flavor. This pesto is best served with pasta. See the recipe for Pesto Rosso»

Italy’s other ubiquitous green sauce is flavored with parsley and thickened with bread crumbs. Seasoned with vinegar and anchovies, it’s bold enough to stand up to grilled meats. See the recipe for Salsa Verde »

This flavorful pesto from Sicily is traditionally served with homemade busiate, a spiral-shaped pasta; you can substitute dried fusilli in a pinch.

Basil and oregano add herbal brightness to butternut squash, browned butter, and hazelnuts in a sweet-savory pasta dish. Get the recipe for Butternut Squash Ravioli with Oregano-Hazelnut Pesto »

Chef Jim Leiken of DBGB in New York City serves pesto-spiked mayonnaise as a dipping sauce for fried calamari, cauliflower, and chickpeas.

Tender gnocchi tossed with a classic pesto genovese is a popular first course in Liguria. Get the recipe for Gnocchi al Pesto »

This version of Liguria’s famed focaccia comes to us from Biagia Settepani, chef and co-owner of Pasticceria Bruno in New York City. See the recipe for Pesto Focaccia »

Pesto genovese adds herbal brightness to this grilled chicken served over a toasted bread salad, but any flavor pesto will work.

Pistou, the Provençal cousin of pesto, is stirred into this summer vegetable soup just before serving. Get the recipe for Soupe au Pistou »

In this classic Genoese dish, fettuccine pasta is combined with string beans, baby red potatoes, and tossed with basil pesto. Get the recipe for Trenette al Pesto »

This inventive dish from Marco Porceddu at Asellina in New York City reinterprets the classic sauce into a sweet dessert. See the recipe for Pesto Panna Cotta » [Back to Glorious Pesto »

For more inspiration on making delicious frozen treats at home: See 25 Ice Cream and Gelato Recipes » See 6 Low-Tech Ways to Make Ice Cream » See Paletas: Mexican Ice Pops »

Like many traditional Emirati desserts, luscious pumpkin porridge (in Arabic it’s a halvah, or sweet food) straddles the line between sweet and savory. The dish thickens as it cools, so be sure to serve it while it’s still quite warm.

Served as a breakfast dish and also for dessert, this Indian-influenced sweet pasta is fried and topped with a saffron omelette, making it crunchy, sweet, tender, and savory all at once.

This deeply satisfying dish of spiced meat and creamy wheat berries is most often made with lamb, but it’s particularly delicious when made with chicken.

Influences from all over the Middle East and South Asia converge in this highly seasoned seafood pilaf made with curry and shrimp. Get the recipe for Shrimp and Rice Pilaf (Machbuss Rubian) »

This recipe combines the silky flavor of corn with the tartness of black raspberries.

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams in Columbus, OH has some of the most amazing flavors around. In this recipe, the addition of roasted beets and poppy seeds lends the end product a festive hue and a bit of crunch. ‪