Not a separate species, as some landlubbers think, soft-shell crabs, a.k.a. peelers, are blue crabs that have shed their hard shells.

If ever a so-called “animated chopping machine” needed some good PR, it would be the bluefish.

Keep the interlopers out of the kitchen this Thanksgiving by sending out some delicious butternut-squash bruschetta, the most creative use of a gourd since the jack-o'-lantern.

Funky looks aside, broccoli is striking when sautéed and tossed with pasta, as this satisfying dish from 50 Carmine’s Sara Jenkins demonstrates.

Nothing piques the passion of the seasonally obsessed chef like ramps, whose springtime arrival at the Greenmarket is met with the kind of fervor associated with the naming of a new pope.

Gently poach with honey and spices and serve as a sweet-and-sour accompaniment to wild game, pot roast, or pork chops, or simply spread on toast.

Nothing against chickens, but according to a wizened egg expert we met at the Greenmarket recently, duck eggs have a greater ratio of yolk to whites, and are therefore “eggier.”

The velvety lettuce with the fancy French name (a.k.a. lamb’s tongue) is a good interim green.

While most Greenmarket farmers have it easy this time of year, lazing about, thumbing through their Farmer’s Almanacs, maple-syrup makers are in a tree-tapping, sap-boiling frenzy.

Sweeter and meatier than littlenecks and surprisingly tender, they’re worth the effort.