UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Barbecue season usually means cooking steaks, chicken or ribs, but a vegetable expert in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences says it's just as thrilling to be grilling food grown in your garden.

"Grilling vegetables is easy and fast, and sometimes people find that vegetables they don't normally like may be acceptable to them if grilled," says Peter Ferretti, professor of vegetable crops. "Okra is probably the best example of a vegetable that appeals more to consumers when grilled."

Ferretti cites "The Barbecue Bible," by Steven Raichlen, as a fine guide to grilling all sorts of vegetables. Ferretti, who has led several workshops on vegetable preparation, says grilling vegetables brings out the flavor more readily than other forms of cooking.

According to "The Barbecue Bible," the heat of a grill will evaporate the moisture inside the vegetable, which concentrates the flavor. "The high, dry heat also caramelizes the internal sugars in plants and makes the vegetables taste sweeter -- somewhat similar to stir-frying, which also uses intense heat and short cooking time."Ferretti says the water used in other cooking methods, such as boiling or steaming, can dilute the minerals, vitamins and other compounds in the vegetables.

Ferretti says Raichlen's book recommends several tips for first time vegetable grillers:

--Make sure the grill is hot when you put the vegetables on the surface.

--Use a secondary grill or vegetable basket that has smaller holes to prevent vegetables from slipping into the fire. "The shallow basket or vegetable holder is very effective, because you can flip all the vegetables over at once," Ferretti says.

--Vegetables shouldn't stick to the grill. It's the proteins in meat and seafood that cause stickiness during grilling.

Ferretti says "The Barbecue Bible" offers some accurate cooking times for a variety of vegetables. All items should be placed directly on the grill with high heat, except where noted.

--Artichokes: 60-75 minutes directly on the grill using medium to low heat.

--Asparagus: 6-8 minutes.

--Corn: 8-12 minutes.

--Whole eggplant: Asian eggplant should cook 9-12 minutes, the regular eggplant should be grilled 20-30 minutes.

--Green beans: 8-10 minutes per side.

--Mushrooms: Portobello mushrooms should cook 4-6 minutes per side, while smaller mushrooms should cook 2-3 minutes per side.

--Onions: Quartered onions should cook 10-12 minutes per side. Sliced onions should cook 4-8 minutes per side.

--Whole peppers: 16-20 minutes.

--Sliced yellow or zucchini squash: 4-6 minutes per side.

--Tomatoes: Sliced tomatoes should be cooked 2-4 minutes per side. Whole tomatoes should be cooked 8-24 minutes depending on size and variety.

"The main thing to remember when cooking vegetables is never to walk away from the grill," Ferretti says. "Vegetables cook very quickly, and they can burn if you're not paying attention."

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EDITORS: For more information, contact Peter Ferretti at 814-863-2313.

Contact: Jeff Mulhollem jjm29@psu.edu 814-863-2719 814-865-1068 fax #173