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Mango: The Sweetest…
And Messiest Fruit
On Earth.
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The Tropical Mango Is A
Great Recipe Item.
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MANGO (Monday, August 4): It’s Independence Day today. Well,
in Jamaica. And most likely, they will be celebrating with the
most popular on earth. No, not the banana. The Mango. Right now,
it is peak of the season for Mangos from Mexico. That means, the
best price and the best quality are right now. If you have never
tried a Mango, you’re in a lot of company. Still about 45%
of Americans have never tried a Mango. Well, what are you waiting
for? It is the sweetest fruit on planet earth. And probably one
of the messiest. In fact, they are so juicy and messy, that an
old-timer produce man once told me that the best place to eat a
Mango…is in the shower with no clothes on. Mangoes are great
just eaten out of hand, but they are also a great ingredient for
many great recipes. Famous actress Jane Seymour is a confessed
mangoholic, and can eat mangoes morning noon and night. “When
I eat mangoes, especially with raspberries, I am in total heaven!” she
declares. Over 20 million tons of mangoes are grown in the tropics
and sub tropics. Top Mango exporters are India, Pakistan, Puerto
Rico, Mexico, Brazil, Israel, South Africa and Peru. The Mango
is a member of the cashew family of flowering plants; other species
include the pistachio tree and poison ivy. There are well over
400 varieties of Mangoes grown in the world today. The top five
varieties are the Tommy Atkins, Kent, Keitt, Ataulfo and the Haden.
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The Summer Tomato
Has Cost More
This Summer.
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If You Refrigerate An Unripe
Tomato, You
Kill The Flavor.
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TOMATO (Tuesday,
August 5): Have you ever wondered why the Tomato is part of the “Nightshade” family? Other Nightshade
plants are the Eggplant, Potato and Tobacco. These and other plants
are part of the “Nightshade” family because they can
grow at night during a full moon. A few weeks ago, there was a
full moon. That means, for growers, that right now, two weeks later,
there is a flush of harvesting. The full moon causes the plants
to continue to grow at night, leading to a faster maturity and
better supplies usually about 14 days after the full moon. Tomato
prices have been high all summer long. Most of that has to do with
very bad weather along the East Coast, which has cut East Coast
supplies by as much as 30%. There’s nothing like a New
Jersey tomato. Not so this year. Supplies are way down and prices very
high, particularly for the vine-ripened tomato. With the East Coast
supply so short, that leads to higher prices, not just on the East
Coast, but across the country. There’s an old saying that
a “rising tide raises all ships.” By the way, back
in the 1700s, members of the Nightshade family were not very well
liked, except Tobacco of course. In Europe, eating a potato would
cause all kinds of lascivious life styles, it was thought. Here
in America, eating a tomato was considered very foolhardy. That’s
why Thomas Jefferson would eat tomatoes while he walked the streets
of Philadelphia. Eventually, Jefferson got people to try his
tomatoes.
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Valenica, The Supreme
Summer Juice Orange.
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Fresh Squeezed Gives You
The Most Vitamin C
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VALENCIA ORANGE (Wednesday, August 6): Today,
we are exactly halfway through summer. And the “summer” orange
is in the supermarkets. There are two main types if oranges, summer
and winter. The winter
orange is the Navel. It is the premier eating orange in the world.
It is seedless…and sweet. The summer orange is also referred
to as the “juicing” orange. Now you can juice any orange,
but if you juice the Navel orange, you will notice that the juice
won’t last long, not longer than a day or so. However, if
you juice a “juicing” orange, like the summer Valencia
orange, the juice can last a lot longer, up to a week in the refrigerator.
There are compounds in the orange
that causes the juice to
breakdown quickly. Those compounds are
found in the seeds of the orange. A Navel orange is seedless,
so those compounds are spread out throughout the flesh of the
orange. When you juice a Navel orange, those compounds are now
in the juice, causing the juice to sour very quickly. Most Valencia
oranges are grown in Florida, but most of that crop is used for
the frozen or fresh juice market. Over the next several years,
you may see prices of the summer Valencia go even higher. Many
groves in California are being uprooted and replaced with Avocados.
In the past few years, the summer Valencia orange has had a lot
of competition with imported Navel Oranges from Australia. People
don’t want the seeds. But if you only knew how sweet the
juice is from a Valencia. If you have never tried juicing an
orange, try a Valencia. It may just make you fall in love with
fresh squeezed orange juice all over again. By the way, of all
the frozen orange juice on the market, you still get more Vitamin
C from fresh squeezed.
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The Euro Dollar
Has Gotten Very Strong…
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…While The
U.S. Dollar Has Gotten Weaker.
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APPLES (Thursday,
August 7): Have you noticed higher prices for Southern Hemisphere
apples? Prices are about 25% higher than the
same period last year. It has nothing to do with weather this
time. The New Zealand apple crop is beautiful this year. It has
to do…with
world money markets. You see, the European Dollar have been much
stronger over the past several months, while the U.S. Dollar has
been much weaker. Now, if you were a grower and exporter in New
Zealand, where would you send more of your fruit? That’s
right, to the place where you get the most money for it. Right
now, that’s Europe. With less fruit being sent to the United
States, that has sent prices higher than normal. New crop New
Zealand apples include the Braeburn, Gala, Pacific Rose and the
Fuji.
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It’s Kool-Aid
Days Today Through The Weekend, In The Home Of
Kool-Aid, Hastings, Nebraska.
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Maybe It’s The Grapes
That Have Made Jerry Rice The NFL’s Best.
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RED GRAPES (Friday,
August 8): Red Grapes are very cool these days. Just ask the greatest
football receiver in the NFL, Jerry
Rice of the Oakland Raiders. After every workout or game, he recovers
quickly by eating a few pounds of red grapes. There are compounds in red grapes which help your red blood cells rejuvinate faster,
allowing more oxygen to be carried through your bloodstream. This
helps your body, muscles and cardiovascular system recover after
a strong workout. If you are a “weekend warrior,” buy
a few pounds of Red Flame Seedless Grapes and have them ready.
This is peak of the season for Thompson and Red Flame Grapes from
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