Last week’s YOUR PRODUCE MAN’S PRODUCE PUZZZZLER still dealt with winter citrus: What citrus was the first in the United States to be patented? It's hard to imagine a citrus being patented. Like a new machine or a new invention. At the time, this new citrus was so unique and so different, you wouldn't think of not patenting it. Grapefruit came to the US in the 1840s, first to Florida. Grapefruit at this time, were white and full of seeds. The first seedless grapefruit appeared in a Florida orchard in 1890. In the 1920s, some bare rooted grapefruit trees were shipped via railroad to Texas, thus beginning the Texas industry. It was in Texas that the first red seedless grapefruit was discovered, in an orchard near McAllen, Texas. This "Red Ruby Seedless" grapefruit became the banner of the grapefruit industry. It was so unique and so good, it became the first patented citrus. Since we are in the middle of winter produce, this week’s YOUR PRODUCE MAN’S PRODUCE PUZZZZLER deals with a winter vegetable: What is the only vegetable that originated in Western Europe? See next week’s Fresh Tips for the answer.

YPM with his Valentine: Julie.

GET FRESH ON VALENTINE’S DAY
WITH FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

Take a walk through the produce section for your Valentine's Day. It will heat up your Valentine and just may heat up your love life. Here are some produce items you’ll fall in love with, right along with your Valentine:

Stock up on Carrots.

BROCCOLI AND CARROTS (Monday, Feb. 9): If you are a penny-pinching tightwad, listen up to this first item. Broccoli is actually made up of hundreds of tiny flowers. If you are a “Jack Benny” at heart, this would be your bouquet of flowers for your Valentine. Stock up on carrots. You see, in ancient Roman days, the Roman men would eat carrots to increase their virility. Then they would feed carrots to their women to “loosen their morals.” This makes Carrots…the original Viagra. Carrots are actually better than Viagra in two ways. Carrots are a lot cheaper than Viagra, and Carrots will help you see better…at night.

Give the sweetest half…to your Valentine

GRAPEFRUIT (Tuesday, Feb. 10): Grapefruit does indeed have a sweeter half, just like your Valentine is your sweeter half. So which half of the Grapefruit is sweeter? All fruits that ripen on a tree, ripen first from the blossom end to stem end last. So, on a Grapefruit, the blossom end is sweeter. So make sure your Valentine gets that half.

Give a dozen Nectarines!

NECTARINES (Wednesday, Feb. 11): Nectarines should be given to your Valentine. In fact, a dozen of them. Nectarines happen to be my Valentine’s favorite fruit. So I kill two birds with one stone, or with one stonefruit that is. I always give my beautiful and lovely wife, Julie, a dozen Nectarines for Valentine’s Day. She loves it. Cut a ripe Nectarine in half. Smell it. You can still smell the faint aroma of the Nectarine’s ancient past. You see, the Nectarine, in its ancient form, was related…to the Rose. And you can still smell a rose in every one.

If you’re proposing marriage, grab a Red Delicious Apple.

RED DELICIOUS APPLES (Thursday, Feb. 12): Red apples will help, especially if you are planning to propose marriage to your Valentine on Valentine’s Day. Do you remember the Disney movie “Aladdin?” Aladdin picked up a Red Apple twice in the movie and tossed it to Princess Jasmine. During that time of history, in that part of the world, tossing a red apple to a young lady…was a marriage proposal. Of course, this is how I proposed to Julie. The only trouble was, tens of thousands of viewers watched me propose, but Julie never saw the show. You see, I had asked Julie if she would bring some Raspberries to the television station, in time for my show. While there, I would toss the red apple. Well, my producer called me in the morning and asked if I could do my show at a local festival. This was before the days of cell phones. I had no way of reaching Julie to let her know to bring the raspberries to the festival. It didn’t matter anyway because Julie was taking her finals at college and was late getting to the show. In fact, she was so late, she walked into the station just as the news was signing off. She never saw me propose marriage. Just as Julie was walking in, the producer of the news was walking out and noticed Julie just arriving. “Did you just get here,” the producer asked. “Why yes,” Julie said. The producer quickly grabbed Julie, grabbed the tape of the news show, sat Julie down in an edit booth and began playing the tape. As Julie watched the tape, she saw me talk about Red Apples, and how in ancient days, tossing a red apple was a marriage proposal. I had called a good friend of mine in Washington State and had asked if he could go into his storage rooms and find the largest, reddest, most perfect Red Delicious Apple he could find. It was beautiful. So there I was on TV, with this huge red apple, saying, “Julie, I love you. Will you marry me?” I then tossed the apple…to a big, bearded burley cameraman. As Julie watched this on the tape, she looked up and saw about 20 people crowded around her in the edit booth. “Well, what are you going to tell him,” the producer asked. “I’m first going to tell him, ‘This is America. You better toss me a diamond ring.’ And then I’ll tell him, ‘Yes.’”

Strawberry: The only fruit shaped like a heart.

STRAWBERRY (Friday, Feb. 13): The Strawberry is the official fruit of Valentine’s Day. It is red, juicy, sweet, and the sexiest fruit grown on planet earth. And it’s the only fruit…shaped like a heart.