Your Produce Man - Produce News

Our last PRODUCE MAN PUZZZZLE dealt with Spring produce: The "leaves" on an Artichoke; what is their real name? We should have given you this hint: Look at the parts of a flower. Well, that's because the Artichoke is neither a fruit nor a vegetable. It is the edible flowering bud of a Mediterranean Thistle. Now that you know that, the "leaves" are not really leaves, but called…bracts, which is defined in Webster's Dictionary as "a leaf-like plant part located either below a flower or on the stalk of a flower cluster." This week's PUZZZZLE deals with Spring produce: California grows about 10,000 acres of Artichokes. How many acres does Italy grow? See next week's "Fresh Tips" for the answer.

--KIWIFRUIT: California supplies are ending quickly. Very quickly. Most California fruit will be ripe and ready to eat. In normal years, California growers will have supplies into early May. Not this year. Many growers are already finished, with most California fruit finishing this year by early April, well over a month ahead of normal. Already, early shipments of imported Kiwifruit have hit some East Coast stores. Chilean fruit normally starts this time of year, lasting into late summer. New Zealand fruit will start about a six weeks later, usually in early May, and will last until November when California fruit is back in production. Early imported fruit will certainly be firm and will take an extra few days to ripen. Do not refrigerate this early imported fruit. It would be best to keep it at room temperature. That help the fruit ripen. And keep your Kiwi enclosed in a fruit ripening bowl or a brown paper bag. If you expose Kiwifruit to the open air, that will cause the fruit to dehydrate before it has a chance to ripen.

To celebrate the First Day of Spring, Your Produce Man teamed up with the California Asparagus Commission to air ship gift boxes of jumbo California Asparagus to some of America's biggest stars like Regis, Rush, Jay Leno, David Letterman, the Today Show, Good Morning America, Dr. Laura, Paul Harvey and others. In fact, Paul Harvey tells me, "The best Asparagus I eat comes from you on the first day of Spring." Thanks, Mr. Harvey. Now…Page 2.

--NAVEL ORANGES: Just like Kiwifruit, Navel Oranges from California should be ending about a month ahead of normal. Usually, growers will have fruit right into late May or even early June. This year, growers think they will be finished with their fruit by mid April. This year's Navel Orange crop was down to only about 64 million cartons, mainly due to a bloom drop when record temperatures hit San Joaquin Valley orchards in May. Right during blossom time, there were 7 days of 100 plus degree temperatures. This time of year, we start noticing a little more "dry cell" in the Navel Oranges. You see, citrus fruit is actually made up of hundreds of little, tiny water balloons. Cut an Orange in half, and you can see those tiny water sacks. When you were a kid, and you over filled your water balloon, it would burst. That's exactly what happens to Navel Oranges this time of year. The fruit has been hanging on the tree all year, sucking up juice. Well, those juice sacks in the Orange are full, and are starting to burst, creating the "dry cell." If an Orange feels light for its size, it mostly likely has dry cell.

--MORE FREEZING TEMPERATURES: March is one of the most critical weather watch months for growers. Late Spring frost or freezes can have dramatic affects on produce. Recent freezing temperatures have caused considerable damage to Almond crops. Almond trees are in full bloom, so a frost or freeze can easily wipe out an entire crop. Many Almond growers in the northern San Joaquin Valley are seeing almost a 100% loss to Almond crops. Looking down the San Joaquin Valley, cherry trees are just about ready to "pop blossoms." Other stonefruit trees will follow with blossoming about 2 weeks later, and that will be followed by blossoming from apple and pear trees. Freezing temperatures have also caused damage to desert potato plants in the Imperial Valley. One grower says it's the worst he's seen. Many growers are reporting as much as 50% loss. Once frost hits the plant, the potato stops growing. That certainly won't help with these very high potato prices. Every new growing region that comes into production is just one more region that will help ease the high spud prices. As we move further into Spring, we are going to see even higher prices for potatoes, from russets to reds, whites and yukons. Asparagus plants could be damaged as well if freezing temperatures continue. You see, the spear acts as a conduit, sending the freezing temperatures down into the very crown, or the root of the plant. Growers won't know there is crown damage until later in the season. If spears don't grow from the crown, that's when growers will know there is crown damage.