Last week’s YOUR PRODUCE MAN’S PRODUCE PUZZZZLER still dealt with a famous Spring produce item: If it took one person one minute to pick one pint basket of Strawberries, how long would it take that one person to pick this year’s Strawberry crop in California? This year, Strawberry growers expect to harvest around 85 million flats of Strawberries this year. With 12 baskets per flat, that’s a little over 1 billion baskets. At one basket per minute, it would take one person a little over…1,940 years to pick this year’s crop of Strawberries grown in California. Since we are moving quickly into Spring produce, this week’s YOUR PRODUCE MAN’S PRODUCE PUZZZZLER still deals with Strawberries: In the 1880s, what was the first variety name of Strawberry to be commercially grown? OK, we’ll give you hint: Think Walt Disney. See next week’s Fresh Tips for the answer.

The tempting Passion Fruit may look strange, but those who love it, love it with passion.

Missionaries in Brazil noticed this pretty flower during Lent and Easter, so they called it the Passion Fruit.

PASSION FRUIT (Monday, March 29): This is Passion Week, the week before Holy Week. “The Passion of Christ” has grabbed America’s attention. Well, there is a fruit named after the Passion of Christ. The purple passion fruit is native from southern Brazil through Paraguay to northern Argentina. It has been stated that the yellow form is of unknown origin, or perhaps native to the Amazon region of Brazil, or is a hybrid between P. edulis and P. ligularis. Cytological studies have not borne out the hybrid theory. In Australia the purple passion fruit was flourishing and partially naturalized in coastal areas of Queensland before 1900. In Hawaii, seeds of the purple passion fruit, brought from Australia, were first planted in 1880 and the vine came to be popular in home gardens. The passion fruit is a native of tropical America and was noted by the Spanish in Brazil in the 1500's. There are more than 400 species of which at least 50 or more are edible. The passion fruit is so named because parts of the flowers resemble the crucifixion of Christ, not due to any aphrodisiac capabilities. Early Spanish missionaries saw the passion flower during Lent and Easter. They named it in honor of the passion of Christ. When these first Christian missionaries landed in South America in the sixteenth century, this plant seemed to be a very good omen for the success of their mission. This passion flower was used to teach the people about the death of Christ. The five sepals and five petals of the flower, which are similar in appearance, represent the disciples without Peter and Judas. The double row of colored filaments, known as the corona, signifies to some the halo around Christ's head and to others the crown of thorns. The five stamens and the three spreading styles with their flattened heads symbolize the wounds and the nails respectively. The tendrils resemble the whips used to scourge Christ and the lobed leaves look similar to the clutching hands of the soldiers. The two main commercial varieties are Passiflora edulis L. a purple fruit and P. edulis f. flavicarpa a yellow variety. Australia is the largest single market for passion fruit and the bulk is used for blending with other juices and in soft drinks. Native to Brazil, passion fruit is the edible fruit of the passion flower. A

Passion Fruit growing in New Zealand.

tropical plant native to Brazil it is also grown in California, Hawaii, Florida, and Australia. The most common variety has an egg shape. It has a deep-purple skin and a soft, golden flesh generously punctuated with tiny, edible black seeds. The flavor is sweet and tart. The fruit is small and round, the size of a large egg, with wrinkled, red, yellow, or purple-brown skin, yellow flesh and many small black edible seeds. The pulp has an intense aromatic flavor, while the texture is jelly-like and watery. The flavor is likened to a guava. The purple Passion Fruit is native from southern Brazil through Paraguay to northern Argentina. It has been stated that the yellow form is of unknown origin, or perhaps native to the Amazon region of Brazil, or is a hybrid between P. edulis and P. ligularis (q.v.). Cytological studies have not borne out the hybrid theory. Speculation as to Australian origin arose through the introduction of seeds from that country into Hawaii and the mainland United States by E.N. Reasoner in 1923. Seeds of a yellow-fruited form were sent from Argentina to the United States Department of Agriculture in 1915 (S.P.I. No. 40852) with the explanation that the vine was grown at the Guemes Agricultural Experiment Station from seeds taken from fruits purchased in Covent Garden, London. Some now think the yellow is a chance mutant that occurred in Australia. However, E.P. Killip, in 1938, described P. edulis in its natural range as having purple or yellow fruits. Brazil has long had a well-established Passion Fruit industry with large-scale juice extraction plants. The purple Passion Fruit is there preferred for consuming fresh; the yellow for juice processing and the making of preserves. In Australia, the purple Passion Fruit was flourishing and partially naturalized in coastal areas of Queensland before 1900. Its cultivation, especially on abandoned banana plantations, attained great importance and the crop was considered relatively disease-free and easily managed. Then, about 1943, a widespread invasion of Fusarium wilt killed the vines and forced the undertaking of research to find fungus-resistant substitutes. It was discovered that the neglected yellow Passion Fruit is both wilt-and nematode-resistant and does not sucker from the roots. It was adopted as a rootstock and plants propagated by grafting were soon made available to planters in Queensland and northern New South Wales. The Australian taste is strongly prejudiced in favor of the purple Passion Fruit and growers have been reluctant to relinquish it altogether. Only in the last few decades have they begun to adopt hybrids of the purple and yellow which have shown some ability to withstand the serious virus disease called "woodiness". New Zealand, in the early 1930's, had a small but thriving purple Passion Fruit industry in Auckland Province but in a few years the disease-susceptibility of this type brought about its decline. Good local marketing and export prospects have brought about a revival of efforts to control infestations and increase acreage, mostly in the Bay of Plenty region. Today, fruits and juice are exported. A profitable purple Passion Fruit industry has developed also in New Guinea. Today, New Zealand is still a main supplier of fresh Passion Fruit to the United States. Domestically, Passion Fruit is grown just south of Santa Barbara, California.

It started with a professor in Hawaii trying to figure out what to do with 5 acres of Passion Fruit. It ended with this little guy asking, “Heh, how about a nice Hawaiian Punch?”

Berries with Passion Fruit Sauce.

How do you know when Passion Fruit is ripe and ready? It’s real simple: When it’s wrinkled, it’s ripe.

PASSION FRUIT (Tuesday, March 30): “How about a nice Hawaiian Punch?” Remember that television ad line from the 1960s? Then that tropically dressed little guy would punch the unsuspecting person and dance off singing, “Fruit juicy, fruit juicy, Hawaiian Punch. Wasn’t that a refreshing commercial?” The punch in Hawaiian Punch…is the Passion Fruit. In Hawaii, seeds of the purple Passion Fruit, brought from Australia, were first planted in 1880 and the vine came to be popular in home gardens. It quickly became naturalized in the lower forests and, by 1930, could be found wild on all the islands of the Hawaiian chain. In the 1940's, a Mr. Haley attempted to market canned Passion Fruit juice in a small way but the product was unsatisfactory and his effort was terminated by World War II. A processor on Kauai produced a concentrate in glass jars and this project, though small, proved successful. In 1951, when Hawaiian Passion Fruit plantings totaled less than 5 acres, the University of Hawaii chose this fruit as the most promising crop for development and undertook to create an industry based on quick-frozen Passion Fruit juice concentrate. From among Mr. Haley's vines, choice strains of yellow Passion Fruit were selected. These gave four times the yield of the purple Passion Fruit and had a higher juice content. By 1958, 1,200 acres (486 ha) were devoted to yellow Passion Fruit production and the industry was firmly established on a satisfactory economic level. Hawaiian Punch was born. An egg-shaped tropical fruit that is also called a purple granadilla, the passion fruit has a brittle, wrinkled purple-brown rind enclosing flesh-covered seeds, something like a pomegranate (granadilla means "little pomegranate" in Spanish). The seeds are edible so you can eat the orange pulp straight from the shell. Passion fruit is more commonly sieved and its highly aromatic pulp and juice are used as a flavoring for beverages and sauces. Native to Brazil, passion fruits are grown in Hawaii, Florida, and California. These crops, along with imports from New Zealand, keep passion fruit on the market all year. Choose large, heavy fruits. If the skin is not deeply wrinkled, keep the fruit at room temperature until it is; the leathery rind, however, will not soften much. Ripe passion fruit can be refrigerated for a few days. Passion fruit juice is a good source of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and carotenoids (vitamin A). One passion fruit has 16 calories. It is rich-flavored and strongly, but pleasantly aromatic. The undiluted juice is highly concentrated but is an excellent additive to other fruit juices, or it may be drunk as an ade if water and sugar are added. The juice makes an excellent jelly, pie filling or cake frosting. Seeds with the surrounding juice sacs are often added to fruit salads in Australia. Fruit of the purple passion fruit (sweeter and less acid than the yellow) may be eaten by itself, seeds and all. Juice of the giant granadilla has a milder flavor than that of the others and is used in confections or drinks. Its melon like, edible flesh also can be pulverized and used in pies. Passion fruit is ripe when skin is old-looking; mold does not affect quality and can be wiped off. Choose large, heavy, firm fruit with a deep-purple color. Passion Fruit is ripe and at its most flavorful when the skin is old and blistered. If there is a little mold on the outside just wipe it off. Store fruit in the refrigerator up to 5 days. The fruit is of easy preparation. One needs only cut it in half lengthwise and scoop out the seedy pulp with a spoon. Cut fruit in half and scoop out pulp with a spoon. Spoon the pulp over ice cream or other soft fruits. The pulp makes a delicious jam or jelly and the seeds add a unique crunchy texture. To remove seeds: Strain in a non-aluminum sieve, or use cheesecloth, squeezing to extract the juice. For home use, Australians do not trouble to remove the seeds but eat the pulp with cream and sugar or use it in fruit salads or in beverages, seeds and all. Elsewhere it is usually squeezed through two thicknesses of cheesecloth or pressed through a strainer to remove the seeds. Mechanical extractors are, of course, used industrially. The resulting rich juice, which has been called a natural concentrate, can be sweetened and diluted with water or other juices (especially orange or pineapple), to make cold drinks. In South Africa, Passion Fruit juice is blended with milk and an alginate; in Australia the pulp is added to yogurt. After primary juice extraction, some processors employ an enzymatic process to obtain supplementary "secondary" juice from the double juice sacs surrounding each seed. The high starch content of the juice gives it exceptional viscosity. To produce a free flowing concentrate, it is desirable to remove the starch by centrifugal separation in the processing operation. Passion Fruit juice can be boiled down to a syrup which is used in making sauce, gelatin desserts, candy, ice cream, sherbet, cake icing, cake filling, meringue or chiffon pie, cold fruit soup, or in cocktails. The seeded pulp is made into jelly or is combined with pineapple or tomato in making jam. The flavor of Passion Fruit juice is impaired by heat preservation unless it is done by agitated or "spin" pasteurization in the can. The frozen juice can be kept without deterioration for 1 year at 0º F (-17.78º C) and is a very appealing product. The juice can also be "vacuum-puff" dried or freeze-dried. Swiss processors have marketed a Passion Fruit-based soft drink called "Passaia" for a number of years in Western Europe. Costa Rica produces a wine sold as "Parchita Seco."

This time of year, your Navel Orange can get dry cell.

Citrus is made up of hundreds of tiny water balloons.

NAVEL ORANGES (Wednesday, March 31): Today, former Vice-President Al Gore is celebrating his 56th birthday. Now, there are actually some people that think Al Gore has a pretty dry humor. Well, I don’t know about that, but this time of year, you can find some pretty dry Navel Oranges. In the produce industry, we call it “dry cell.” You see, citrus is made up of hundreds of tiny water balloons. As the citrus stays on the tree throughout the season, more juice is going into the citrus. Well, what if the balloons are full? Adding more juice simply causes those “water balloons” to burst. When you get enough of them bursting, you end up with dry cell. As soon as you cut the Orange in half, you can see the dry cell. It looks like the inside is very pithy. To avoid Navel Oranges with dry cell, feel the orange in your hand. If it feels heavy for its size, that means there is a lot of juice inside. But if the orange feels very light for its size, then there is less juice, and most likely dry cell. You can’t tell by just looking at the orange. You’ve got to feel the orange. Some years, we can find dry cell not only at the end of the season, but around December or January. That’s when the San Joaquin Valley in California can get freezing temperatures. When water freezes, it expands. So, those little water balloons can burst, once again causing dry cell.

It’s not a cocktail drink, but a Cocktail Grapefruit.

COCKTAIL GRAPEFRUIT (Thursday, April 1): You’ve probably heard of a Grapefruit Cocktail, but have you heard of a Cocktail Grapefruit? It’s a new variety you’re starting to see in the supermarkets. Actually, it’s not new. It was first developed in 1966 at the University of California at Riverside. It’s a cross between a Pumelo and a sweet orange, actually a Frua Mandarin sweet orange. What you end up with is a very sweet, very low acidic Grapefruit. So why has it taken so long for this Grapefruit to get out to the consumer? Well, farmers were mainly growing it for themselves and their friends. Actually, because this Grapefruit is so sweet and delicate, it was very tough to ship, but with better packing technology and better trucking, we can now start enjoying this really cool Cocktail Grapefruit. It has a white flesh with some seeds. Here’s a Cocktail not in a glass, but in a Grapefruit.

If something goes wrong in the compost mushrooms grow in, then the crop can be ruined.

MUSHROOMS (Friday, April 2): Commercial mushrooms grow in specially formulated and processed compost made from wheat straw, hay, corncobs, cottonseed hulls, gypsum and chicken manure. Straw bedding from horse farms, or baled straw, protein meal, gypsum and water are mixed together and kept outdoors to be biochemically converted into the preliminary food source for the mushroom by the tremendous heat naturally evolved. The 3 to 4 week long composting period is closely supervised and managed to assure that the composting temperatures exceed 160°F for a few days in addition to a steam pasteurization. Well, if the straw is bad, or something goes wrong with compost, growers won’t know until they start looking at the crop. By then, it’s too late. Overheated compost can burn the spores, which ruins the crop. Bad compost in both California and Canada caused some mushroom beds to be destroyed, which has caused some pro-rating of supplies. Growers say supplies should be normal soon.

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