Last week’s YOUR PRODUCE MAN’S PRODUCE PUZZZZLE still dealt with root vegetables: Is the Carrot a root vegetable? Did you ever wonder what a true "root vegetable" is? Over the past few weeks, we've learned that there are corms, rhizomes, tubers and bulbs. So what are "root" vegetables? These are typically the parts of a plant that grows downward in the soil, and absorbs nutrients and moisture from the soil. They can be "hairlike" or "fleshy" or something in between. True root vegetables would be radishes, parsnips, rutabagas, turnips, salsify, horseradish and, yes, carrots! This week's YOUR PRODUCE MAN’S PRODUCE PUZZZZLE deals with Garlic, which is now being harvested in California: What U.S. city was named after “Garlic?” See next week’s Fresh Tips for the answer.

The diagram for the perfect barbecue corn.

The number 1 rule in food safety: Wash Your Hands!

CORN, FOOD SAFETY (Monday, May 31): We hope that this Memorial Day will be most special. Many men and women, and their families, throughout our nation’s history has made the greatest sacrifice in protecting the freedom and liberties of America. We are grateful and dedicate our lives to the freedom and liberty, which they so valiantly fought and died for. I am sure that today, there will be many picnics around the nation, and corn will be on the menu. Here is the best way of grilling your corn on the cob. Husk it. Then put it on some foil wrap. Put a few pats of butter, an ice cube (to create steam), sprinkle some salt and pepper, some fresh herbs like Parsley. Then tightly wrap the corn cob with the foil. Throw this on the grill. The main thing to remember at any picnic or barbecue is food safety. It should be priority one. Just a couple of things to remember could help keep Aunt Sally from getting sick at your picnic. First, make sure everyone washes their hands before preparing any food and before eating any food. Second, buy lots of ice. It’s cheap. Keep cold things very cold, in an ice chest. Bring the food out for serving, and then put it away again immediately. If you remember the words “wash” and “cold,” you will be a long way ahead in the food safety game.

APPLES (Tuesday, June 1): This time of year, most of the apples we are buying are from controlled-atmosphere rooms from Washington, Michigan or New York. There are some new crop apples being imported from the Southern Hemisphere, particularly New Zealand, Chile, Brazil and South Africa, but still, 95% of the apples in the super market are domestic apples from last year’s crop. These apples have been controlled-atmosphere storage since last September, and are still surprisingly crisp and juicy. A half a century ago, during the summer months, you really couldn’t find a good apple. Apples harvested in September just couldn’t be stored long enough to still be good by June. But then along came Controlled Atmosphere, a miracle room that could keep an apple cold and crisp, juicy and flavorful right on through the summer.

Look at the difference in storage life between the three types of storage. C.A. technology can easily store apples for up to 10 months.

That’s why even during this time of year, 9 months after harvest, the Red and Golden Delicious really are delicious and the Fuji is still fantastic. Controlled-atmosphere is a way of storing the fruit long-term that allows the fruit to stay sweet, juicy and crisp. There are two main types of storage for apples, common storage and CA. Common storage is simply refrigeration. It’s meant to store marginal fruit for a short period of time. The best of the best fruit is placed into longer storage, into controlled atmosphere. If left simply in common storage, you end up with dehydration and shrivel. Shrivel is caused by water loss from the produce during the storage period. The greater the water loss, the greater the reduction in quality and value. A water loss of just 2% of product weight can become noticeable. The longer the storage period, the greater the opportunity for loss of water. Ancient Egyptians learned this secret by placing fruit in limestone crypts. This meant higher humidity in storage. Controlled atmosphere was developed by Cornell University in the 1930s, and finally implemented in the apple industry by the 1950s. It allows an apple to basically stop breathing. All fruits and vegetables breathe. In fact, once they have been harvested, they begin breathing just like people, taking in oxygen and respiring carbon dioxide. The faster a fruit or vegetable respires, the shorter the shelf life. In controlled-atmosphere, the apple is put to sleep, so to speak. That’s why some people in the industry call these controlled atmosphere apples, “sleeping beauties.” Growers generally start opening the CA rooms by late January. Apples from CA storage will be just as crisp and juicy as when they were first put into the CA storage right after harvest. Controlled atmosphere controls the oxygen, carbon dioxide, moisture and temperature levels. This is why we can enjoy crisp apples in the summer, 9 or 10 months after they were harvested. However, once an apple comes out of controlled-atmosphere, it will ripen 8 times faster at room temperature, so be sure to keep apples refrigerated at all times. Therefore, do not set your apples out in a fruit-ripening bowl…not even for a day, unless of course you like mealy apples that taste like sawdust. You must keep them cold and refrigerated. Be wary of apples you buy that have been displayed on non-refrigerated counters. Those apples will be well on their merry way of becoming mealy.

The “Golden Seed of the Sun,” Apricots, ripening in the California sunshine.

APRICOTS (Wednesday, June 2): Apricots most likely originated in China, but today, California grows about 50% of the world’s supply of Apricots, about 90% of the Apricots grown in the United States. Washington grows the rest. Apricots originally hailed from China. Cuttings of this golden fruit made their way across the Persian Empire to the Mediterranean where they flourished. The apricot, Prunus armeniaca, is a member of the rose family, along with peaches, plums, cherries, and almonds. The word apricot comes from the Latin “praecocia” or “praecoquum” meaning "precocious" or "early ripening." It first appeared in English print in 1551. We also get the word “precious” from a derivative of this Latin word. And indeed, the Apricot is precious. Alexander the Great is said to have taken apricots from their native home in China to Greece in the fourth century B.C. The Arabs carried apricots to the Mediterranean, where the apricot became a main crop in Italy for centuries. Franciscan friars took the apricot to America in the late 1800s, where they thrived and found a home in the Golden State. I call the Apricot one of the “Mission Fruits” because it came through the Spanish missionaries like Father Sera. These Spanish explorers and missionaries do get credit for introducing the apricot to the New World, and specifically to California, where they were planted in the gardens of Spanish missions. In 1792, in an area south of San Francisco near San Jose, the first major production of apricots was recorded. Today, there are around 21,000 acres of Apricots being grown in California. There are about 24 varieties that are commercially grown in California. The United States produces 90% of the world's apricot crop, with 90% of the U.S. crop grown in the state of California. The rest is grown in Washington. Growers and scientists are working hard at coming up with new varieties that are larger in size, stay firmer longer while ripe. There was a time when the only way to eat a ripe Apricot was right from the tree. If it wasn’t tree-ripened, it wasn’t worth eating. These newer varieties are a great improvement.

During the early flowering of the apricot, Craig Ledbetter emasculates flowers in preparation for hybridization, the first stage of creating new seedlings in the apricot breeding program.

A girdling treatment applied by geneticist Craig Ledbetter to an Apache apricot branch shortly after bloom will enhance fruit earliness and increase fruit size.

Look for plump apricots with as much golden orange color as possible. Stay clear of fruit that is pale yellow, greenish-yellow, very firm, shriveled, or bruised. Apricots that are soft-ripe have the best flavor, but they must be eaten immediately. Apricots, like other stone fruit, will ripen after harvest. Use the brown paper bag, but you’ve got to be careful with Apricots. They will go from unripe to overripe very quickly. Keep a close eye on them and you will receive your reward. They are a perfect fast food anytime. To cut fruit, slice around its seam, twist it in half, and lift out the pit. Get out the vanilla ice cream. Anyone up for an Apricot Crisp? Fresh ripe apricots are a boon when found, since they do not travel well. The majority of ripe apricot crops are dried, with often less than one-fourth of the harvest coming to the market fresh. Harvest season for apricots in the United States is from June to mid-August depending on variety and location, but dried apricots are available year-round. Most fresh apricots sold to market are picked when not quite mature and still firm to reduce shipping damage. While they will ripen in color, texture and juiciness after being picked, the flavor and sweetness will remain at the same level as when they were picked and will not improve. Apricots range in color from yellow to deep orange, often with red or rosy touches. When selecting fresh apricots, look for fruits with no touch of green whatsoever. The fruits vary in size from about 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 inches in diameter. The flesh should yield to gentle pressure when held in the palm of your hand, and the fruit should have a bright, ripe aroma. Avoid those that are bruised, soft, or mushy. If you are not blessed with an apricot tree and vine-ripened fruit, apricots will continue to ripen if left at room temperature in a paper bag, away from sunlight. Check the ripening progress often as they will quickly deteriorate. They will never achieve the same full sweet flavor as tree-ripened, but will be better than off the shelf. Once ripened, store for no more than a few days in the refrigerator. To freeze, slice apricots in half and remove the pit, which will impart a bitter flavor. Dip in an ascorbic acid solution to discourage discoloration. Place in airtight baggies in the freezer up to three months. With some varieties, the skin will become tough if frozen without blanching first. Simply blanch in boiling water for one minute, plunge into cold water, drain and freeze. Apricots can also be packed in sugar or syrup for freezing and frozen up to one year. If you are planning to dry or can your apricots, be sure you have chosen a freestone variety. With freestone varieties, the flesh will easily separate from the pit. Most apricots in the market are freestone varieties. Sun-dried apricots will be a bit tougher than dehydrated. Dried apricots should be stored in the refrigerator. If stored at temperatures above 75 F., the fruit becomes hard, dark in color, and will lose nutrient value. Sealed bags can be stored no more than one month at room temperature, but up to six months in the refrigerator. If your dried apricots become too brittle, they can be softened by soaking in liquid or by steaming.
Surprisingly, commercial canned apricots often have a much fuller flavor than fresh apricots from the market. This is because the apricots are left on the tree longer to ripen and naturally develop more flavor. The loss of nutrients during the canning process is negligible. Here are some other great ways of using Apricots in your diet:
· Slice them up for fruit salads.
· Purée apricots for sauces. The sauces are especially good on pancakes, desserts, or meat.
· Use apricots whenever a recipe calls for peaches or nectarines.
· Add apricots to your favorite baked desserts.
· Pack them for your lunch, or have them as a snack.
· Add apricots to low fat cottage cheese and your fruit smoothies
· For a great tasting snack when hiking, add dried apricots to your trail mix.
There is a lot of work being done to improve Apricots. The sweet, delicate flavor and enticing aroma of freshly picked apricots make this fruit a spring and early summer favorite. The impressive array of delicious apricots in your supermarket results in part from ongoing research by ARS scientists at two California laboratories. Geneticist Craig A. Ledbetter breeds tasty new apricots. He's based in central California at Parlier—near Fresno. Charles J. Simon, geneticist and research leader, curates the nation's official collection of apricot trees from around the world. He's stationed in northern California at Davis, just outside Sacramento. Ledbetter and colleague Louis Vuittonet recently developed a juicy new apricot they've named "Apache." Its freestone fruit—about average in size—has an attractive pinkish-orange skin. Inside, the orange flesh is smooth and finely textured. Apache ripens earlier than any other ARS-developed apricot. Ready to harvest in the first week of May, luscious Apache apricots are bound to be a hit, "especially with people who've waited all winter for the taste of a tree-ripened apricot," Ledbetter notes. To form fruit, Apache needs pollen from other kinds of apricot trees. But that isn't a problem for growers. Popular apricot varieties like Katy and Castlebrite are excellent sources of pollen for bees to carry to Apache flowers. The researchers are now determining precisely how many of these pollinator trees are needed and how close to Apache they must be planted. Apache ships and stores well and is likely suitable for growing in any state where commercial apricot orchards are already established. It was Ledbetter who crossed, or hybridized, two parent apricots, yielding the first Apache tree. That eventually led to more than a decade of research. During that time, Ledbetter and Vuittonet evaluated hundreds of experimental Apache trees in commercial and research orchards in central California. They scrutinized thousands of individual Apache fruits from those trees. The team made budwood—for grafting—available to breeders and nurseries for the first time last year. Today, budwood is still available seasonally from Ledbetter and also from geneticist Simon at the Davis genebank. Formally known as the National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Fruit and Nut Crops, the genebank is a living collection of plants. It is one of a nationwide network of ARS-managed genebanks that safeguard cultivated plants and their wild relatives for the future. (See related germplasm article on page 20.) These might otherwise be lost when orchards or fields are paved over or when new varieties replace older ones. Treasures at the Davis genebank include apricots from Russia, Poland, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Nepal, Pakistan, South Africa, and about a dozen other countries. Some of these specimens have names as exotic as their origins, like Janjir, Khubani, Chaksa, Min-Dze-Sin, and Luizet. About 150 different kinds of apricot trees are growing in the genebank's orchard. It's located in Winters—a short distance from curator Simon's offices and labs. These trees range in age from only a year to 20 or older. Though the trees could grow to 30 feet, genebank staffers keep them pruned to a more manageable 20 to 25 feet. Most are varieties of Prunus armeniaca, the species most widely planted in the United States. "About five other species of Prunus are thought to be apricots," explains Simon. "Of these, probably the most interesting is the Japanese apricot, P. mume. If you look it up in a gardening book, you'll see it described as 'a flowering ornamental.' Fresh mume fruit are sour, but in Japan they're pickled to eat as a snack." The genebank also includes a backup collection of apricot trees growing in 5-gallon pots inside a fully screened enclosure. "Prunus species tend to be a little bit more delicate," comments Simon, "so they need the protection of our screenhouse." Growers—and breeders such as Ledbetter—use the collection. Along with hobbyist fruit growers and others, they donate new specimens. The genebank is the largest publicly available assemblage of apricots in the United States. Among the genebank's most prized specimens are apricots collected by renowned plant explorer Maxine M. Thompson on her 1988 expedition to Pakistan. Grown from the soft seed that's hidden inside an apricot's tough pit, or stone, the Pakistani fruit is "incredibly sweet," reports Simon. "This helps compensate for the fact that some of the trees have 4-inch thorns that make them a bear to work with." Geneticist Ledbetter, who obtained some of these apricots from the genebank, has found that the Pakistani trees don't thrive in central California's climate. To overcome that problem, he's bred them with hardy California apricots. His work has yielded a new generation of vigorous trees. Their fruit is even sweeter than Apache. Ledbetter expects to have at least one of these super-sweet apricots ready for growers and nurseries within a few years. California growers produce nearly all of this country's apricots. Most are sold as soft, chewy, dried fruit. Others are targeted for fresh-market sale or are canned, frozen, or pureed. Fresh apricots are low in calories and sodium. They provide several essential nutrients, including vitamins A and C. Whether fresh or dried, apricots lend flavor and texture to traditional fare such as jams, coffee cakes, pies, and glazes for grilled or roasted meats. They also add zest to newer cuisine such as apricot-blueberry muffins, southwestern apricot salsa, or warm apricot-onion vinaigrette on chilled chicken salad.

Finally, summer melons, like these Cantaloupes are starting to taste like a summer melon should.

Make sure you use a brush to scrub your Cantaloupe, getting all the dirt out of these nooks and crannies.

CANTALOUPE (Thursday, June 3): There is nothing like an ice cold Cantaloupe on a hot summer day. But before you cut your Cantaloupe and serve it, clean it! Your Produce Man is teaming up with the California Department of Health Services and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to remind you to always wash your melons before you begin to prepare them for serving. Government health officials tell us, "Contamination can occur when a knife cuts through a cantaloupe rind that has not been scrubbed with a brush under cool, running water immediately before eating." They also remind us that your hands should be washed before and after handling the fruit, and that any unused cut fruit should be refrigerated immediately. A few years ago, in late April, Cantaloupe was also implicated in 46 cases of Salmonella poisoning. Pathogens are in dirt, and Cantaloupe is grown in dirt. Salmonella poisoning will most affect the elderly, the young and people who are sick or ill. Eleven of the cases in California were either over 60 or under 5 years of age. "We want people to eat Cantaloupe," says Ken August, public affairs officer for the CDHS. "Cantaloupe is very healthy and good for you. We need to remind consumers of the risk, but not let that message cause fear so that consumers stop eating fresh fruits and vegetables." The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, says that about 95% of all foodborne illnesses are directly related to improper handling, storage and preparation of food. In cooperation with the CDC, CDHS and the USDA, Your Produce Man has four easy tips in handling, preparing and storing cut Cantaloupes:
· Always wash your hands, knives and cutting boards before preparing Cantaloupe.
· Always wash and scrub melons before you cut them. Use a brush to get into all the nooks and crannies.
· Always keep cut melons cold. If on a picnic, keep them on ice, lots of ice.
· Always discard cut melons if they have been left out unrefrigerated for more than three hours.

In Salinas, green grasses on surrounding hillsides, turned brown in record high temperatures, sending insects into the greener lettuce fields below.

LETTUCE (Friday, June 4): We are certainly going to see some supply gaps during this season. And it all has to do with record high temperatures in Salinas, during the month of April. So what do high temperatures way back in April have to do with supply gaps and higher prices today? Whenever you disrupt the planting and early growing of a crop, you also disrupt the harvest schedule. In Salinas, in April, temperatures should be in the upper 70s during the days, perfect for the tender lettuces. However, this year, April became the hottest April on record in Salinas, with temperatures blasting the early lettuce fields with temperatures more than 20 degrees above normal. That kind of growing condition will push the fields into early production. Those early crops tend to be 90-day crops from planting to harvest. But many growers we spoke to were harvesting within 80 days, almost two weeks ahead of schedule. Lettuce that was scheduled to be harvested this week, was harvested well before Memorial Day. Being ahead of schedule may be fine for that time, but you always end up paying the piper because later in the season, you end up with a harvest gap, which leads to the supply gap and higher prices. Also, you may find more insects in this early lettuce. Since hot temperatures came early, that turned the grass on surrounding hillsides brown. Insects in those grasses then began looking for greener pastures, which they found in the lettuces down in the valley. The insect populations dramatically increased. It takes a while for growers to get a handle on those insects, so until then, we may find more super tiny insects in the lettuce and other vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower. Not to worry. Simply rinse your vegetables in ice cold water. Also, squeeze some lemon juice into the rinse water. The acidity from the lemon will shock the insects, causing them to release their grip on the vegetable.

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