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| Last week’s YOUR PRODUCE MAN’S PRODUCE PUZZZZLE still dealt with Avocados: Do you pronounce the "Hass" avocado like "pass" or like "toss?" Many people pronounce the Hass Avocado as "toss." However, the Hass avocado is named after Rudolph Hass, a La Habra Heights postal worker who patented the variety in 1935. This variety accounts for about 95% of the avocados grown in California. Rudolph’s parents immigrated from Germany, where their name was spelled “Haas” and pronounced as “toss.” However, when they arrived in the U.S., they wanted to Americanize their name, so they spelled it “Hass” and began pronouncing it as in “pass.” It’s always polite to properly pronounce a person’s name, so pronounce the Hass Avocado as in “pass.” This week's YOUR PRODUCE MAN’S PRODUCE PUZZZZLE deals with Sweet Potatoes: What is the difference between a Sweet Potato and a Yam? See next week's "Fresh Tips" for the answer. |
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POPEYE SPINACH (Monday, November 8): Yesterday, the Reverand Billy Graham turned 86. Perhaps one of the reasons he stayed strong for so long, was his love for Greens, particularly Spinach. He loved Spinach and hamhocks. Popeye the Sailor also has a birthday this year. He is celebrating his 75th anniversary this year, and has become one of the most recognizable icons of the 20th century. Although he eats a lot of spinach to stay strong, if you ask him, he’ll tell you, “I hates me spinach.” Popeye’s first public appearance was January 17, 1929, in Elzie Segar’s comic strip named “Thimble Theatre.” In 1933, Popeye made his big screen debut in a Betty Boop cartoon named “Popeye the Sailor.” “Popeye Spinach” from River Ranch, has become the leader is fresh packaged Spinach. And why not? They do all the cleaning. Not just once, but twice. Not just twice, but three times. That’s right. Triple-washed Spinach…so you don’t have to. About 75% of American women under the age of 50 are iron deficient. Consuming citrus foods like grapefruit and grapefruit juice can help boost the absorption of non-heme iron (the iron found in plants—not meat products). What this means is that if you drink a glass of grapefruit juice before you eat a spinach salad – your body absorbs two to four times as much iron. This is great news for young women, female athletes and vegetarians – all susceptible to iron deficiencies. Spinach is a powerhouse of nutrition, the 4th most nutritious vegetable grown on planet earth. It also happens to be California Gov. Arnold Schwarzengger’s favorite vegetable. Gov. Schwarzenegger eats a lot of Spinach still today. “Growing up in Austria,” he told us, “we ate a lot of Spinach and Tomatoes.” Perhaps California’s healthiest Governor can also persuade more kids to get healthier and fit, by eating more Spinach.
PINEAPPLE (Tuesday, November 9): The holiday season is just around the corner, so let’s talk Pineapple today. The Spanish probably took Pineapple to Hawaii, sometime in the 1700s. The Pineapple most like originated in tropical Brazil. In 1901, James Drummond Dole ventured to Hawaii with $1000 in his pocket and with college degrees in Agriculture and Business. The Dole Pineapple Company was formed and for the next century, Hawaii was the tropical paradise for Pineapples. The islands of Maui and Oahu lead Hawaii in Pineapple production. In the 1980s, when land prices in Hawaii went through the roof as many Japanese buyers began purchasing properties. With high real estate prices come high insurance costs for land. Thousands of acres of Pineapple began shifting from Hawaii to Costa Rica, where land prices were much cheaper. Today, Costa Rica ranks second in exports of Pineapple to the United States. Right now, we are seeing some of the best supplies of Pineapple from Hawaii, some of the best quality in several years. Celebrate the holidays early: Go buy and eat…a Pineapple…today.
HACHIYA PERSIMMON (Wednesday, November 10): In honor of my mom, I once again take a look at the pretty Persimmon. My mom made the best Persimmon cookies on the face of the planet. My mom died two years ago, so to honor her memory, let’s talk Persimmon. There are two main types. The flat Fuyu variety is the one eaten out of hand, just as you would an apple or a pear. The pointed Hachiya variety is the one I want you to get. These are the ones used for baking. Now, they need to be fully ripened before you use them. They are so astringent, that even Daffy Duck from “Looney Tunes” says, “Pucker up for a Persimmon…” They do indeed, make you pucker…if you eat an unripe Hachiya. To ripen your Hachiya, simply place them single layered in a cushioned box. Then just put them out in your garage, covered with a newspaper. The cold night temperatures will perfectly ripen your Persimmons. When they feel like a water balloon, they are ready for baking cookies, breads, puddings, anything Persimmon. The oriental persimmon is native to China, where it has been cultivated for centuries and more than two thousand different cultivars exist. It spread to Korea and Japan many years ago where additional cultivars were developed. The plant was introduced to California in the mid 1800's. The tree is native to Japan, China, Burma and the Himalayas and Khasi Hills of northern India. In China it is found wild at altitudes up to 6,000-8,000 ft (1,830-2,500 m) and it is cultivated from Manchuria southward to Kwangtung. Early in the 14th Century, Marco Polo recorded the Chinese trade in persimmons. Korea has long-established ceremonies that feature the persimmon. Culture in India began in the Nilgiris. The tree has been grown for a long time in North Vietnam, in the mountains of Indonesia above 3,500 ft (1,000 m) and in the Philippines. It was introduced into Queensland, Australia, about 1885. It has been cultivated on the Mediterranean coast of France, Italy, and other European countries, and in southern Russia and Algeria for more than a century. The first trees were introduced into Palestine in 1912 and others were later brought in from Sicily and America. Seeds first reached the United States in 1856 when they were sent from Japan by Commodore Perry. Grafted trees were imported in 1870 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and distributed to California and the southern states. Other importations were made by private interests until 1919. Seeds, cuttings, budwood and live trees of numerous types were brought into the United States at various times from 1911 to 1923 by government plant explorers and the tree has been found best adapted to central and southern California, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, southeastern Virginia, and northern Florida. A few specimens have been grown in southern Maryland, eastern Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan and Oregon. By 1930, California had over 98,000 bearing trees and nearly 97,000 non-bearing, on 3,000 acres (1,214 ha). California production in 1965 amounted to 2,100 tons. Real estate development reduced persimmon groves to 540 acres by 1968. In 1970, California produced 1,600 tons–92% of the total U.S. crop.
CINNAMON PERSIMMON (Thursday, November 11): These are also known as “Hyakume” or “Howard’s Amagaki,” but is mostly marketed as the “Cinnamon Persimmon,” named because of its sweet flavor, but with a flesh that has dark speckling inside, reminiscent of cinnamon. This Cinnamon Persimmon is prized throughout Asia as “goma.” Properly ripened and “cured,” these Persimmons will have very little tannin, which is often associated with regular persimmons. The Cinnamon Persimmon is a great salad item. Most of this fruit is grown in California, and most by one man, an 80-year-old man who first brought seeds over with him from his ancestral home in Japan. Most are grown in California’s Gold Country, the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. By the way, can you say “Cinnamon Persimmon” five times, fast?
CRANBERRIES (Friday, November 12): Did you know that there are 440 cranberries in one pound? 4,400 cranberries in one gallon of juice? 440,000 cranberries in a 100-pound barrel? Seven of 10 cranberries sold in the world today come from Ocean Spray, a grower cooperative started in 1930. If you strung all the cranberries produced in North America last year, they would stretch from Boston to Los Angeles more than 565 times. Growers are finished harvesting this season. Contrary to popular belief, cranberries do not grow in water. They are grown on sandy bogs or marshes. Because cranberries float, some bogs are flooded when the fruit is ready for harvesting. If all the cranberry bogs in North America were put together, they would comprise an area equal in size to the tiny island of Nantucket, off Massachusetts, approximately 47 square miles. There are only four fruits, which are truly native to America. The American Crab Apple, the Blueberry, Concord Grape and the berry of the holiday season, the Cranberry. Legend has it that the Pilgrims may have served cranberries at the first Thanksgiving in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. A recipe for cranberry sauce first appeared in The Pilgrim Cookbook in 1633 and forty-four years later, ten bushels were sent back to King Charles II of England. Revolutionary War veteran Capt. Henry Hall from Cape Cod noticed that abundant amounts of large fruit were produced when winds and tides swept sand into the cranberry bog. Sand stifled weed growth without hurting the vines. Hall mimicked nature, creating the bogs of today along Cape Cod. He began commercial harvesting in 1847. Native Americans, long before the Pilgrims arrived in 1620, mixed deer meat and mashed cranberries to make pemmican - a convenience food that kept for long periods of time.
They also believed that cranberries had medicinal value, and were used by medicine men as an ingredient in poultices to draw poison from arrow wounds. Cranberry juice was a natural dye for rugs, blankets and clothing. The Delaware Indians in New Jersey used the cranberry as a symbol of peace. Cranberries have had a variety of different names since their discovery. Eastern Indians called them "sassamanesh." Cape Cod Pequots and the South Jersey Leni-Lenape tribes named them "ibimi," or bitter berry. The Algonquins of Wisconsin called the fruit "atoqua." But it wasn't until German and Dutch settlers came up with "crane berry," because the vine blossoms resembled the neck, head and bill of a crane, that we arrive at what we know today as the cranberry. Cranberries are unlike any other fruit in the world. From Cape Cod to Washington State, the cranberry has played a role in holiday culture and family health & wellness for years. Its unique health benefits and refreshing, tart taste put it in a league of its own when it comes to healthy refreshment. American recipes containing cranberries date from the early 18th Century. Legend has it that the Pilgrims may have served cranberries at the first Thanksgiving in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. During World War II, American troops required about one million pounds of dehydrated cranberries a year. The hearty cranberry vine thrives in conditions that would not support most other crops: acid soil, few nutrients and low temperatures, even in summer. Epidemiological evidence has long supported the role of naturally occurring anti-cancer agents in fruits and vegetables in reducing the risk of many diseases, including cancers and heart disease.
A variety of compounds produced by plants, such as flavonoids, have been investigated for their anti-cancer activity. Cranberries are a rich source of these compounds, which may have anti-cancer activity. Other research being presented at Experimental Biology continues to support the potential benefit of cranberry juice in protecting against cholesterol oxidation. Last year, The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science issued a report calling for increases in daily intake of the antioxidant vitamins C and E to exploit their role in maintaining good health. New research supports a potentially broader range of benefits for fighting bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella enteritidis, as well as E. coli. For cranberries destined for the fresh market, these berries are hand harvested with a “mower.” These berries are then taken to the packing shed where they are dumped into a “ladder.” Each ladder rung is 6” tall. As the cranberries fall down the ladder, if they “jump” over the series of 6” rungs and make it to the bottom, those berries pass the ladder test and end up in bags for the fresh market. These “ladders” made of wood and are over 100 years old. When asked why they use such old equipment, an Ocean Spray spokesperson told us, “We only use them once a year…for about 4 weeks. They don’t get a lot of wear and tear."
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