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Produce News For March 15, 2010

RED POTATOES (Monday, March 15): St. Patrick’s Day is this Wednesday, so I’m getting you ready.  Let’s first talk about the bubbles of bubbles and squeak.  That’s right.  It’s a very popular Irish dish, bubbles and squeak, and this is half of it – the potatoes.  And most everybody uses, of course, red potatoes.  You can tell which growing red potatoes come from.  Red Potatoes grown in a more southern growing region will be little bit lighter red in color and there’s a little less scarring on them.  More northern regions like the Dakotas and Washington – the color will be very dark and there will be a lot more scarring on them because the soil is a lot harder to dig them out.  So, why do they call potatoes the ‘bubbles” of bubbles and squeak?  Because they bubble.  You know, you put them in boiling water…and they bubble.  When you get red potatoes home, I want you to refrigerate them.  Unlike Russet potatoes,  Red Potatoes are loaded with sugar.  If you leave them out at room temperature, the sugars will leave, causing the skin to shrivel and you end up with a flabby red potato.  You don’t want that.  Refrigerate them.

CARROTS (Tuesday, March 16):  You’ve got to have plenty of carrots for your St. Patrick’s Day menu tomorrow.  And of course carrots - one of the cheapest vegetables you can probably buy.  I love to pick out what we call clip top carrots.  Those are the bulk carrots in the produce department, and there’s a couple things I want to look for.  First of all, just look over the color.  They should bright Orange, like neon orange.  The next thing I’m going to look for…is the shape.  Carrots are really interesting roots.  The tap root goes way down into the soil, seeking out water for the carrot.  If you have a very pointed carrot, that means the tap root was growing down quickly, searching for water.  That Carrot is actually under stress, causing a more bitter flavor in the Carrot.  What I look for, is a rounded tip on the Carrot.  These Carrots were less stressed out, which means they will be far sweeter than pointed Carrots. 

CABBAGE (Wednesday, March 17):  What is on your menu today?  St. Patrick’s Day…I hope you’re wearing a little green!  You will need some cabbage for your corned beef.  There are a couple things I want you to think of when you’re thinking of cabbage.  Cabbage loves this time of year.   The  cooler temperatures of the winter and spring actually make for some very sweet tasting cabbage.  One of the things I want you to do is ask your produce manager when the cabbage came in.  How fresh is the Cabbage.  The longer they keep the cabbage, the more they peel it.  And I’ll tell you a secret, the first eight layers of cabbage are always going to be the sweetest cabbage.  So if this cabbage has been around for three or four days in the grocery store already, that means three, four, perhaps five layers have already been taken off to clean it up.  I want it fresh, and I want it sweet. 

LEEKS (Thursday, March 18):  Oh, you know this time of year you’ve got good prices on potatoes, and you’ve got good supplies of leeks this time of year.  I love leeks.  I know, they look like a green onion that’s been grown near a nuclear power plant or maybe a green onion on steroids.  Leeks are one of the best onion family items.  In fact, I have a saying - anything that onions can do, leeks can do better.  One of the things you need to remember about leeks is that you only use the white part.  The more white on the leek, the more usable item you’re going to get.  Also, Leeks are grown in very sandy soil.  If you cut a Leek right down right down the middle., you’re going to most likely find a lot of sand and grit between the layers.  So here’s what I want you to do.  I want you to turn on the faucet at your kitchen sink.  Put your Leeks under the water and carefully rinse out all the layers.  You don’t want any grit in your leek potato soup.  That’s for sure.
ASPARAGUS (Friday, March 19):  Tomorrow is a great day.  Tomorrow is the first official day of spring so let’s talk about the official vegetable of spring.  Absolutely gorgeous…Asparagus!  I call these one of the three things of spring – artichokes, strawberries, and asparagus.  And right now we have asparagus coming from several different growing regions:  the desert of California; Salinas, California; Mexico; Peru; and now just starting the granddaddy of them all, the Delta region of California.  And a couple things I want you to note on your asparagus.  First of all, take a look at the tips.  The Asparagus tips need to be very tight.  Sometimes the tip can become “brushed out.”  Brushed out tips will only turn to mush when you cook them.  Tight tips on your Asparagus.  That’s what you’re looking for.