Produce News for December 15, 2008

TURNIP GREENS (Monday, December 15):  Hey, you know this week 1939 it was a huge movie debut in all the movie theaters across America.  You know, it was Rhett Butler and Scarlet O’Hara in “Gone with the Wind” – one of the best movie epics around!  But you know there was a produce item mentioned in that movie.  Maybe you remember.  It was Scarlet O’Hara who said, “If it was not for turnip greens, we all would have starved during the war.”  Well, turnip greens – very, very popular especially during the winter season especially around New Year’s Day, very popular in many parts of the country - any greens actually, but I particularly love turnip greens because it’s like two vegetables in one.  You’ve got these cut little baby turnips down there – so tender, so good - and I just basically, when I get this home, I actually just chop those right on off.    That’s the first thing that I’m going to cook is these beautiful turnips right down here.  The next thing, I’m going to cook these greens.  Any way you like greens…you can boil them with ham hocks if you want.  I love them sautéed with some garlic and shallots.  Ah! Put them next to a steak. 

CUT FRUITS AND VEGETABLES (Tuesday, December 16)  Hey, you know William “the Refrigerator” Perry turns…has a birthday this week, so I thought I’d as the question, “What is in your refrigerator?”  May I suggest first of all – go take a look.  Do an inventory of your refrigerator.   Then the second question, as you’re looking in your refrigerator, I want you to be checking out something - How many fruits and vegetables do I have in my refrigerator that are cut and ready to eat.  None?  You’ve got to prepare them all?  Well, here’s a trick that I do especially in our home.  The little Marks brothers are four and six years old, then Claire who is 12.  We have one rule in our home when it comes to eating.  You can eat anything you want and you don’t have to ask any permission as long as it’s a fruit or vegetable. They don’t have to ask permission, but if they want a cookie or something else, of course they have to ask permission.  So in our refrigerator we have tons of fresh cut fruits and vegetables ready for the kids to eat at any time.  It’s a healthy way of getting your kids to eat healthier.

FRESH HERBS (Wednesday, December 17):  Hey, 1903 this week the Wright brothers were at Kitty Hawk, and they were flying.  Well, you know this time of year are your dinners flying?  I mean are they flying culinary style?  Well, one of the reasons they may not be flying with your guests or family is maybe you’re using some of the wrong ingredients.  May I suggest during the holiday season at least this time of year I want you to try something.  Go to the store and get some fresh herbs.  Now many fresh herbs this time of year…of course, thyme, this beautiful thyme right here, and sage, and rosemary.  Of course you have to have some rosemary if you’re going to have any meat.  But anyway, a lot of stores actually have this pack.  It’s a fresh herb pack for the fresh herbs you need this time of year.  I absolutely love it.  Now when you are picking out fresh herbs one of the the things I encourage you to do – if it comes in a package like this, here’s what I want you to do.  Just open it up and sniff at it.  Man, if those smells of those fresh herbs just jump out at you, those are some really fresh fresh herbs.  Take those home and try them this holiday season. 

SHALLOTS (Thursday, December 18):  Hey, this very day 1956 – “To Tell the Truth” – great t.v. game show started on television.  So I have something for you.  It’s called “To Tell the Truth.”  I want you to honestly tell the truth.  Come real close.  Take a look at these.  These are called shallots.  Now tell the truth.  Have you ever even tried them.  Raise your hands.  Oh, a few of you have.  Some of you have not.  But yes, you have walked by them probably a hundred million times down the produce aisle (they’re in the onion section generally) and you probably walked by and said, “What in the world are those?”  These are shallots originally from France.  That’s why some of them are called a French shallot or a French hybrid shallot, but these have become one of the most popular items with today’s chef whether it’s in Maine or Texas or California or Washington.  Shallots are what make a meal so fantastic.   So if you want some holiday meals that are fantastic this year, for the first time in your life, tell the truth, I want you to try some shallots.

CRANBERRIES (Friday, December 19):  Hey, this weekend, actually Sunday the 21st, it was the day the Pilgrims landed from the Mayflower – well, not recently.  It was back in 1620, and in the winter of 1620 those pilgrims were walking along, you know, the beaches there in Massachusetts and they saw these vines growing along the sand dunes and they said, “What in the world are those vines?”  Well, nobody had a clue.  They had never seen them before.  So they waited until next spring.  Well, next spring they walk out to those sand dunes, and those vines had this gorgeous flower on them.  They were flowering, and the flower looked exactly like the head and neck of a bird they called a crane.  A sand hill crane you may know, but a bird called a crane.   Well, that’s what the flower looked like.  So the Pilgrims in 1621 named this fruit for the very first time.  They called it a “craneberry”.  We eventually dropped the “e” and we just now call them cranberries.  And I hope you have plenty of them for your holiday meals coming up, and ask around the table, “Hey, do you know how the cranberry got its name?”