Produce News for Week of December 28th, 2009
HAWKEYE/RED DELICIOUS APPLES (Monday, December 28): 1846 was the year this very date Iowa became the 29th state in the Union, so we are celebrating their statehood today with the most popular apple found anywhere in the world and it’s right here. This is called the Hawkeye apple. Oh, you thought I was going to say the red delicious. Oh, no. This is called the Hawkeye apple. That’s what it was known as back in Peru, Iowa, where this was found in an orchard, a farm there. It took about 30 years before they finally changed the name to red delicious, but for years this was known as the Hawkeye apple. This is indeed the red delicious. Hey, since you’re really close here and you’re looking really close, I want to show you something. This is the only apple on the face of the planet that has five distinct bumps on the top of the apple. That’s why we call this the king of apples because it’s the only one that has a crown. Right? Now, since you’re here…the bigger the bumps, the sweeter the red delicious apple. I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Takes Bite) Mmm.
BING CHERRIES (Tuesday, December 29): New Year’s weekend coming up and you want a fancy healthy snack. Your Produce Man is here on time. Take a look at that – beautiful cherries. Oh, you don’t want to look at the box, do you? You actually want to take a look at what’s inside? Holy Toledo! Okay, let me lift the carton. Let me peek in here. We’re going to peek in here. Come really close. Let’s take a look at these. Ooh, they’re…Oh, man, just looking in here. I look at the color. The over…look at the color in this bag. Let me go ahead and pour some of these out so we can actually look (Gasp) Look at those gorgeous cherries. Look how shiny they are. Look at the stems. That’s the first thing I’m looking for. Look how green those stems are. That tells me how fresh they are. Look how shiny they are. There’s no dehydration. No shriveling at all in these beautiful Bing cherries. Those are fresh cherries. Oh, you want to know how they taste. I just happen to know the person to try that. (Takes bite) Ahh, crunchy, sweet, and juicy just like a Bing is supposed to be. I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Takes Bite) Mmmm.
JICAMA (Wednesday, December 30): Hey, “Let’s Make a Deal” – 1963 this very day – it began. So let’s make a deal. I’ll give you a hundred dollars if you have a jicama in your purse. Ha ha. What? You don’t’ even know what a jicama is? It’s right here. It’s that brown tuber that you’ve probably walked by a hundred times in the grocery store and this is it. And you say, “Whoa! That thing’s ugly! And what do I do with it?” Let me show you what you do with it. You make jicama sticks out of it. Take a look at those. In fact, if you are looking for a healthy alternative snack for this holiday season, for the New Year’s weekend, may I suggest some jicama sticks? There’s a couple reasons why. First of all, they are very, very sweet and ju…You wouldn’t think this is a vegetable. Your kids will think, “Is this a fruit, Mom, Dad?” It’s cause they’re so sweet. And number two, they’re crispy, very crispy. And number three – they are so juicy. They grow in the desert region of Mexico so they like suck up all the moisture so they’re extremely juicy. They’re called jicamas, and if you have one, you’ll be happy too. I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Takes Bite) Mmmm.
CELERY (Thursday, December 31): Alright. It’s New Year’s Eve, and you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Okay, I’ve got to finalize my New Year’s Eve resolution.” And I hope part of that New Year’s resolution is not so much a diet but just to live a healthier lifestyle. Part of that healthier lifestyle is eating a little bit healthier, and may I suggest you add just one vegetable? I’m not going to tell you go all out, you know, go to the moon on this. I’m just telling you -add one vegetable to your snacking diet. What? You don’t snack? I don’t believe you. I know we all snack. We all have snack attacks. May I suggest you always have some celery sticks in your refrigerator, not just for you but for the kids and the grandkids. So buy a little bit more celery. That’s right, a little bit more celery. And make sure you cut them up as soon as you get them home and put them in a Tupperware and put them in the refrigerator. And that way when you have that snack attack…Look, celery is the original snack food, helathy diet food. You know why? It actually takes more calories to burn in your body than you take in. It is indeed a diet. I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Takes Bite) Mmm.
SUGAR SNAP PEAS (Friday, January 1): Happy New Year! I hope you’re going to have a terrific new year. I hope your night last night was fantastic. And you know I wanted to talk a little bit about just living a little bit healthier, you know. I wanted to talk about that this week, and one of the things I want to do is I want you to add another vegetable into your diet, especially your snacking diet. Here’s one right here. Now there’s two different types of peas. This flat one here is called a snow pea. You know that. It’s just a Chinese pea or a snow pea. But they have crossed that with an English pea to come up with this one here. It kind of looks the same but a little bit fatter, has more peas in it, big ole peas in it. And this is called a sugar snap pea. There’s a couple reasons they call it a sugar snap pea. First of all, they’re very sweet like sugar. Snap because they are very crispy. So if you want to add just another vegetable into your diet through the course of the year for your snacking for you, your kids, your grandkids, may I suggest snap peas as we start this new year? If you’ve never tried them, it’d be a good time to try them. I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Take bite) Mmm.
Search
