Produce News for Week of July 26, 2010

MICK JAGGER AND APPLES (Monday, July 26): Hey, Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones turns sixty-seven years old this week, and you know before every concert Mick Jagger eats one apple. That’s right, one apple before every concert, and there is actually a reason why. It’s not just because he likes apples…there’s a reason why. Because apples, apples have same exact pH level as our mouth so when you eat an apple…like let’s say you’re going for an interview and you’re like really nervous, and man, I go cotton breath…a there cotton mouth. It’s just terrible. Eat an apple. It cleanses your mouth. So by time you go in the interview…or by the time Mick Jagger gets up on the stage. Mick Jagger, his mouth is totally clear, and he’s ready to sing. That’s why maybe they’re so good. Hey, he’s in luck now too. We have new crop apples coming from where? No, it’s not the fall time here, it’s fall in the southern hemisphere so places like Australia, and New Zealand, Chile, South Africa…new crop apples including these beautiful gala apples. Oh, my goodness.
AVOCADOES (Tuesday, July 27): Hey, this is my first grandchild, Jackson. How are you today, Jackson? That good, huh? I’m going to talk about one of your favorite fruits, avocadoes. You love avocadoes. Ok, glad you shook you head yes. Ha, Ha, Ha, avocadoes…actually Jackson lives in southern California, and that is where we are getting some of our premier avocadoes right now. Take a look at these avocadoes. Now start over here, start right over here. See this green one? Yeah, that green right there is going to turn to this in about a day or two. It’s going to turn to this in about another day, and then it’s going to turn like fully ripe. Jackson, should we open this up and show everybody what it looks like inside? Yeah, let’s open this up. Oh, my goodness! This is peak of the season for avocadoes and oh, just look at it in there. Ah, peak of the season of oil content. Now I know a lot of people think avocadoes are loaded with fat, but, Jackson, you know as well as I know right? It’s the good fat that makes this good, huh.
ASPARAGUS (Wednesday, July 28): Hey, happy Independence Day, Fourth of July. Hey, did you watch all the fireworks on the fourth of July? Yeah! Yeah, this is my second grandchild. This is Joseph, and you know today they’re actually celebrating independence day in Peru. Did you know that? It’s way down in the southern hemisphere. Peru, they got their independence from Spain in 1821. Uh, Joseph, you knew that right? Now see this is important to know because right now this time of year we are getting…this is one of your favorite vegetables I bet…asparagus. Right? Your mom and dad feed you that all the time? No, no, ha, any way this time of year, summertime, I absolutely love asparagus. We get it year round and this time of year it’s coming from Peru. In fact from a cool place called the valley of Ica. Can you say Ica? Ica. Ica, see you even know the place, thevalley of Ica. It’s near Lima, Peru. And that’s where getting all this beautiful asparagus. This time of year you’ve got the grill on. Put the asparagus on the grill, right Joseph? Say yes
WALLA WALLA ONIONS (Thursday, July 29): I am having so much fun all this week. I’ve been introducing you to my grandchildren. First we had Jackson, and then yesterday we had Joseph, and today the baby of the family - Look, hi! Say hi, Jonas. It’s little Jonas, yeah. Eleven months old this month. Hey, ah any way you never cry do you? No, you never ever cry never? Sometimes you cry? Well, sometimes Mama cries too. You know why Mama cries? Mama cries when she cuts the onion. How many of you cry when you cut the onions? Yes, you cry like a little baby, just like little Jonas here. But you know something, these are walla walla onions. You’re not going to cry when you cut these onions. You know why? Because the sulphuric compounds are very low in it. Can you say sulphuric compounds? Yes, they’re actually called pyruvates, yes, pyruvates. Sulphuric compounds, they’re very low which makes them so sweet, and you don’t cry
SPINACH (Friday, July 30): The governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, he turns sixty-three years old this very day. You know who else has a birthday? Alton Brown. You know, the food network. He’s only turning forty-eight today. Well, they both enjoy the same in green. One of their favorite vegetables right here, absolutely gorgeous spinach. Now you can buy spinach a couple ways. You can buy it like this, totally fresh. In fact, up until about ten years ago this was the only way you could buy spinach, and then of course we started having the packaged spinach. You know, this stuff is already triple cleaned and there is like no silt, no sand in here at all. But you know this is a whole lot cheaper, and one of the things that you can do is when you’re buying your spinach try to buy the spinach where the roots have already been cut off. You see most of the silt, most of the sand is going to be down around the root system. So when you buy a bunch of spinach like this and there’s no roots, that means a lot less silt. You don’t have too wash it as much. Makes for sweeter spinach salad.