Produce News for July 28, 2008

LONG PROMO:   Hey, we’re going to have so much fun next week.  You know there’s a very famous actor who is now governor of a state in the United States.  His favorite vegetable, tomatoes.  We’re going to talk about tomatoes.  Plus, check this out.  Beautiful Sharlyn melons.  We’re going to have bananas and it’s berry season, so we’re talking berries.…next week, with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.  (Takes Bite)

SHORT PROMO:  Hey, which famous actor loves tomatoes and spinach?  Next week with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.

                                                                                                         

TOMATOES (Monday, July 28):  Hey, famous actor Arnold Schwarzenegger turns 61 years old this week and the Terminator loves tomatoes.  That’s right. Beautiful tomatoes.  Growing up in Austria, he absolutely loved tomatoes.  Now this time of year, man, you walk down the tomato section in the produce department.  There are all so many varieties of tomatoes.  Take a look at that inside.  By the way, when you are storing your tomatoes, please, never in a million years should you store them like this.  I know a lot of you do.  You put the stem end down.  It’s also called the calyx end, but this is right here the weakest part of the fruit.  So if you are storing this tomato upside down, all the heaviness of this fruit is going right down there on the softest part of the fruit, the weakest part of the fruit, and you wonder why when you go to slice it like this, “Hey, it’s all mushy down there.  I gotta throw that away.”  Second of all, where are you storing your tomatoes?  Please, do me a big favor.  Keep them out on your countertop.  Never in a million years put an unripe tomato in the refrigerator.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.   

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, which famous actor loves tomatoes?

SHARLYN MELON (Tuesday, July 29)  There was a very famous actor.  This was back in the mid 1980s.  She was in France, and she was working on a film. And every morning at the hotel she would have this particular melon, and she didn’t know the name of this melon.  Nobody knew the name of this melon.  She finally called the farmer in France who was growing it, and they wrote out the name.  It was some long Persian name because, as you know, most melons originated in Persia, what we call Iran today.  So she brought a few of the dried seeds back to the United States.  May I suggest something?  Please, don’t do that!  The USDA does not like you bringing in seeds and stuff from other countries, but she did.  She gave it to a farmer friend of hers.  He happened to have two daughters, Sharon and Lynn.  So since he couldn’t pronounce the name of this melon, he named it after his two daughters, Sharlyn melon.  Let me show you this Sharlyn melon inside.  This is probably one of the most difficult melons to grow.  Why?  Take a look at this rind right here.  It’s one of the thinnest rinds, very heavy with sugar and juice.  Oh, my goodness! A Sharlyn melon – you’ve got to try it.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.   

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report…can I introduce you to the Sharlyn melon? 

BANANAS (Wednesday, July 30):  Hey, football quarterback Tom Brady turns 31 this week, and that means, of course, I’m going to talk about bananas.  He loves bananas.  But there’s something about bananas you need to know.  First of all, it’s hot.  Man, I don’t know about your kitchen, but my kitchen, even in my house even though it’s airconditioned it’s getting a bit warm.  It seems like you take bananas home and the ripen overnight.  So here’s what I want you to do.  I want you to go to the store and buy bananas a little bit more on the greener side.  See this is really nice and ripe.  This is what we call, uh, I don’t know, about three-quarters ripe because you get a little bit of green, some green tip to it…a lot of yellow.  But this one here is what we call half ripe bananas.  It’s half yellow and half green.  That means it’s going to take a little bit longer to ripen, and that’s what I want if I’m going to have these in the summertime.  By the way, when you get these home, I want you to turn them over.  That way most of the weight is sitting on the stem not on the weakest part of the fruit.  That way they’ll ripen up better, and when your kids go to enjoy them, they won’t be as bruised.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, in the hot days of summer, which banana would you buy?  This one?  This one?  This one?  This one?

BERRIES (Thursday, July 31):  Martha Stewart turns  67 this week so I better do some berries.  She loves berries especially in the summertime, and right now is time for the berry patch.  Oh man.  You walk to the farmer’s market or the grocery store – all kinds of berries.  I just brought the top three, and that doesn’t even include strawberries.  Of course, beautiful blueberries.  Raspberries.  Now, I need to tell you something about raspberries.  Let’s stick right on these.  This is what the early gold miners in California used to call the thimbleberry because it’s the only berry that pulls away from the cap which makes it hollow inside.  Now the reason you need to know that, it also makes these probably the most delicate of all the berries to have so please treat them very gently.  And of course, how can you have summer without blackberries? May I suggest a cool recipe?   Instead of a strawberry shortake, may I suggest  a blackberry shortcake?  Oh, ho!  Pull out the whipcream.  I’m having that!  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.  (Takes Bite) 

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, we’re celebrating summer with berries.  Including the thimbleberry. (Takes bites)  Mmm.

  

SPINACH (Friday, August 1):  You know, we talked earlier in the week about the Terminator – Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger turning 61 years old this week.  And we talked about tomatoes.  He loves tomatoes.  What else?  He grew up in Austria eating tons and tons of spinach.  That’s right.  Beautiful spinach loaded with iron, loaded with vitamin C.  Man, no wonder he’s so strong.   Now there’s a couple types of spinach that you can buy.  You can buy the kind that’s already bunched up like this.  You know what we call this?  Bunched spinach.  Aren’t we brilliant in the produce industry?  When you buy this, you need to be sure you rinse it off two or three times, or of course, you can buy the already cleaned and cut spinach.  And this is even baby spinach.  I love this stuff.  By the way, when you’re looking for spinach, come right over here. When I walk up to those bunches of spinach, look really closely.  I’m looking for the leaves that are smaller in size.  If the bunches have leaves that are really big, that’s going to be not as sweet and not as tender, so I always look for the tiny leaves on the spinach.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. 

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, the Terminator…he loves spinach.