LONG PROMO:   Hey, Wimbledon begins next week so I have the official food of Wimbledon.  That’s right. Strawberries.  Beautiful strawberries.  Plus, they’re going to China!  I’ll tell you a little more about that.  Plus, of course, we’ve got beautiful peahes and nectarines, and I’m going to make a fabulous salad with watermelon and cucumber…next week, with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.

SHORT PROMO:  Hey, we’re combining watermelon and cucumbers for a cool summer salad…next week with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.
                                                                                                         
PEACHES (Monday, June 23):  Hey, this week we’re going to have the Louisiana Peach Cobbler Festival.  Oh man, last night I had the best peach cobbler of the entire season.  And the best cobbler starts, of course, with the best peaches.  Oh my goodness!  Now you can have the best peach but you can still have a horrible cobbler depending on how you ripen this thing.  So how do you ripen your peaches for your cobbler?  Do you put them in the refrigerator?  Oh, no!  Never in a million years put an unripe peach in the refrigerator to ripen, all right?  They need to be out on the countertop.  Now a lot of people set them out on the countertop just like that.  Oh ho!  That’s not a good idea either.  See these peaches have no natural oils on them.  So if you set them out in the open air like this, they’ll simply dehydrate and shrivel before they ever properly ripen.  The best way is to keep them covered.  Put them in a carton, a cardboard carton, or put a newspaper over this.  Whatever you do, that’s going to make a great ripe peach for a great cobbler.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.   

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, how do you ripen your peaches for the best cobbler on earth?

STRAWBERRIES (Tuesday, June 24):  Hey, guess what’s happening this week – starts this week at the All England Tennis and Croquet Club.  That’s right – Wimbledon we call it, right?  But that’s what they call it there in London.  Of course, the official food of Wimbledon right here.  Beautiful strawberries.  But you must mix them with a little Devonshire or a little cream as we say here in the States.  A little strawberries and cream, the official food of Wimbledon.  And by the way, it just got approved.  You know, the summer Olympics are coming up in august, and strawberries, California strawberries from the United States, are going to make an appearance at the summer Olympics in China.  It’s going to be one of the few fruits from the United States that’s going to be allowed into China for those games and that’s a good thing because strawberries are so healthy.  See all the red that is on them? That is a very powerful antioxidant that is really good for your muscles, your circulatory system.  It’s really good for your body, so strawberries and sports – they really do go together.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.  (Takes Bite)  Mmmm.

TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report…Hey, California strawberries – they’re going to China for the Olympics.

NECTARINES (Wednesday, June 25):  You know this week in 1951 CBS did the first television broadcast in living color so I thought I’d talk about color.  Since this is the season for peaches and nectarines, I thought I’d talk about nectarines, my wife’s favorite fruit on the face of the planet.  Now, when I first started in the produce industry about 30 years ago, you know, we would look at a nectarine and it was what we called like 50% blush which means that’s all the red blush.  The nectarine only had about 50%, but they’ve been developing nectarines these days that have like 95% blush which means virtually the entire nectarine is covered with red.  Now is that the best way to determine the best nectarine to pick?  No, it’s not.  The blush really has nothing to do with it.  What you want to do is turn it over.  Look at the stem.  Look at that yellow behind the red blush.  The darker that yellow, the riper and more mature that nectarine was when it was harvested, and that is going to turn into a beautiful, luscious nectarine when it is ripe.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Takes Bite)  Mmmm.

TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, we’re talking nectarines and color.

JAZZ APPLE (Thursday, June 26):  All right.  We are going to take a look at New Zealand apples because there’s a brand new apple out that I have a feeling in the next probably decade this apple is going to become one of the most popular apples in the United States and around the world.   And prettiest apples on the face of the planet.  This right here, my folks, is the most popular eating apple in New Zealand.   Now, you cross that with this right here.  This is a Braeburn apple.  This is the most popular desert apple in New Zealand.  If you bake, if you cook, make pies, this is the apple you use.  Now what happens when you cross those two apples?  You get the Jazz apple, one of the jazziest, hottest apples on the face of the planet.  Folks, it has the crispness of the Braeburn.  It has the sweetness of the gala.  It’s everything you want in an apple to eat it or to bake it.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.  (Takes Bite)  Mmmm.

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, you take a gala, you take a Braeburn.  What do you get if you cross them?
  
WATERMELON AND CUCUMBER (Friday, June 27):  You know there’s nothing worse than getting a bad watermelon.  When it’s not ripe, man, it tastes just like a cucumber.  Terrible.  So I started thinking, what if we took a cucumber.   You know they’re kind of in the same family.  They’re both moist, and they’re both very cool in the summertime. What if you took a cucumber and what we did, we just made nice small long sticks with them, and we’re going to do the same thing with the watermelon.  See this?  Just nice long sticks with them.  And now we’re going to take a plate, and I love to do dramatic things so I’m going to put it on top of the dish just upside down.  We’re going to take this, and we’re going to do this with them.   See what I’m doing?  Just going to crisscross.  You’re going to make Lincoln Logs with the watermelon and the cucumbers, and the best part of all, little Landon and Lincoln absolutely love this.   You know, they’re only four and five, and whenever you can get kids in the kitchen to make their own little salad, that is the coolest thing.  So you’ve got the Lincoln Logs, watermelon and cucumber.  What a great refreshing salad for a picnic.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.  (Take bite)

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, we’re going to turn watermelon and cucumbers into some cool Lincoln Logs.