Produce News for the Week of June 7, 2010

TOMATOES (Monday, June 7): Hey, this date in 1955, the “$64,000 Question” debuted on television, so I have the $64,000 question for you. Is the tomato a fruit or a vegetable? Hey, it’s the barbecue season and salad season so you’re probably eating a lot more tomatoes. You probably never thought, “Is it a fruit or vegetable?” If you think it’s a vegetable, raise your hand. Okay, put your hands down. If you think it’s a fruit, raise your hand. Okay, put your hands down. Actually, botanically speaking, this is indeed a fruit. That’s right. It’s a fruit because it has seeds and it ripens. Now I know there’s lots of things that have seeds like squash and cucumbers, but they don’t ripen. This has seeds and ripens which makes it a fruit, well, in Your Produce Man’s definition of a fruit. However, in the 1800’s there was a US Supreme Court that had nothing better to do. They ruled that since we use tomatoes in soups, salads, and sandwiches, we’re now going to call it a vegetable
WHITE FLESH PEACHES AND NECTARINES (Tuesday, June 8): White flesh peaches and nectarines. I brought some white flesh peaches with me today. Oh, man, those are super good. Now, of course we have about 20% of the Peach and Nectarine crop grown today is now white flesh peaches and nectarines. They’ve become so popular, and of course the season is really picking up. I know, we’re still two weeks away from the first official day of summer but…you know, we’ve had the boys of summer playing baseball already for a month or so, but the joys of summer are now here. At the Farmer’s markets or walk into the grocery stores. You’ll see these huge displays now of peaches and nectarines. Now a couple things I need for you to remember. This is not one of the things you take home and eat right away. Please, be patient. Let them ripen in a brown paper bag or a shoebox. Once ripened to perfection, you will love them.
CILANTRO (Wednesday, June 9): All right. He was Captain Jack Sparrow. He was, of course, the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland. And of course, he was Willie Wonka. Johnny Depp has a birthday today, so I thought I’d talk about his favorite food, Asian food. You did know that the most important fresh spice used in Asian cooking is Ginger Root. What flavor it adds to Stir-Fry and soup. And the most popular fresh herb used in Asian cooking? Beautiful Cilantro. That’s right. I know many of you probably think about cilantro as putting it in your salsa or taco or enchilada. You really associate cilantro with Mexican food. However, this is the most important fresh herb for Asian cooking. I remember when I used to deliver produce to restaurants, when delivering to Asian restaurants, and they would have boxes and boxes of cilantro. Maybe that’s why one of the names of Cilantro is “Chinese Parsley.” So, if you are a fan of Asian cooking and you’ve never tried cilantro, then hey, you’re missing out on some of the great flavor in Johnny Depp’s favorite food – Asian cooking.
SUMMER SWEET CORN (Thursday, June 10): Hey, George Bush, number…President number 41 turns 86 years old this weekend. Also his son, George Bush number 43, also his favorite vegetable - they both have the same favorite vegetable. Fresh, sweet corn on the cob. Now I do need to say something though. When you’re talking about fruits and vegetables, the corn is not actually a vegetable, but I don’t think I want to tell the George Bush’s it’s not a vegetable. This is actually a grain, you know, kind of like wheat and oats and rice. It’s probably one of the most popular grains grown in the world today next to rice, but for today since it’s his birthday, we’re going to call this a vegetable - beautiful white and yellow corn. This is coming up to the peak of the season. When we start moving through June towards July 4, this is peak of the season from many local and regional growing areas. By the way, please keep them ice cold so they will have better flavor.
BANANAS (Friday, June 11): There is a banana split festival starting today and going through the weekend in Ohio. Oh, man, I wish I was there. Get me some vanilla ice cream and some bananas and some whipped topping, a little chocolate syrup. Oh, I’m a happy guy. Most of the time, you see Bananas sold in stores with stem end up. However, this is not how you should store them. Please, the back of these bananas is the weakest part of the fruit. This is actually called the “crown” of the fruit. So if you store the hand of Bananas with the stem end up, you put all of the weight of that hand on the crown of the fruit. That’s why you will often find bruises on that part of the fruit. So please, when you store your bananas, turn them over and rest the fruit on the stem-end and blossom-end of the fruit. Less bruising this way.