Produce News for March 22, 2010

NAVEL ORANGES (Monday, March 22): Have you seen the dry cell? Cut a Navel Orange in half and you could find dry cell. Actually, you can feel it when you pick up a Navel Orange. This time of year, the Navel oranges are so super sweet. They are filled with sugar. This time of year, you also start finding Navel Oranges that have a puffier rind on them. These Navel Oranges have been hanging on the tree for many months. It’s normal late in the season for the skin to get puffy. Don’t worry about it. It’s only appearance. What you really want to watch for is something we call dry cell. A Navel Orange, like any other citrus, is made up of hundreds of little tiny water balloons. All season long, these Navel Oranges have been hanging on the trees, sucking up as much moisture as they can, filling those water balloons inside. You know what happens when you over fill the water balloons? That’s right, the balloons burst. That’s when you end up with dry cell. You can’t see it until you cut it open, but you can feel it. If you pick up a Navel Orange and it feels really light for its weight, kind of like balsa wood, then most likely you have dry cell. If you pick up a Navel Orange, and it’s still really heavy for its size, most likely, there is no dry cell. That Orange is still full of juice…and full of flavor.

MARCH WEATHER (Tuesday, March 23): You know, today is World Meteorological Day. All those meteorologists that tell us what the weather is going to be and how long it’s going to be cold or hot or if it’s going to be windy or rainy. We need them every day. Just like you, one of the first things I do when I get up in the morning is to find the weather report. Well, weather is vitally important in the produce industry. In fact, this month, the month of March is probably one of the most important weather watch months of the entire year. I mean growers from Florida to Texas and California, around the world, are actually watching the weather very carefully right now. That’s because right now is when they’re planting all the things like green beans and bell peppers and all of the lettuces and celery in Salinas and also all the blossoms on all the fruit trees, all the apple trees and all the pear trees and stone fruit trees. They’re all in full blossom. So look, whatever weather happens this month determines the price of our produce this summer and this fall.

GRAPEFRUIT (Wednesday, March 24): I love this time of year. You know, we have been enjoying some beautiful Grapefruit since year. November, December, January, February, and now here we are in March – some of the sweetest Grapefruit of the entire year is right now. Go ahead. I dare you. Cut a Grapefruit right in half. You’re eyes will water and your tongue will tingle. Look at the color. Look at the juice. Unbelievable. When you’re picking out Grapefruit, there’s two things I really look for. First of all, I want to make sure the fruit is flat at the poles. Flat at the North Pole. Flat at the South Pole. When they’re flat like that, that is going to be a really good grapefruit. Also, just pick one up in your hand and feel it in your hand. It should feel like a heavy rock in your hand. That means that Grapefruit is loaded with juice, loaded with sugar. So, why not enjoy some of the sweetest grapefruit of the entire year

ARUGULA (Thursday, March 25): Hey, today Elton John has a birthday. He turns 63 years old. Remember that great song he had, “Rocket Man”. Well, to me, to Your Produce Man. Rocket Man is the farmer that grows rocket lettuce or Arugula. Growers use a lot of Arugula in their Spring Mix Salads. Why is Arugla also called rocket lettuce? If you go to Europe, it’s often referred to as rocket lettuce. That’s because Arugula has quite a bite to it. A bit peppery. Arugula is a great addition into any sweet lettuce salad. Instead of lettuce on a sandwich, put rocket lettuce or Arugula on that sandwich. It’s fantastic. Another thing that is great for Arugula…sauté it. A little bit of olive oil and a little bit of garlic, salt and pepper. Sauté it. Then put that sautéed Arugula underneath a beautiful T-bone steak.

ASPARAGUS (Friday, March 26): Hey, you know this weekend, 1968 opened on Broadway, the great Broadway smash hit “Hair”. And you know one of the songs in Hair was actually written about one of my favorite produce items. You probably remember the song. It was a very big hit song back in the late 1960’s. Here’s the song. “This is the dawning of the age of asparagus, the age of a...” Oh, yeah. You’re right. It wasn’t asparagus. It was Aquarius, but you know, hey, I can pretend. This time of year, we are getting asparagus from several different growing regions. We still have Peru in South America. We have Mexico. We have the desert region of California. We have Salinas and the most premier growing region of them all, the Delta region of. So here we have like four or five different growing regions around the country and around the world providing asparagus. What should that tell you? Get out your asparagus recipes. This is the peak time of year. The best quality Asparagus. And the best prices.