Produce News for March 23, 2009

ARTICHOKES PART I (Monday, March 23): Well, here we are on the first Monday of spring, so I thought I would spend a few sessions with you today and tomorrow and the next day talking about the flower of spring – beautiful artichoke. Now, why do I call it a flower? Well, let me ask you a question. Is the artichoke a fruit or a vegetable? Okay, everybody out there who thinks it’s a fruit, raise your hand. All right. I see. Put your hands down. Everybody out there who thinks it’s a vegetable go ahead and raise your hand. Well, actually it’s neither one. The artichoke actually is the flowering bud of a Mediterranean thistle plant. That’s right. It is actually a flower. I call it the original edible flower. And folks, we are right now coming into the peak of the season of these absolutely gorgeous artichokes. In fact in the month of April the growers in Castroville, CA, have a great saying – “They even grow on fence posts.” So this is peak of the season so now’s the time to buy them.

ARTICHOKES PART II (Tuesday, March 24): So you’re going to be in the store over the next month or so and you’re going to walk up to these huge displays of beautiful California artichokes, and you wonder, “How in the world do you pick out the best artichoke on the face of the planet?” Well, there are three simple things I want you to remember. First, I want you to remember the word “tight”. Now, if you look at an artichoke…remember I told you it’s a flower. The outer leaves will open up just like a flower does, it starts opening up. But these inner leaves right here, they need to be very, very tight. If they’re real wobbly and squishy, that’s going to be an old artichoke. The next thing I want you to do…you have it in your hand! Just go ahead and hold it in your hand just like so. It needs to be heavy for its size. Heavy. That means there is a lot of meat on the leaves here. And meat is what you’re looking for. So, you want it tight. You want it heavy. What’s the final thing? Look at the stems. I want you to find the fattest stems. That means its going to have the biggest heart. So “tight,” “heavy,” and “fat”.

ARTICHOKES PART III (Wednesday, March 25): Hey, we’re learning all about artichokes this week because I want you to get accustomed to them because it’s the king of spring. It’s one of the favorite spring vegetables. Actually you know it’s not a vegetable, right? It’s a flower. Did you happen to know that Marilyn Monroe was actually the very first artichoke queen of Castroville, CA? That’s right…before she became famous. Now, I’ve told you how to pick out the best artichokes. Now when you get these home here’s what I want you to do. I want you to put these artichokes into a plastic bag just like so. Plastic bag. Then what I want you to do, I want you to get a little bit of water and then spray in there. And what you’re doing, you’re keeping them from getting dehydrated. Now take that bag and now put this into the refrigerator in the crisper part of the refrigerator. Now one of the things about artichokes – they have a great flavor and it’s always best…eat them up right away. I always tell my wife, “If you’re not going to have these within two days, give them to a neighbor for them to enjoy.” Use them up quickly.

ARTICHOKES PART IV (Thursday, March 26): All right. Come really close. I want to show you exactly how to properly prepare your spring artichokes. One of the first things you’re going to do, take off these bottom leaves. These are actually called bracks, not leaves. Then what you’re going to do, you’re going to take the upper third. Get a serrated edge knife. Cut off the upper third because you don’t eat that part anyway. Now you have some thorns left. So get a pair of scissors. Now I get little Landon and Lincoln in there into the kitchen and their job is to cut off the remainder of these thorns. Now I know some of you will actually cut off the stem. Please, never in a million years cut off the stem. Just simply peel it because let me cut this in half and show you something. See the heart right here? That’s the heart. That’s what everybody wants. Where does the heart grow? Yes, it grows right down into the stem, so if you cut that stem off, you are throwing away so much of great flavor and so much of that great artichoke. So that’s the easiest way to prepare them. Put them into some water. Throw lots of oregano and basil in there. You’ve got it made.

MOST NUTRITIOUS FRUIT AND VEGETABLE (Friday, March 27): You know, before we eventually leave the month of March, I need to talk about the most nutritious fruit and vegetable grown on planet Earth today, commercially grown on planet Earth, because March happens to be National Nutrition Month. So let’s start with vegetables. What is the most nutritious vegetable grown on planet earth? Well, of course! You see it right here. Beautiful yams, sweet potatoes. That’s right. They are indeed the healthiest vegetable grown on planet Earth. I know also they happen to be one of the ugliest grown on planet Earth. But they are so healthy - loaded with vitamin A, beta carotene. Now what about the most nutritious fruit? It’s simple. Right over here - the cute, cuddly, fuzzy kiwi fruit. In fact, from now on I want you to consider this kiwi fruit a little tiny vitamin pill with fuzz. And so if you’re eating vegetables, I would encourage you to eat more sweet potatoes. If you’re getting your kids to eat more fruit, I would encourage you to eat more kiwi fruit. The healthiest fruit and vegetable grown on planet Earth.