Produce News for Week of March 7, 2011

PRODUCE PRICES (Monday, March 7): Old Man Winter sure got grumpy, didn’t he? Oh my goodness. And produce prices? In my 30 plus years in the produce industry, over 30 years, I have never ever seen markets quite like this before, affecting so many produce items…and the prices, so expensive. So, what happened? First of all, freezing weather hit Florida in December and January. Wiped out a lot of vegetable crops. So everybody on the East Coast starting looking to Mexico for supplies. Well, Mexico got hit in February with record freezing temperatures that date back to over 55 years. What’s it impacting? Take a look at what it’s impacting: Bell Peppers, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Green Beans, Squash, all the Lettuces, Broccoli, Tomatoes. Oh my goodness…so many produce items, you are finding such high prices right now. How long is it going to last? That’s probably what you’re wondering. We will see high prices right on through April. I’m sorry.

PRODUCE PRICES II (Tuesday, March 8): I have to get my scale over here, because I want to show you something. Head Lettuce, Iceberg lettuce. Holy Toledo, it’s what, about $2.50 a head or more? Let’s weight it and see how much it weighs, I mean, look how tiny the Iceberg Lettuce is right now…almost the size of a large Grapefruit. Look at the weight, less than a pound. That puts the per pound price for this Iceberg Lettuce at over $3.00 a head for Iceberg Lettuce. So what are you going to do cheapen your Lettuce salad. I don’t want you to stop eating salads. They are so healthy for you. But there are a couple of tricks in making that salad cost less. Well, here’s one thing: You have Napa Cabbage, at about $1.29 per pound. That’s less than half the price of the Iceberg Lettuce right now. And when you cut up your Napa Cabbage, you can’t even really tell that it’s not Iceberg Lettuce in that salad. Another thing I want to you to do so. Tomatoes are expensive. Tomatoes are very expensive. So, here’s what I want you to do. In your salads, I want you to get the smaller Tomatoes, the Grape Tomatoes. And I want you to cut them in half, and then cut them into quarters. Now put that into your Salad. You still get Tomatoes…but for a lot less money

SUMO CITRUS (Wednesday, March 9): Pay very close attention today. I am introducing for the very first time today, a brand new Citrus. It’s a brand new Citrus. Take a look at the carton. I love the name of it: Sumo Citrus. Enormously good to eat. What in the world are these? Once you see this citrus, you’ll know why they call it a Sumo Citrus. They are huge. It kind of looks like a large, ugly Minneola Tangelo, because it has that little “sheep nose” at the top. This new citrus took about 40 years to develop, first in Japan and now in the United States. They are 75% Mandarin, 25% Navel Orange. There are a couple of things I absolutely love about this brand new citrus. First, like a Minneola Tangelo, it has the little “pop top” on the top. It makes it much easier to peel. In fact, this is one of the easiets citrus to peel. It peels like wrapper on a Christmas gift. The second thing I love about it, the segments. Unlike a Navel Orange, which is very hard to separate the segments, the Sumo segments just almost fall apart. And I love the size. You know how with some Mandarins, if you want a snack, you have to eat like 3 or 4 of them because they are so tiny. Not with this Sumo Citrus. Oh my goodness, the flavor is unbelievable. In my opinion, Perfecto Citrus, called Sumo Citrus

BLOOD ORANGES (Thursday, March 10): I don’t know who named these things. It’s crazy. They’re called Blood Oranges. Who in their right mind would name these? Who out there has a marketing degree who could rename this citrus? A friend of mine calls these “Bloody Oranges.” Another friend of mine says, “I have to close my eyes everytime I eat these things. They’re so creepy.” Now there are three different varieties of Blood Oranges grown Today. Moro Blood Orange, Tarracco and Sanquinella. Now the Tarracco is very popular in Italy. The Sanquinella is a variety mainly grown in Spain. The Blood Orange you find in the super market or the Farmer’s Market is the Moro Blood Orange. It’s the main variety grown here. It has the deepest red color and richest flavor. One of the things I love about this Blood Orange…the aroma. It has one of the most floral aromas of any Orange you’ll find. This Blood Orange is so dazzling…the color, the flavor. You add it into a salad. You turn it into juice. You’re going to get your kids asking for those Bloody Oranges.

VALENTINE PUMELO (Friday, March 11): I’d like to introduce you to a brand new fruit. I know earlier this week, I introduced you to the Sumo Citrus. It’s a very ugly large Mandarin, absolutely one of the most perfect Citrus in the world. But when you take a look at this new citrus, it’s large, kind of like a Pumelo. In fact, part of this fruit’s parentage is indeed a Pomelo. This new fruit was also crossed with a Blood Orange and a Mandarin. This new fruit is called a Valentine. I love this thing for a couple of reasons. First of all, if you cut this fruit from the north pole to the south pole, from the stem end to the blossom end, you’ll see why it was called a Valentine. It’s shaped like a heart. The second reason is look at the red color in this fruit. This is one of the few Grapefruit that actually has anthocyanin. It’s a very powerful anti-oxidant that helps reduce Cancer, helps reduce heart disease, and helps reduce….ummm…..ummm…memory loss. That’s it. It’s the Valentine Pumelo. You might fall in love with this Valentine.