LONG PROMO:   Hey, you love corn?  I want you to get your kids to also love corn.  I’ve got a fun way to get your kids to fall in love with corn on the cob.  Plus how to get those kernals off the corn on the cob.  Plus I’m going to pretend that I’m Indiana Jones since it’s opening up this week.  I’m going to find the origin of carrots…next week, with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.

SHORT PROMO:  I’m going to pretend I’m Indiana Jones.  We’re going to find the origin of carrots…next week with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.
                                                                                                         
CORN (PART I) (Monday, May 19):  Hey, get out your wooden kabob sticks.  Okay?  So get those out. I’m going to teach you a way  of getting your kids to actually fall in love with corn on the cob.  Now maybe your kids already love corn on the cob, but here’s a fun way.  I call it corn lollipop.  Now what you’re going to do…you’re going to husk it.  You’re going to take all the silk off.  You’re going to take that off, and now you’re just going to cut this into little cobbettes.  We’ll do this in thirds.  There’s one.  And there’s two.  So we’ve got thirds.  So what we’re going to do, we’re going to take our little cabob stick, and we’re going to go right in the middle.  Now you’ve got these cool corn lollipops, and here’s the fun part.  Get some melted butter, and you can get some different flavorings for the kids, and that way they can just dip their corn in the melted butter and now they have a cool, fun, easy way of eating the corn.  By the way I teach kids all the time.  There’s only one reason to cook the corn…that’s to melt the butter.  You can actually eat this raw.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.    (Takes Bite)  Mmmm.

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, get out your cabob sticks, we are making corn lollipops for the kids.

CORN (PART II)  (Tuesday, May 20): You know, I love using fresh corn on the cob, but I love using the kernels in recipes like I’ll make some fresh salsa for my salmon and I will use corn in it.  If we’re making a chowder, I’ll ask my wife, “Hey, can I get some corn in that chowder?”  You know, whatever you’re making, corn makes it taste so much sweeter.  So how in the world do you get the kernels off the cob of corn?  Well, here’s what a lot of people will do.  They’ll stand this on end just like so.  They’ll get their knife just like so cob, and they will start going down the cob, and what happens?  That’s right.  Same thing happens with me.  All these kernels of corn just go flying all over the floor and all over the counter top.  You need the dog to come in, you know.  So here’s what you do.  You’re going first of all break this in half.  Now, instead of standing it  up on end, just lay it down on your tabletop.  Now you can cut those kernels off one at a time just side by side by side.  There you go.  No mess either.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.  

TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report…how to get those kernels off without making a mess. 

BANANAS (Wednesday, May 21):  All right, you know the kids are getting a little antsy – I know my little Lincoln, and Landon, and Claire. You know, school’s just about out.  It’s going to be out very soon.  They’re out playing a little bit more and sometimes, you know, those kids when they’re playing their soccer, or their football, or their baseball, maybe they’ll get a leg cramp or two.  So may I suggest right now you start making sure your kids are eating plenty of what I call potassium sticks or you can call them bananas.  Every morning for breakfast I will take the banana, and I will slice them just for little Landon and little Lincoln, and they’ll each get their own banana.  And the reason…in fact, Landen will make sure. “Hey, Dad, I need my bananas today because I’m going to be riding my bike all day today.”  And what happens is there’s a chemical in here called potassium, and potassium when it goes into your bloodstream, it helps your muscles expand and contract and expand and contract.  That’s what happens when you’re running and jumping, right?  So it helps to prevent leg cramps.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Takes Bite)  Mmmm.

TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, make sure your kids aren’t getting leg cramps.  Give them lots of bananas.

CARROTS (Thursday, May 22):  Have you seen it?  Indiana Jones, number four.  Oh, man.   I can’t wait to see it.  I’m probably going to go see it as soon as I’m done here.  So I thought I would be a little…I don’t have a whip, and I don’t have a hat.  In fact, I don’t have anything that looks like Indiana Jones, but we’re going to find where the origin of carrots came from.  Where in the world did carrots originate?  And did you know the original color was not orange?  The orange color came from Europe actually in Holland in the 1600’s.  So where did carrots come from?  Get my whip out.  Get my hat out.  You would go all the way to a country we now call Afghanistan.  That’s right.  You would go all the way to the deserts and the mountains of Afghanistan.  That is where carrots originated.  In fact, their original color was purple.  The original color was not orange.  The original color was purple.  When they took them to Holland and Europe, it took them a couple hundred years, but eventually they changed to orange.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.  (Takes Bite)  Mmmm.

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, if I was Indiana Jones, I would find out where carrots came from.
  
FENNEL (Friday, May 23):  This week the 31-year anniversary of the opening of one of the biggest movies ever – “Star Wars”.  That’s right.  Thirty-one years ago this very week “Star Wars” came onto the screens, the silver screens, and this, my ladies and gentlemen, is the only fruit or vegetable ever seen in the movie “Star Wars”.  George Lucas wrote the scene.  It was called “Beru’s Stew”, and this is what you saw in that scene.  Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru were down in the kitchen, and Luke had gone out into the desert to look for C3PO and R2D2, and there they were – Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru and she was putting in a big old aluminum pot, and she was putting in fennel.   That’s right.  Fennel.  And the scene was actually called “Beru’s Stew”, and this is the only vegetable ever seen in the movie “Star Wars” – beautiful fennel. I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. 

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, which movie did fennel have a starring role?