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Produce News for May 3, 2010

AVOCADOS (Monday, May 3):  Cinco de Mayo this week.  That means you need the best avocado for the best guacamole, and of course the best avocado is going to be your Hass avocado.   Here they are.  Uh oh.  I’ve got a couple green ones.  What in the world am I going to do?  By the way, the Hass avocado is the only avocado variety that starts green and then as it ripens it turns this beautiful dark color.  So what are we going to do with these green ones?  Well, let me just go down here.  There it is – shoebox. Get my Nike shoebox.  I don’t care if you have another shoebox.  We’re going to put these right in my shoebox.  I’m going to put the riper ones in there too because I need all eight for my guacamole.  Now this is going to go in the warmest spot in my house.  Now that can be on your fireplace hearth.  It can be in your laundry room where it’s nice and moist, and those avocadoes, oh man, when they come out of here for your guacamole, they’re going to be so perfect for your guacamole.  That’s all you’ve got to do.  No! No!  No!  Not the refrigerator.  The shoebox!  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.   
PICO DE GALLO (Tuesday, May 4):  We are getting you ready for your pico de gallo for your Cinco de Mayo, and of course, you’ve got to have the great avocados.  We talked about that yesterday.  You get the avocadoes in the bowl, you’d better get your lime juice in it right away so they don’t start turning brown.  Then we have to cut up a whole bunch of things.  Oh, yeah!  Take a look at all the things I’ve got to now get my knife out for.  I’ve got a red onion.  I’ve got some tomatoes.  Of course I’ve got some jalapeño pepper.  Okay, we’ll only put two of them in.  And then, of course, I’ve got cilantro and garlic.  That’s a lot of cutting.  What else should I do?  Well, come on over with me.  We’ll just go over to the refrigerator.  Take a look at that.  Yes, indeed – pico de gallo.  You know, you can go to the store and in most produce departments they already have pico de gallo for you so these are actually all the ingredients.  Everything’s in there that you need - the onions, the tomatoes, the jalapeno pepper, and the cilantro and a little bit of garlic is already in there.  So I’ve said, you know, when you’re in a hurry for Cinco de Mayo, why cut it all up yourself?  Just mash up the avocado; throw that in!  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.
GUACAMOLE (Wednesday, May 5):  All right.  Got a little bit leftover guacamole here from Cinco de Mayo – didn’t quite eat it all.  You know, there’s an old wive’s tale that if you leave the pit…that’s right…if you leave this pit in the guacamole, it keeps your guacamole from turning brown.  So I did an experiment.  I did not use a pit.  I used actually a clear light bulb, and there is my clear light bulb. And if you can happen…come really close. See how it is brown all the way around?  It has indeed oxidized.  But if you look right through that light bulb, that clear…look how nice and green it is right around the light bulb. That proves it has nothing to do with the pit.  It has to do with oxidation.  And so if…if you want to prevent oxidation from happening, here’s what you need to do.  You need to prevent oxygen from getting to your guacamole, so when you cover your guacamole, make sure you press the cellophane right down to the guacamole - prevent oxidation.   Perfect.  You don’t need a light bulb either.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.    (Takes Bite)  Mmm.
HONEYDEW (Thursday, May 6):  There it is – one of my mom’s favorite fruits on the face of the planet.  Right there.  Well, no, not the burlap sack but what’s underneath the burlap sack was one of my mom’s favorite fruits on the face of the planet.  Now this particular fruit…when it is good, but when it is bad, oh my goodness! You wonder why you pay 69 cents a pound for it.  Here it is, one of my mom’s favorite fruits - the beautiful honeydew melon.  Now why in the world was that burlap sack over it?  Well, that’s how I ripen my honeydew melon.  I never ever in a million years leave my honeydew melon out in the open air to ripen because there are no natural oils on the rind, no natural oils on the skin.  So if I leave this out in the open air it simply…it will dehydrate and start shriveling before it ever ripens.  So I like the burlap sack because there’s a few little holes in there, you know, and it makes it breathe a little bit and keeps it really nice and after a couple days, oh, this is going to be really good.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.
CUCUMBERS (Friday, May 7):  Hey, Mother’s Day this weekend so I thought I’d talk a little bit about some of my mom’s favorite fruits and vegetables.  Yesterday it was the honeydew.  And my mom’s favorite vegetable?  Oh, man.  She just loved cucumbers.  All the time, cucumbers.  I mean it’s one of the original diet foods.  Right?  I mean there’s like zero calories.  Well, not zero but really close to it.  Now when you’re picking out regular slicing cucumbers, here’s what I would always choose for my mom.  See this nice big fat one.  That’s not what I would choose.  I’d choose this nice little skinny one.  And let me cut this in half and show you why.  The skinnier ones actually have smaller seeds in them.  And let me cut the big one in half.  If you can notice, the seeds in the larger one are much more mature, and that’s actually what makes you…the little indigestion that you might have actually comes from the seeds of the cucumber, also from the skin, which is why in the latter years of her life she fell in love with that burpless English cucumber, and I know a lot of people have as well. So cucumbers just for my mom on Mother’s Day. I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.