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Produce News for November 16, 2009

CELERY (Monday, November 16):  It is indeed that time of year – getting soup pots out, the stew pot out.  You need to make some soups and stews…of course Thanksgiving next week.  You need some celery.  That’s right, some beautiful celery.  So, how do you pick out the best celery on the face of the planet.  Here’s a couple things I’m going to be looking for:  first of all, I want to make sure the celery is lighter green in color.   If it’s really dark green celery, it’s going to have a little bit more bitter flavor to it but when it’s really light color overall, oh my goodness! That’s going to be some really sweet celery.  Finally, just hold it in your hand just like this.  Just feel it in your hand.  It needs to be very, very heavy for its size.  That means the more…the heavier it is per size, the more juice content in these stalks, and the more juice content in here, hey, the more flavor.  The third thing is really cool.  Just grab this in your hand and put your hands around it and give it a little squeeze.  Do you hear that squeak?  Yeah?  If you have a squeaking celery, that is very fresh celery.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.   
 
 
TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, how to pick out the best celery for your soups and stews and Thanksgiving.
 
CRANBERRIES (Tuesday, November 17):  Oh, my goodness!  It’s that time of year.  You’re walking down the produce aisle and you see that nice big crimson red section of cranberries!  Oh, my goodness!  Beautiful cranberries just now coming into the supermarket – actually they’ve been here for a week or so.  But how do you pick out the best cranberries?  Now actually take a look inside this bag.  One of the things I’ve noticed this early season… look at that!  These berries are actually a great size, some of the best size that I’ve seen in a long time, and actually look at the color overall on these - a very, very nice crimson red color, absolutely gorgeous.  Well what I do when I pick up a bag of cranberries like this is I’ll just kind of roll it in my hand like this.  What I’m feeling for, and I’m actually feeling it with my fingers, I’m feeling if there’s any duds in there. I mean, if you’re feeling in there and there’s like…it feels like a bunch of little pebbles in there, that’s good.  But if you’re feeling in there with your fingers and you feel some mushy stuff in there, that’s not some cranberries I’d get.  I’d put that one down and grab another one.  Now, this time of year, always grab two because you want to throw one in the freezer for the upcoming holidays.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.
 
TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report…It’s that time of year – grab an extra bag of cranberries. 
 
 
PERSIMMONS (Wednesday, November 18): Hey, it’s a brand new cookbook.  No, it’s not mine.  It’s a brand new cookie cookbook, 400 Sensational Cookies.  Now let me thumb through here.  We want to go to page 58 because I’ll tell you something.  That is probably the most important recipe you’re going to have.  It’s right there.  Look at this right over here -  “Michael’s Mom’s Persimmon Cookies”.  That’s right.  Your Produce Man’s most favorite and most popular persimmon cookies right here in this cookbook.  Now persimmons, there’s two main types of persimmons.  This is actually one of the most popular because this is the kind that most people eat.  I actually love these.  It’s called a fuyu, “F”  “U”  “Y” “U” persimmon – fuyu persimmon.  Now the kind you use for baking and cooking, that’s the one that kind of looks like a pyramid.  You know, an Aztec or Egyptian pyramid, but these right here, these you can eat just raw.  You can put them in a salad.  In fact, here’s one of the things I love to do.  Just go ahead and slice it just like so and then slice it into slices like this and just add that into your salads.  Oh, my goodness!  They are fantastic.       
I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Takes Bite)  Mmmm.
 
TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, see this cookie book?  The only thing you need to know – page 58. 
 
 
TEXAS GRAPEFRUIT (Thursday, November 19):  I love this time of year.  You walk down the produce aisle and you look at the citrus section and it just grows and grows and grows, and one of the first thing it grows with is right here.  Oh, my goodness!  Texas grapefruit.  It is certainly now in season.  Now remember, one of the things about Texas or Florida grapefruit…remember, it always has a few more scars on it.  That’s very typical.  I know some people, they look at it and say, “Oh, man.  That’s ugly grapefruit.”  Oh, no no no no.  That’s just a little scarring because there’s a little higher humidity in the Rio Grande Valley or in Florida where they grow these.  So the higher humidity makes the skin very, very tender, and so as it blows around and scratches up against leaves and branches it gets a little scarring.  Now of course, the thing you really want to see…uh huh.  Take a look at this - the color inside.  There’s the first cut of Texas grapefruit.  Oh, my goodness!  When you say red grapefruit, that is some beautiful grapefruit.  Now you know this grapefruit is not like what your dad used to eat or your granddad used to eat where you had to pour a bunch of sugar on it.  Uh, uh.  This stuff you can eat just like this.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.
 
TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, new crop grapefruit from Texas.  I’ll tell you how good it looks and tastes.
 
  
BANANAS (Friday, November 20):  Hey, this weekend Troy Aikmen turns 43 – former Dallas Cowboy quarterback and now NFL analyst, and one of the things when he was playing football he would have like every day – he would have bananas.  Of course, bananas are very good for potassium.   Well, this time of year it is very important how you need to buy your bananas.  These bananas here, a little bit too green.  This is what we call in the produce industry a quarter ripe.  It’s one quarter yellow but mostly green.  Now this here is about half ripe.  If you notice, there’s a lot more yellow on this.  So this is what we call half ripe.  This is the very minimum that I would buy for this time of year.  So why is that?  Well, it’s a little bit colder, right?  Our houses are a little bit colder.  It’s starting to get winter time.  We’re just a month away from the official first day of winter, so that means it’s colder in the house.  The colder it is, it slows down the ripening process of your bananas.   So if you want some ripe bananas when your kids need it for a snack, then buy riper bananas and they’ll keep a little bit longer for you.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. 
 
TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, how to buy bananas for this colder time of year.