Produce News for November 24, 2008

TANGERINES (Monday, November 24):  You know in 1942 this week the movie Casablanca premiered in movie theaters around the country.  Casablanca, Morocco, has a lot to do with tangerines because that’s where we get the name.  Most people think of the country of Morocco, they think of the capital – Casablanca, the capital city.  But you go a little bit north of there, the port city of Tangiers, and that’s where we get the name tangerine because tangerines came from China and they were exported to the rest of the world through the port city of Tangiers.  So it was a fruit from Tangiers which we call a tangerine.  Now these are new crop tangerines and one of the things I wanted…oh, look at that right there.  See, my wife was saying, “Mike, these are going bad really fast.”  Well, what happens - they pick the tangerines when the skin is actually very yellow and they put them in big rooms, very warm humidity rooms to warm them up and it gets their orange color.  Well, in the process of warming up, they also can get a little bit of mold, so don’t worry about it.  We’re going to be into what we call natural color tangerines in just a week or so. 

D’ANJOU PEARS (Tuesday, November 25)  Well, here it is.  It’s what I call a Bartlett look alike because, you know, the Bartlett pear is the most popular pear grown in the summer time, and this is called a D’Anjou pear and the D’Anjou kind of has the shape of a Bartlett pear.  It kind of has that bell shape very similar to a Bartlett pear, but one of the big differences between a D’Anjou and a Bartlett pear – the Bartlett pear turns yellow as it ripens.  Well, the D’Anjou kind of stays the same color.  So how in the world do you know when they get ripe?  It’s very simple.  Check the neck.  This is the neck of the fruit right up here by the stem.  So you just hold it in your hand like a baseball, and with your thumb you just kind of check right around that neck, and when it starts giving just a little bit, that’s when you know that’s going to be a ripe pear.  Now to ripen these pears, oh my goodness!  It’s so simple!  Just put them all together like in a basket like this.  I still love to use a brown paper bag.  That does a great job.  But a D’Anjou – you’ve got to ripen them, and when you do, it’s a great winter pear. 

COMICE PEARS (Wednesday, November 26):  If you are trying to get your kids or anybody in your family to eat more fruits and vegetables, may I suggest – try a Comice pear.  These are the little rotund pear.  It’s the stubby, chubby, fat little pear that I call…it’s probably one of the ugliest pears actually because it’s just so, you know, stubby and chubby.  But this right here, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Cadillac of pears – the Comice pear.  You’ve probably walked by it a hundred times in the store and said, you know, “What is that:  Comice?  Comice?  How do you pronounce it?”  Well, it’s a Comice.   And this is…you know all those holiday gift baskets that are sent around the country from Harry and David?  Well, right here.  This is the pear that they use in a lot of those gift baskets and those gift boxes.  It’s a Comice pear.  Now just like any other pear – you’ve got to ripen it.  So what you need to do…do not in a million years set it out on your counter just like this in the open air.  What you need to do is enclose it in a fruit ripening bowl.  A brown paper bag does a great job.  But make sure you keep them together.  In about a week, ah, this will melt in your mouth like cotton candy. 

BOSC PEARS (Thursday, November 27):  Well, take a look at this.  Come really close.  I want you to see this.   This is probably one of the most beautiful pears around.  It’s called a Bosc pear.  They have a cool long stem on them.  They have this long what we call a gooseneck on them because it’s probably one of the longest necks of any of the pears, and it just has this beautiful russetting color.  That’s what this brown color is.  It’s called russetting, kind of like a Russet potato which is the same color brown.  Well, this is the best of all baking pears.  If you love baking especially with the holidays coming up, then this is the time of year for Bosc pears.  This is what we call a winter pear.  There are summer pears like a Bartlett and there are winter pears like a Bosc pear.  Oh, my goodness.   These are so sweet and juicy.  By the way, have you noticed a lot of pear varieties have French names like Bosc, Comice, and D’Anjou?  Well, that’s because they all originated in France. 

RED PEARS (Friday, November 28):  You know holidays coming up, you’ve got to have some color to your salads.  So may I suggest these beautiful red pears?  Now there are many different varieties of red pears.  There is a red crimson.  There is a red star.  There is a red D’Anjou.  But basically, they’re all red, right?  One of the things I love about them, you can add these into your salads.  Now one of the ways you can do that is you can cut off the sides just like this.  Then what you can do, you can just slice it just like so and add these nice thin slices with this beautiful red color on the edge into your salad whether it’s a fruit salad or even a green salad.  I love to put pears into my green salad.  Now another thing, you know Christmas coming up, let’s see.  You’ve got green salad.  Red pears.  That’s red and green – that’s for Christmas, right?  So use red pears.   Try to get your kids a little more excited.  One of the other things I love about this is put the red pears out on your table as a centerpiece or as decorations before using them because they’re so pretty.