Produce News for November 9, 2009
KIWI (Monday, November 9): Well, you may have noticed all by yourself, but sometimes this time of year I get a few letters, a few questions, a few e-mails about the kiwi fruit – how come they went from soft to rock hard all of a sudden? Well, we are moving into a new crop, new domestic crop. California has just started harvesting their brand new crop of beautiful kiwi fruit, and you will notice, yes, they are a bit more firm when they start out. Now that doesn’t mean they picked them early. It just simply means you need to be a little bit more patient. Let me go ahead and cut this in half and be patient because they will ripen up. Take a look at that inside. Absolutely gorgeous. Oh, my goodness! So they will ripen for you. So here’s what you need to do. Get your kiwi fruit. Do not set them out in the open air. They will simply dehydrate before they ripen. Enclose them in a brown paper bag or fruit ripening bowl. It will take a few extra days, but they will ripen and taste fantastic. I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Takes bite) Mmm.
TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, they may take longer to ripen, but once they do, oh, they’re so good. (Takes bite) Mmm.
HARD WINTER SQUASH PART I (Tuesday, November 10): Hey, I took a walk down the produce aisle this morning and grabbed a couple things. Do you know what that is? Do you know what this one is? Come close. Take a look. Take a look. Do you know what this one happens to be? How ‘bout this one? How ‘bout this one? How ‘bout this one? Well, these are hard winter squash and all kinds of different varieties. I love this time of year because you walk down the produce aisle…when I first started in the produce department, this was basically the only hard winter squash we would carry. That’s right. It’s called an acorn squash or Danish squash, but now take a look at this. All these different varieties! Let me give you the names of them. This is called a sweet dumpling. Does that give you a hint of the flavor? This is called a delicata, one of my favorite. If you love the flavor of corn, you’re going to love this. This is called a butternut. This has become one of the most popular hard winter squashes with chefs. Of course, spaghetti squash. And this one, kabocha squash means honey squash in Japanese. I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.
TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report…take a look at my new little babies, hard winter squash.
HARD WINTER SQUASH PART II (Wednesday, November 11): You know, I know that we can get hard winter squash 365 days out of the year. We used to just call it winter squash because when I first started in the produce industry 30 years ago, yeah, it was basically in the wintertime, but now we can get them in the spring, summer, fall, winter. They’re here all year long. So…but I do need to suggest there is a reason why we should eat more hard winter squash in the wintertime. Let me cut this one in half. Holy Toledo! Look at the color in there. See all that color? That is beta keratine, vitamin A. What do we need in the wintertime? We need our eyes to see better because there’s less sunlight during the days, more nighttime hours, right? So our eyes need to adjust – vitamin A. Also in the wintertime, what else do we need? We need to stay warm. Hard winter squash has more calories, and it helps our body stay warmer in the winter. I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.
TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, why we should eat more hard winter squash in the winter.
HARD WINTER SQUASH PART III (Thursday, November 12): You know, when you walk down the produce aisle these days, especially this time of year, you tend to find a lot more of these hard winter squash. So many different varieties. So many different shapes and colors and sizes and everything. Well, how do you pick them all out? Well, there are a couple things you need to know. Overall, here’s what I look for when I’m walking down…first of all, I’m making sure there’s no decay. I just look on the skin and make sure there’s no decay. That’s pretty obvious. Also, I’ll just take my thumb and I’ll press into it. Look, this is called hard winter squash. The shell on these had better be hard. The next thing I do, I look at the color. Make sure they have a rich color overall on the outside. The richer the color, the richer the flavor. Finally, just pick one up. Hold it in your hand. It needs to be very heavy for its size. If it’s heavy for its size no matter if it’s a big one or a small one, but if it’s heavy for its size that means it’s going to be full of flavor, full of nutrition for you and your family. I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.
TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, how in the world do you pick out a good hard winter squash?
HARD WINTER SQUASH PART IV (Friday, November 13): Get out your rubber mallet and get out your big knife. We’re going to be cutting one of these hard winter squash. Now, when you get your hard winter squash home, where do you store it? What? Your refrigerator? Please, never in a million years should you put your hard winter squash in the refrigerator. The refrigerator actually takes away flavor, takes away sugar content. You don’t want that. Just leave it out in a cool, dry place. In fact, leave it out as decorations in your home. Really cool. Now what we’re going to do, we’re going to slice this thing in half but it’s very difficult, so what we’re going to do, we’re going to just quickly slice off an edge like that. Now it’s going to hold steady for us. Now we can take this knife and our mallet and we can just slam it right down there just like so. Oh, man. That was easy. I didn’t even cut myself with it. These things are really hard so you get a rubber mallet and a big knife, and it does it really simply. Now put that in. Bake that with the cut side down. Oh, my goodness! A little cinnamon and brown sugar. It’s so good. I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.
TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, what vegetable will I use the rubber mallet on?
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