Produce News for Sept 24, 2007
LONG PROMO: Hey, have you noticed over the past few years organic, yeah, becoming a lot more popular, and this is organic. We’re going to talk a little bit about organic produce. Plus it is the first full week of autumn, so what should we talk about? Apples. Beautiful apples. Look at these apples. I’m going to show you all about the apples, plus how to cut them and core them…next week, with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.
SHORT PROMO: Hey, autumn means apples, apples, apples…next week with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.
NATIONAL ORGANIC PRODUCE MONTH (Monday, September 24): Hey, did you happen to know this is National Organic month…National Organic Produce Month? You notice, you know in the past 30 years since I’ve been in the produce industry, you know, organic was just like the health food aisle. And then organic started coming in the produce aisle, and we had like what five feet of organic produce. Now you look at a lot of produce departments in a lot of grocery stores. Man, you’ve got 20 to 25 feet of organic produce, everything from apples to zucchini and virtually everything in between. Now what do I think of organic? I love organic if you can afford it. Now, it is still more expensive than regular what we call commercially grown or conventionally grown produce. I’m just trying to get people to eat more produce, and if you can eat more produce by buying organic, then hey, I’m all for that. But if you’re still struggling with a budget, just buy the produce. Still half of all the produce that we eat in the grocery stores has no detectable residues on them at all, so that’s really good. It’s just eating the produce. If you can afford organic, do it. I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.
TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, the O. No, it’s not Oprah. It’s Organic.
APPLES I (Tuesday, September 25): It is officially the first week of autumn. It began over the weekend. A is for autumn. A is for apples. Have you started seeing already all the new crop apples coming into the supermarket? All kinds of different varieties of apples. If you think apples are nothing more than red, green, and granny, you are mistaken. There is a whole world of apples out there. Go on an apple adventure, will you? This right here, this is a Newtown Pippin. Right here. Take a look at that. This happens to be, well, it was Benjamin Franklin’s favorite apple. And look, it’s still around 250 years later. Now here‘s another one. Grab a Gravenstein. If you love apple cake or applesauce, a Gravenstien is by far the best apple on the face of the planet. There are so many others. Oh, here’s a brand new one. Maybe you’ve never seen it. It’s called a Honey Crisp. This was developed at the University of Minnesota. Honey Crisp. Honey. It’s sweet. This is a real crisp apple. Hey, go on an adventure in the produce aisle in the apple section. It’s autumn. Try a new variety. I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Takes Bite) Mmmm.
TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report…Come on, take a bite out of apples. It’s autumn! (Takes bite) Mmm.
APPLES PART II (Wednesday, September 26): Bags or bulk. Bags or bulk. I don’t know. A lot of people will go back and forth. Do you buy bulk apples or do you buy bag apples? Now, I kind of like bag apples, especially if you have kids or grandkids around because bag apples actually tend to be a little bit smaller apples. So, you know, why give a huge apple to your kid who’s not going to eat the whole thing? When you buy a smaller apple, it’s a lot more cost effetive that way, and they’re going to eat the whole thing. Also, one thing about the bagged apples you may notice. Sometimes the bagged apples tend to be a little bit more more lopsided. I’m mean they’re not your perfectly shaped apple. They may have a blemish or two. But you know for these bags, it’s a great value. That’s right. So if you’re looking for value, I would always go with the bag. They may not look as pretty as the regular ones, and they may be a bit smaller, but don’t worry about it. You save in the long run, and your kids or grandkids will eat the whole thing. I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Takes Bite) Mmmm.
TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, when it comes to apples, do we buy bulk or do we buy bags?
APPLES PART III (Thursday, September 27): You know, when it comes to apples there’s a couple things you need to know. First of all, I generally will buy my produce at the end of my shopping experience. So I buy all the other stuff that I need - the breads, the meats, and the cheeses, and then I go to the produce section last because I want those things to stay very cold, especially when it comes to apples. Now, as soon as I get my groceries home, guess what? The first thing, the very first thing that I put away will be my apples. That’s because apples will ripen eight times faster at room temperature than they do at cold temperatures. Now, do you want a crisp apple or do you want a mealy apple? I hate mealy. So do you. So you’ve got to keep your apples super ice cold. So you come in from the car, right, and you have these apples in your hand and you put them in the coldest part of your refrigerator immediately. That’s the first thing you should do to have a super crisp apple. I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Takes Bite) Mmmm.
TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, they’re the last thing I buy at the store and the first thing I put away when I get home. What is it?
APPLES PART IV (Friday, September 28): All right. You’ve got to cut your apples. You’ve got to core them. What’s the easiest way? Well, there’s a couple things. First of all, if you’re going to be using your apples like in a crisp and you’re just slicing the apples, I just simply cut the apple in half from stem to blossom end, and then I will start slicing just like so. Nothing fancy about this. And when you get down to the core, you stop and turn it around. Now, if you need to take the core out, let’s say you’re baking part of it. Now you’re going to take this half, you know the easiest thing to do? Right here. I know it’s a melon baller, but we can use it as an apple baller too. It’s very sharp, and it just goes right around the core very simply taking the core out. The stem comes off. There you go. Perfect. Now you can fill that with cinnamon and brown sugar and throw that into the oven Bake it. Man, that’s so good! So you slice them or you can just use that melon baller – whichever one you want. I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Take bite)
TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, it’s a melon baller – so use it for your apples.
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