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Produce News for September 21, 2009

 

MELONS (September 21):  Hey, you’ve heard of the musical “The West Side Story”?  It premiered actually in 1957 this week.  It was a great musical.  Well, did you know there is a “West Side” story in the produce department?  We actually call them the “West Side” melons.  Now “West Side” is a geographical location.  If you get out your world atlas, actually your U.S. atlas, and go to California and look at that big San Joaquin Valley.  Now look at the bottom of the San Joaquin Valley and look on the west side.  That’s called the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, and that is the premiere growing region in the world for these right here – beautiful summer melons.  And why is the west side so perfect?  I call the west side growing district in the San Joaquin Valley the Napa Valley of melons.  You know, you’ve heard of the Napa Valley in grapes, wine grapes.  Well, it is perfect growing conditions.  It is hot, generally 95 to 100 degree temperatures, and it’s dry.  The “West Side Story” here folks, perfect for melons.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.   
 
 
TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, I’ve got “The West Side Story” for melons.
 
APPLES PART I (Tuesday, September 22):  5:18 today PM Eastern Time.  5:18 What happens?  The autumn equinox.  That’s right.  Autumn begins today, and so of course, you can’t talk about the first day of autumn without talking about A is also for apples.  Now one of the most important things you need to know about apples...We’re starting to get new crop apples from lots of different regions of the country so I love this time of year, all these different varieties and the regional farmers that are growing these regional varieties – they’re fantastic - but one of the things you need to know about apples – you’ve got to keep them ice cold.  If you love a crisp, juicy apple, look…I tell my wife, “The last thing you buy before you leave the store are going to be apples.  The first thing you put away when you get home are the apples.”  Keep them in the refrigerator.  Keep them ice cold, and when you get those out of the refrigerator and go to cut them or eat them, oh, man, are they going to be crispy.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Takes Bite) 
 
TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report…if you want a crispy apple, keep them ice cold.  (Takes bite)
 
 
APPLES PART II (Wednesday, September 23): Hey, autumn began yesterday so we’re talking about apples this week.  One of the questions I often get:  which is the best value – buying apples in what we call bulk condition, you know, that’s just the big apple displays, or buying apples in the bag.  And the bags actually come in like 3 pounds,  5 pounds, 8 pounds, 10 pounds.  They come in lots of different assortments.  But one of the things about the bags that you need to know is generally the apples that go in the bag are generally just a little bit smaller.  Now I love that, especially if you have kids or grandkids and you’re making lunches for them.   Hey, this is a lot smaller than one of these apples, right?  I mean, which one are your kids going to eat at school?  They might have half of this one and throw the other half away.  This one is what we call a lunch box size apple.  And that’s generally what goes inside these bags.  Now the quality of these apples – they may be a little bit lopsided, maybe the color might not be perfect, but these apples in the bags, by far the best value.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Takes Bite)
 
TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, for me with apples, the money’s in the bag.
 
 
APPLES PART III (Thursday, September 24):    You know all this week we’ve been talking about apples because autumn, of course, began this week, and we get a lot of local growers, regional growers in our area that start harvesting their new crop of apples, and one of the things that a lot of people don’t realize how to do is how to core their apples.  You’ve got to get the core out, so I’m going to show you the real easy way of coring your apples.  You’ve got the whole apple right there.  You going to take a nice sharp knife.  You’re going to cut that apple right in half.   You with me so far?  Now at this point you could get out your melon baller, I like to do this a lot, and I’ll use the melon baller just to scoop out the core.  But if you don’t have a melon baller or don’t want to use one, here’s what you do.  Take the knife.  Now cut it again.  Now you have it in quarters.  Now watch this.  The core is right here.  Are you with me so far?  Now you’re going to take your knife and cut out the core, and you do that four times, and you’ve cored the apples.  Now guess what.  You put this in front of your kids, no cores there, I guarantee you, your kids are going to eat a lot more apples that way.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Takes Bite) 
 
TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, get out your apple.  Get out a knife.  We’re going to core the apple.
 
  
APPLES PART IV (Friday, September 25):                Hey, Johnny Appleseed was born this week in 1774.  Also, you know this week in 1806 Lewis and Clark arrived back from their expedition in St. Louis.  Now why Lewis and Clark and Johnny Appleseed?  Of course, we’re talking about apples.  It’s the first week of autumn.  And one of the things I love about Lewis and Clark?  They went off and explored and got all the different nuts and fruits and berries and plants.  Well, here’s what I want you to do.  Take your kids or grandkids into the produce department…I love this time of year because you walk down the apple aisle, you will find so many different varieties of apples!  Not just 1, 2, or 3 when I first started in this industry.  You will find 10, 12, 13, 14 different varieties of apples.  Go on a Lewis and Clark expedition each and every week.  Have your kids or grandkids pick out a different variety of apple for the family that week.  You know, in the next two or three months, you have tried a lot of different varieties of apples.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.  (Take bite)
 
TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, let’s go on a Lewis and Clark expedition down the apple aisle.  (Takes Bite)