Produce News for September 8, 2008

LONG PROMO:   Have you noticed this time of year, strawberries getting a little smaller.  I’ll tell you why that is.  Plus where in the world are we getting this beautiful spring asparagus?  Plus look at these huge plums, and what in the world is this huge item?  Whoa!  We’re going to tell you…next week, with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.

SHORT PROMO:  They’re huge!  Plums and pluots…next week with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.

                                                                                                         

POTATOES (Monday, September 8):  Man, you walk into the produce department and you look at those potatoes, you know - the spuds and the five pounds and the ten pounds and you go over to the baker’s section where they sell them by the pound.  Whoa!  What is up with the price?  Well, you know, last August we had record high temperatures in the Northwest – that’s Oregon, Washington, Idaho.  That’s where a lot of our potatoes are grown for the United States.  Well, that reduced the crop.  Well, guess what’s happening this year.  We not only have reduced crop from last year but this year about sixty thousand acres less in Idaho alone, and there are a lot of other regions of the country.  So we’ve had very high prices of potatoes up until now, and I have a feeling we’re going to continue to see very high prices of potatoes right on into the fall, right on into the holidays, and probably right on into the next year as well.  Is that a problem?  Well, not really because, you know, even at these high prices, spuds are still one of the cheapest vegetables you can buy per pound and very healthy for you.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.   

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, what’s up with these high prices of potatoes?

ASPARAGUS (Tuesday, September 9)  You know when you think of spring, that’s when you think of beautiful asparagus.  You know it is one of what I call one of the three things of spring, and asparagus, oh my goodness.  But you know you can walk in the produce department, and you can literally find asparagus 365 days out of the year except this year.  It’s 366 days because of Leap Year.  Take a look at this asparagus.  Take a look at the tips right up here.  These are absolutely gorgeous.  Where in the world are these coming from?  These are actually being grown in Peru in the valley of Ica which is just south of Lima, Peru.  So get out your world atlas and check that out.  We’re also getting this time of year from New Zealand and also Mexico.  It happens to be spring and summer in the Southern Hemisphere which is why we can have spring asparagus now.  Now when you’re picking out your asparagus, just like here in the United States when it’s grown here, take a look at the tips.  If the tips look really, really tight like you could dip that into some ink and write your name, that is going to be a good spear of asparagus.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.  

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report…where in the world are we getting asparagus? 

PLUMS (Wednesday, September 10):  Oh, my goodness!  I am thrilled to death!  Take a look at these beautiful plums.  Oh, take a look.  We’ve got red and black plums, all the very different varieties, but we have red plums, black plums.  Now when I first started in the produce industry 30 years ago, you know, the plums we would sell, they were little, tiny, dinky things.  Come really close.  Take a look at this.  I love the growers in California now.  They are starting to grow much larger plums because they have learned over the past decade that we want size.  Size does matter when it comes to your plums.  A couple other things I’m noticing with these plums….oh, don’t go away.  Take a look at this.  See all that little whitish powder in there?  See that whitish powder?  That’s actually called bloom.  The more bloom you see on the plum, the fresher the plum is.  When you see plums that are like totally shiny, they have none of that whitish powder on them, those are plums that have been around a while.  They’re not going to be as sweet or as juicy.   But these plums here, go outside and eat these plums outside.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Takes Bite)  Mmmm.

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, take a look at these huge plums!

PLUOTS (Thursday, September 11):  You know, yesterday I was talking about the huge plums that we have now.   Oh, ho!  You ain’t seen nothing yet.  Take a look at these…these are pluots.  Oh, my goodness!  And actually Floyd Zeiger - he’s the guy in Modesto, California, that came up with the whole idea of pluots – you know, crossing a plum with an apricot, and that’s a plumcot, 50/50, and then you take that plumcot and cross it one more time with a plum and you get a pluot.  So it’s two-thirds plum, one-third apricot.  Flavor is unbelievable, but you know, he was one of the first ones who started trellicing his orchards and coming up with much larger pieces of fruit.  And take a look at this fruit.  Oh, man!  There are like three different varieties…four different varieties of pluots in here.  Let me show you.  Look at that.  One, two, three, four, five different varieties of pluots.  If you are trying to get your kids to eat more fruits and vegetables, may I give you one simple suggestion?  Go buy some pluots.  Your kids will love them.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.  (Takes Bite)  Mmmm.

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, you ought to try a pluot.  (Takes bite)  Mmm.

  

STRAWBERRIES (Friday, September 12):  Have you noticed?  Maybe you have.  Maybe you haven’t’.  Come down here real quick.  Take a look at my strawberries.  Have you noticed the strawberries getting a little bit tinier?  Well, that is normal for this time of year.  That’s right.  Normally during the course of a strawberry season you see, you know, like huge strawberries like this.  But take a look at some of these much smaller strawberries.  Again, that is very typical for late in the season because let me tell you what happens late in the season in the strawberry fields, whether it’s Watsonville or Southern California.  See the plants are getting old and they’re getting tired, and they’re also putting out a lot more runners because they’re thinking, “Hey, our season’s almost done.  We need to reproduce.”  So they start putting out all of these runners, and the plant sends all its energy to produce runners and not as much energy to produce the little berries on here.  Now, is that a problem?   No, no, no.  Not in the least because these berries right here, these are so super sweet.  They may be small, but they are sweet.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.  (Takes bite) Mmm.

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, this time of year the strawberries may be small, but they are sweet.