LONG PROMO:   Have you ever wondered how the orange got its name.  That’s right – the orange.  And it has nothing to do with the color.  A new crop grapefruit is now in.  Plus, is there water core in your apple.  Plus,  cranberries.  We all love them this time of year, but how did the cranberry get its name?  Next week, with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.

SHORT PROMO:  Is there water core in your apple?  Next week with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.

ORANGE (Monday, December 10):  I always wonder things like, you know, how did some things get there names?  My first name is Michael.  I was named after my father.  I often wondered, well how did an orange get its name?  That’s right.  An orange.  You’re probably thinking, “Mike, it’s orange, right?  That’s how it got its name.”  No, no, no.  The word for the color orange came after the fruit was named orange.  Ah ha!  Which tells you which came first, right?  The orange came first, which means the name means something different.  Now, I guarantee you if you were right here in my little farmer’s market set as I’m peeling this orange, I guarantee you that pretty soon every one of you could smell the orange.  That’s right.  Somebody in the house is peeling an orange, and pretty soon everybody in the house knows there’s an orange.   Hey, who’s peeling the orange?  That’s because the name “orange” comes from a very ancient Sandscript word that means fragrance.  It’s actually the most fragrant fruit on earth which is why we call it the orange.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.   

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, have you ever wondered how the orange got its name?  Psst.  It has nothing to do about color. 

GRAPEFRUIT (Tuesday, December 11):  It is peak of the season.  Right now through March we are getting great supplies of wonderful grapefruit.  Oh, my goodness!  What a great season for grapefruit.  These are the Texas Rio Red grapefruit.  Why do they call them Rio Red?  ‘Cause they’re the other red meat. Take a look inside.   Oh, man!  That is so good! You can just taste this grapefruit - a very, very sweet grapefruit.  Look, you don’t need sugar on this grapefruit.  Now, I’ve been asked questions – Where’s all the Florida grapefruit.  You know, Florida still grows half of all the grapefruit in the United States, but they are still paying for the hurricanes of two years ago because it spread a disease called a canker disease.  Growers in Florida have literally destroyed tens of thousands of trees that have this canker disease, and it is still embargoed.  The United States has embargoed Florida fruit from entering any other citrus producing state like Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, and California of course.  So there’s plenty of Florida grapefruit, we just can’t see it.  But we’ve got the Texas Rio Red.  Why do you want anything else?  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.  (Takes Bite)  Mmmm.

TEASE: Oh, my goodness!  In my next Produce Man report, the other red meat…Texas grapefruit.

APPLES - WATER CORE (Wednesday, December 12):  Ah, I am finding some.  Let me cut one more.  I’ll show you what I’m looking for here.  Oops, none in there.  Let me cut one more.  See if I can find it.  Ah ha.  A little bit in there too.  Oh, I just dropped my knife.  I’m glad you didn’t see that.  Take a look at this.  This is what we call water core.  Now, most of you will buy this apple and get really mad and say, “Uh!  Harry, just take those back to the grocery store and get your money back.”  Oh, no!  That is not what you should do.  This may look pretty darn ugly, right?  You know what the growers call this?  They don’t call this water…Hey, you don’t eat the core anyway, right?  They don’t call this water core.  You know what they call this?  Sugar core.  This is actually a sign of very high sugar content in this Fuji apple.  So when you cut your apple open and you see what looks like a little water balloon in there.  This is water core, a.k.a. sugar core.  Don’t take it back to the grocery store.  You eat that, and you will love it.  That’s what the growers like.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Takes Bite)  Mmmm.

PERSIMMONS (Thursday, December 13):  Hey, happy birthday.  Ugh!  Happy birthday, Dick Van Dyke.  Hey, pucker up for a persimmon.  We’ve got persimmons today.  There are two main types of persimmons in the world today.  This is the main type.  This is called a Fuju persimmon.  It’s the one kind of flat like this.  This is the one you can eat just like an apple.  Now, it’s this one here.  They’re not going to beg in the stores for much longer.  This is my favorite persimmon.  It’s the baking persimmon.  You make breads, cookies, puddings…Oh, my goodness.  It’s called a Hachiya persimon – the one with the little point on the top.  Now, this is the persimmon you must allow to ripen fully before you can use it bescause it is so astringent.  It is more astringent than even a lemon.   You want a great cookie recipe?  My mom has the best cookie recipe on the face of the planet using persimmons.  Write to me here at the station.  Send a self-addressed stamped envelope.  I’ve got some great recipes using Hachiya persimmons including my mom’s favorite persimmon cookie.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report…Oh man, they won’t be here much longer…the Hachiya persimmons for your cookies for the holiday time. 
  
CRANBERRIES (Friday, December 14):  You know earlier this week I was talking about oranges and how they got their name.  It probably surprised most of you.  But I thought I would talk today about another great item this time of year…cranberries.  Now how in the world did the cran…what in the world is a cran anyway?  Well, in 1620 the pilgrims arrived, you know, in Massachusetts there.  The very next spring they’re walking along the beaches, you know, and they see this vine growing.  What’s that?  I don’t know.  Never seen that before.  So they waited for the blossom.  Now, soon as this vine started to blossom, that’s when they named it.  Now look in your encyclopedia or on the computer and find the bird crane.  The blossom of a cranberry looks exactly like the head and neck of the bird we call a crane, so when the early pilgrims saw the blossom, they said, “Hey, there is a craneberry.”  We eventually dropped the “e”.  It didn’t sound very good.  We now call it cranberries, named after a bird.  You can even look it up.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. 

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