LONG PROMO:   We are on the hunt for the perfect pineapple.  That’s right.  We’re getting you ready for Christmas.  We’ve got to have the perfect pineapple.  Now, how do you pick them out?  How do you store them?  And how in the world do you cut these things?  Join me next week…Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.

SHORT PROMO:  Hey, we’re picking out the perfect pineapple for your Christmas dinner…next week with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.
                                                                                                         
PINEAPPLES PART I (Monday, December 17):  You know, when most people think of this beautiful pineapple they still think of Hawaii.  Oh, tropical Hawaii!  That’s where we really started…you know back in the 1950’s when they started getting pineapple all over in Hawaii - Maui, the Big Island, Kauai, and all those different islands had tons and tons of pineapple, but did you know there are very few pineapples still grown in Hawaii today?  Most of the pineapples are being grown in places like Central America and the Caribbean, and the reason for that has nothing to do with, well, it has everything to do with labor.  They just couldn’t find labor in Hawaii.   Who wants to go to Hawaii and work, work in a plantation field?  That’s why most of them are now grown in places like Costa Rica, and that’s where most of these beautiful pineapples are coming from this time of year.  These gold varieties were specifically designed to grow in places like Costa Rica.  These gold varieties are some of the sweetest pineapples you will ever eat in your life, and they will be perfect for your Christmas dinner next week.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.   

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, what happened to the Hawaiian pineapple?

PINEAPPLES PART II (Tuesday, December 18): So, we’re getting you ready for Christmas dinner, and I’ve always said over the years that you must have plenty of fresh pineapple for your Christmas dinner because it is a universal symbol of friendship and welcome, but you walk up to that huge display of pineapple just like this in the store and you’re shaking your head.  What in the…how do you pick out a good pineapple?  Most likely one of the most difficult things to pick out unless you know what to look for.  Here’s what we look for.  First of all, what I look for...I first look at the crowns.  These are the crowns up on top.  They need to be healthy.  They need to be vibrant and green and velvety.  The next thing I’m going to do, I’m just going to pick it up.  Oh, my goodness.  This thing feels like a bowling ball.  That means there’s a lot of juice in there.  That means a lot of great sugar content and flavor.  Finally, I’m going to use my nose.  I’m going to smell it right there.  Oh, man, if it smells like Hawaii…if it smells like the tropics, that is going to be a super sweet pineapple for Christmas.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.   

TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report…okay, how do you pick out the best pineapple? 

PINEAPPLES PART III (Wednesday, December 19):  All right, so you get your pineapples home, and I said “pineapples”.  You better buy more than one because your guests are going to absolutely love them especially if you pick them out right.  So you buy more than one.  Ah ha, we’re going to buy three.  I always get about three of them.  I have one for decoration.  The other two I’m going to cut up.  But how do you store your pineapple?  You get it home from the store, what’s the first thing you do?  I know.  My wife used to do it too.  She would take this pineapple and put it into the refrigerator.  Oh, my goodness!  You know, the pineapple is a subtropical fruit.  It loves the heat.  It doesn’t like cold temperatures.  If you throw this thing…well, don’t throw it...if you put it into the refrigerator, it’s going to get what we call chill damage.  Here’s what I suggest you do.  I take my pineapple and I set them out.  In fact, I will lay them.  The pineapple is very sensitive.  I lay them down so most of the weight is not on the very bottom which is where all the sugar is.  That way it is going to ripen better.   I put a newspaper over them.  Oh, they’re going to ripen up perfectly.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.  

TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, okay, you get your pineapple home…now how do you store it right?

PINEAPPLES PART IV (Thursday, December 20):  Okay, so you got your good pineapple.  You’ve got it and you’re ready for Christmas.   How do you prepare this thing?   Well, first of all I cut the top and bottom off, the north pole and south pole.  Now I’m just going around cutting off the rind.  You’ve got to make sure you get all these eyes.  You don’t want to leave any of the eyes on there so cut deep enough to get those eyes off there because nobody wants those.  Now, I’ve always said the proper way, and they have this saying in Hawaii too, that the proper way of eating a pineapple is in long spears.  That’s because most of the sugar content is right down here.  Now if you serve this in slices, that means some of your guests are going to get the super sweet and some of them get the not as sweet, so if you serve it in long spears like so, all your guests will get some of the really sweet and some of the not so sweet.  By the way, see this core?   On a lot of these yellow flesh varieites you don’t have to take the core out anymore.  Those are just as good as the regular part of the pineapple.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.  (Takes Bite)  Mmmm.

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, I’ve always said serve your pineapples in long spears.  I’ll tell you why coming up.
  
PINEAPPLES PART V (Friday, December 21):  All right, we have been getting you ready all week long about pineapple for next week’s Christmas and Christmas Eve dinners.  I told you yesterday how to prepare it.   I thought I’d show you another way to prepare it today.  I just basically cut the pineapple in half.  I like to leave the crown on because it makes a nice pretty decoration.  Then I cut it into quarters.  Are you with me so far?  So far that’s simple, right?  Now, what we’re going to do, We’re just going to slice right down here.  You’ve got to have a sharp knife for this, by the way, and we’re going to slice right down just like so.  Then what we’re going to do…we’re going to slice it.  Go ahead and cut it into slices like this.  You with me so far? So far this does not take an engineering degree to figure this out.  Now what we’re going to do, we’re going to take these and off center them like so, and now you have this cute little decoration.  I like putting one of these at every place setting, and that makes each of my guests feel really, really welcome, and they enjoy some super tropical pineapple as well.   I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.  (Take bite)

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