LONG PROMO:   Hey, we’re getting mangoes from Brazil, and I’ll tell you why they’re coming from Brazil.  Plus, oranges.  Oh my goodness, they’re starting to taste so sweet, and I’ll tell you why they are tasting sweet.  Red grapes!  We have some beautiful red grapes.  Come right down here.  That’s right.  We’re going to talk about brussels sprouts…next week, with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.

SHORT PROMO:  Hey, I’m going to get you to love brussel sprouts.  That’s right…next week with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.
                                                                                                         
MANGOES (Monday, December 3):  Hey, this week in 1492 Columbus discovered Haiti.  It’s still a big holiday down in Haiti.  They’ll be celebrating this week.  Now, there are actually politics and mangoes. If you remember politics back in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s there was a military coup in the country of Haiti.  Now this time of year most of our mangoes back then all came from Haiti.  Well, because of the Haitian military coup, guess what?  The United States embargoed all imports from the little island of Haiti.   That’s when a lot of mango growers went down to Brazil.  Hey, why not?  They’ve got a lot of land.  They have a lot of great water down there.  So that’s why we’re getting all our mangoes this time of year from Brazil, and plantations are really coming into peak production.  Look at the size of these mangoes!  Gorgeous mangoes.  These are beautiful Haden varieties.  They turn to a beautiful golden color.  So if you still love mangoes, man this is still a great time of year even though it’s wintertime - all the way from Brazil.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.   

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, why are we getting our mangoes from Brazil this time of year?

GRAPES (Tuesday, December 4): You know, this time of year we’re seeing a little bit of gap of supply of grapes from California to the Southern Hemisphere.  We have started seeing some Brazilian green seedless grapes.  We are still seeing, however, some beautiful red grapes coming in still from California.  Now the late season California grapes, I’ve got to tell you, are absolutely gorgeous.  Now they will have what we call “shatter”.  See how they just fall off the vine like that?  That’s very typical for late season grapes.  It doesn’t mean they’re bad.  Hey, by the way, you take the grapes off the vine anyway, don’t you? So, it makes it easier!  When they fall of the vine like that, it means they are very sweet.  Now we are starting to get just a few grapes in from Northern Chile. That’s the Copiapo Valley in Northern Chile.  Those are going to be very expensive.  From here probably through Christmas we’re going to pay some high prices for red grapes, but you’ve got to have red grapes for your Waldorf salad, and cut them into your salads as well.  Look at the festive color they bring to your Christmas season.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.  (Takes Bite)  Mmmm.

TEASE: (Takes bite)  Mmm.  Mmm.  Mmm.  In my next Produce Man report, some beautiful…(takes bite) Mmmm…red grapes.  (Takes bite)  Mmm. 

ORANGES (Wednesday, December 5):  I am very excited.  We’ve had the first frost in the San Joaquin Valley in California.  Know what that means?  Well, it means lots of things for navel oranges.  First of all, it means more sugar content.  Oh man, I love it after the first frost because cold temperatures trigger sugar production in this piece of fruit.  Sugar is kind of like antifreeze, and the more antifreeze in a piece of fruit, it protects it from the cold temperatures.  That’s why always after the first frost of the season we start getting sweeter navel oranges.  Also, let me show you a second thing.  See this rind?  It starts getting thicker.  It’s kind of like, you know, grandma telling you, “Hey, put on another coat.  It’s getting cold out there.”  Well, the orange puts on another coat, another layer of rind, so we get thicker rinds this time of year.  Also you will notice, ho ho, these are still processed to turn orange but we start noticing oranger oranges. That’s right.  The color gets oranger.  We call that in the produce industry nat color or natural color.  So the cold temperatures this time of year, that little frost in the Valley, it is so good!  Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Takes Bite)   Mmm.

TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, oh man, I’m so excited.  These navel oranges are getting sweeter.   I’ll tell you why.

BRUSSEL SPROUTS (Thursday, December 6):  They are my favorite vegetable on the face of the planet.  Right in here. I know some of you do not like them.  In fact, some of you actually hate brussel sprouts.  I call these the Rodney Dangerfield of produce because they get no respect.  There are two types of people in the world today.  There are people who love brussel sprouts (those are people who have had moms or grandmas who actually knew how to cook them), and there are people who hate brussel sprouts.  Those are the people who had moms and grandmas who overcooked the brussel sprouts and made the whole house smell something awful.  In fact, when you overcook brussel sprouts just 60 seconds, it releases three times the amount of that wonderful odor that you smell when you overcook the brussel sprouts.  Now, how do you get sweet brussel sprouts?  The varieties that they grow today are much sweeter than they were just 10 or 15 years ago.  Now what do I look for…I look for smaller sprouts.  The smaller the sprout, the sweeter the sprout.   I also want to make sure there is no yellow on the leaves, on the outer wrapper leaves.  So, no yellow and smaller.  They’ll be sweeter that way.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.  

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, that’s right…my favorite vegetable – the lovely brussel sprouts. 
  
TOMATOES (Friday, December 7):  Hey, Terry Hatcher, “Desperate Housewives”, turns 42 years old tomorrow.  I get a lot of questions from desperate consumers, and one of the most asked questions is about tomatoes.  “Why do my tomatoes turn soft in the refrigerator.  Well, numero uno.  You should never ever in a million years store unripe tomatoes in the refrigerator.  Folks, this right here is a subtropical fruit. Subtropical fruits like the heat.  They don’t like cold temperatures.  So when you put an unripe tomato in the refrigerator, a couple things happen.  Number one – cold kills flavor.  Remember those three words.  Cold kills flavor.  Number two.  It breaks down the molecular structure on the inside of the tomato so when you go to slice it, it literally breaks down.  It is so soft!  We call that chill damage.  So please, store your tomatoes outside of the refrigerator on your countertop.  Actually, cover them with a newspaper or something.  That’s even better.  That’s the best way you’re going to have a better flavor and a better cutting tomato.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.

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