LONG PROMO:   Oh my goodness!  I’m excited!  Look!  New crop grapes.  It’s the peak of the season from Chile.  I’ll tell you how they’re doing.  Plus, these melons - I’ve got to tell you a little bit about the cantalope and honeydew.  Where they’re coming from and what you need to look for.   Plus, take a look at that!  That is a plum.  I’ll tell you abou it…next week, with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.

SHORT PROMO:  Oh my goodness, a great bunch of grapes.…next week with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.
                                                                                                         
CANTALOUPES (Monday, February 25):  You have got to check out these melons.  You know, you’re walking into the supermarket and you’re looking at the melon section.  There’s still actually melons.  I remember when I first started in the produce industry 30 years ago, I mean melons were like the summertime.  Well, its summertime in places like Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala, which is where  we’re getting a lot of our melons including cantaloupe.  Now, a couple things you need to watch for in the cantaloupe, especially this time of year – if you notice the netting, beautiful netting which means good growing conditions, but look at the green cast to the shell.  That is very typical for this time of year.  It’s the seed variety.  It’s not because it’s immature.  What you do want to watch for is…take a look at these stems right here.  Take a look at that stem.  You still see part of the stem attached.  That’s what we call a three quarter slip which means one quarter of the stem is still attached which means this melon will not have nearly the sugar content as this melon, which is what we call a full slip.  Now to ripen these, just leave them on the counter top and cover them up.  They’ll get some much better flavor.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.   

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, what to look for on these cantaloupes.

HONEYDEWS (Tuesday, February 26):  My honeydew cantaloupe.  Oh my goodness!  Yesterday we talked about cantaloupes.  Today it’s honeydews.  It’s the second most popular melon in the produce department, especially this time of year. And the same places we’re getting cantaloupe, we’re also getting honeydew – places like Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Honduras.  We’re also getting some from Mexico as well.  But man, there’s a couple things you really need to pay attention to.  First of all, take a look at this melon here.  Man, that thing looks absolutely ugly.  That is what we call chill damage in the produce industry.  That means, when this melon was picked, it did not have…it was not fully mature so it makes it more sensitive to cold temperatures, so then to put it in the refrigerator then it gets all these marks on it which are called chill marks.  This is not good at all.  Here is what you want to look for.  You want to make sure you have a honeydew melon that has  a little bit of color to it, no green tinge at all.  It needs to be pure white or starting to turn a little but yellow.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.   

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report…now this is an ugly honeydew melon! 

GRAPES (Wednesday, February 27):  Oh, I can just close my eyes, and I can see them.  An hour south of Santiago, Chile, the grape vineyards.  Oh, my goodness!  This time of year the grape vineyards just south of Santiago, Chile, are teaming with workers harvesting some of the best grapes of the winter season, and this is what we’re finding.  Absolutely gorgeous red flame seedless grapes.  Take a look at that stem.  Look how velvety green that stem…these are fresh grapes!  These are super fresh, and we’re getting some gorgeous Thompson seedless grapes.  Folks, this is peak of the season.  That means right now through probably into mid March to late March is peak of the season, and we’re going to have some of the best buys on grapes.  Now one of the things that has made the grapes even better…when I first started in the produce industry 30 years ago, it took about 21 days for these grapes to go from Chile to the United States. Today, on a ship, on a big vessel, it takes only about 10 days.  What does that mean?  Man, a lot fresher grapes and a lot better tasting too.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Takes Bite)  Mmmm.

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, oh man, these are some great grapes! (Takes Bites)  Mmmm.  Mmmm.  

PLUMS (Thursday, February 28):  Hey, take a look.  Take a look at this.  I’ve got this cute little smile down here.  Oh, my goodness!  It’s a beautiful smile because it’s plums.  Take a look at these plums.  Look how big these plums are.  You’ve got to take a look at these.  Now there’s two main types of plums.  There’s red plums and they’re black plums.  Aren’t we brilliant in the produce industry?  Oh, my goodness!  Now why are these so large?  These are coming from Chile.  Just south of Santiago are the main growing regions for plums this time of year.  What they started doing about 30 years ago in Chile, 25 and 20 years ago – right in that decade, they started putting their plum trees on trellises which opened up the leaf structure of the plants which means you had better blossom production which means better fruit set which means larger plums.  Oh, my goodness!  And they’re not just large.  You’ve got to take a look at these inside.  Take a look at that juice inside!  Oh, man!  How do they taste?  I thought you would never ask!  (Takes Bite)  Mmmm.  That’s so good.
I’m Michael Marks – plum crazy.…I’m Your Produce Man.  (Takes Bite)  Mmmm.

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, these are what I call plums!
  
PEACHES (Friday, February 29):  Well today is a very special day.  It’s the…well, we only have one of these days every four years, right?  Leap Year, so we have a February 29th this year.  So I thought I’d talk about something very special.  They’re expensive in the produce department right now, but these are very, very special.  Look how large these nectarines and plums are.  Now may I suggest this time of year especially, you buy what is called air shipped peaches.  Those are peaches that are harvested in Santiago, just south of Santiago, and they are packed the next day.  They are loaded onto an airplane.  They are shipped to the United States, so literally within 48 hours you are able to literally get a tree ripened peach into the United States from Chile, and that’s exactly what these are.  What you need to do, you need to make sure you fully ripen these.  You’ve got to put them in a brown paper bag and let them get all the juice they need to get.  Oh, man, they will then taste so good!  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. 

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, go ahead ask me.  How am I?  I’m really peachy!

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