LONG PROMO:   Hey, do you see anything in there?  I’m looking for little bugs.  This time of year bugs can really bug you with your leaf lettuce.  I’ll tell you what to do about it.  Plus, have you noticed?  Your spuds are getting a little bit wet.  I know, its not a personal thing.  I’ll tell you about that plus avocados taking a little bit longer to ripen and jalapeno peppers…next week with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.

SHORT PROMO:  Hey, I’m checking out bugs…if they’re bugging you in your lettuce…next week with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.
                                                                                                         
AVOCADOS (Monday, October 1):  Have you noticed your Hass avocados taking a little bit longer to ripen these days?   That’s because your Hass avocados are coming all the way from the Southern Hemisphere.  That’s right.  We’ve got Mexico and also Chile.  In fact, in Chile it’s the peak of the season.  Unfortunately in August, Chile had a late snow and a freeze.  It wiped out 30% of their avocado crop.  That means prices are going to stay pretty high most of the fall.  But because it’s the first of the season, they are low oil content, and because they are lower oil content, it just takes a little bit longer for them to ripen.  So please do yourself a favor.  Buy your avocados well in advance before you’re going to need them like for guacamole for football or college football, and that way you can ripen them.  And don’t refrigerate them very long because inside if you refrigerate them, because there is more water than oil in here, it’s going to turn black inside.  So please do yourself a favor.  Just buy them in advance and ripen them on your counter top.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.     

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, why are avocados taking a little bit longer to ripen?  

RUSSET POTATOES (Tuesday, October 2):  Hey, happy birthday Kelly Ripa.  She turns 37 years old today.  One of her favorite things to eat right here - baked potatoes – loves Russet potatoes.   Have you noticed some of the bags of Russet potatoes?  They’re a little bit wet.  In fact, you can just go inside and see.  There’s some moisture and condensation.  Now why in the world   would your spuds be wet?  These are what we call freshly dug spuds.  That’s right.  Let me get these out.  Yeah, you can see they’re still wet.   Now, what’s going on is they’re digging spuds all the way from Maine to Wisconsin all the way to Washington and Idaho.  They’re digging them.  They’re washing them, and they’re not putting them in storage to dry out.  They’re going right into the bags.  That means they could be a little bit damp.  So what you need to do - you need to get your spuds home, and you need to get them out of the bag.  And you need to dry them out because if you don’t do that, man, these spuds are just going to…they are going to… oh man, in two days you’re going to walk out of your bedroom and into the kitchen and say, “Man, what is that smell?”  Stinking spuds.  You’ve got to dry them out first.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.  

TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, why are some of the spuds a little bit wet?

LETTUCE (Wednesday, October 3):  Hey, I’m checking out my lettuce here.  Yeah, I’m checking out my lettuce here because this time of year it’s very, very common to have bugs right in the lettuce.  You know, its late in the season, right?  It’s late in the season so that means, you know, the bugs are getting really hungry this time of year so a lot of times they go down to the Green Valley of the Salinas Valley, and they attack all this green lettuce.  So sometimes you find little, tiny bugs in there.  Don’t worry about it.  Okay, here’s what you do.  You fill up your sink full of ice cold water.  It’s got to be ice cold.  Dump some ice in there, right, and then soak your lettuce.  Well, not soak it for a long time.  Put your lettuce in there, and the ice cold water, you know, it shocks the little insects and it makes them let go of the lettuce so they kind of float to the top, you know.  Then you can clean your lettuce that way.  Now, if you’re still having trouble, here’s what they do in Europe.  What you will do is take a lemon.  Squeeze some lemon in that water.  Now, the acid from the lemon, holy Toledo, really makes those bugs let go.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.

TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, are bugs bugging you in your lettuce?

JALAPENOS PART I (Thursday, October 4):    Hey, did you happen to know that not all jalapeno peppers are hot.  There are some mild jalapenos, and there are some hot jalapenos.  Now, we’ll go right down here.  This one here’s going to be mild.  That one’s mild.  That one’s mild. That one’s mild.  So all you weaklings, you’ll go for those.  Oh!  That one’s hot.  That one’s hot.  That one’s mild, and that one’s mild.  So we’ve got a couple hot ones here, and we’ve got a lot of mild ones here.  So what am I looking for if I want to find a hot jalapeno?  Come over here.  Take a look at this.  See all those little stretch marks on there?   See all those little stretch marks?  That means this jalapeno grew in hot temperatures.  That’s right, and the hotter the temperatures, the hotter the jalapeno pepper.  So if you want the heat from the jalapeno, then what you’ve got to do…you’ve got to check out the stretch marks.  And if you want a milder one, then make sure its nice and clean with no stretch marks.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.  

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, which one of these jalapenos is hotter?
  
JALAPENOS PART II (Friday, October 5):  Next week is Fire Prevention Week.  Well, I’m going to get you started on Fire Prevention Week because we don’t want a fire hanging around on your tongue, bite your tongue, when you bite those jalapeno peppers or any other hot chili pepper.  I’m going to show you something here.  I’m going to cut one of these in half.   And most of the heat…I’m going to show you where most of the heat is.  Most of the heat is right here.  In fact two-thirds of the heat is right in the seed pod and the white membrane.  That’s two-thirds of the heat.  Now if you don’t want all the heat, then you just cut the seed pod out.  Then you have the flavor of the jalapeno but not all the heat.   Now, what if you’re eating your tacos or your enchiladas, man, and you got those jalapenos - its really hot.  What’s the first thing you grab?  No!  Don’t grab the water.  What’s the second thing you grab?  No!  Don’t grab the beer either!  Man, that just spreads oils all down to your stomach.  You grab some milk.  See, the lactate in milk kind of has a hook on it. It goes into your tongue, and it actually pulls off the oil from the jalapeno. I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. 

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