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| It’s Cranberry Season. |
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| Cranberry gets its name
from the fact that its blossom resembles the head and neck of
the Sandhill Crane bird. |
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| Fresh market Cranberries
are harvested with this “mower.” |
CRANBERRIES (Monday, October 17): Did you know
that there are 440 cranberries in one pound? 4,400 cranberries in
one gallon of juice? 440,000 cranberries in a 100-pound barrel?
Seven of 10 cranberries sold in the world today come from Ocean
Spray, a grower cooperative started in 1930. If you strung all the
cranberries produced in North America last year, they would stretch
from Boston to Los Angeles more than 565 times. Growers are finished
harvesting this season. One thing I remind consumers is to buy Cranberries
when they first come into the market. That’s when the berries
are their best and freshest. You see, Cranberries are picked all
at once. The same Cranberries you buy for Christmas were picked
at the same time the Cranberries you bought for Thanksgiving were
picked. You might as well buy them when they are the freshest. Then
freeze them for the holiday season. Contrary to popular belief,
cranberries do not grow in water. They are grown on sandy bogs or
marshes.
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| For Cranberries
heading for juicing, the bogs are flooded. Then these “eggbeaters”
churn up the berry from the vine. The berries then float to
the top, to be collected for loading. |
Because cranberries float, some bogs are flooded when the fruit
is ready for harvesting. If all the cranberry bogs in North America
were put together, they would comprise an area equal in size to
the tiny island of Nantucket, off Massachusetts, approximately 47
square miles. There are only four fruits, which are truly native
to America. The American Crab Apple, the Blueberry, Concord Grape
and the berry of the holiday season, the Cranberry. Legend has it
that the Pilgrims may have served cranberries at the first Thanksgiving
in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. A recipe for cranberry sauce
first appeared in The Pilgrim Cookbook in 1633 and forty-four years
later, ten bushels were sent back to King Charles II of England.
Revolutionary War veteran Capt. Henry Hall from Cape Cod noticed
that abundant amounts of large fruit were produced when winds and
tides swept sand into the cranberry bog. Sand stifled weed growth
without hurting the vines. Hall mimicked nature, creating the bogs
of today along Cape Cod. He began commercial harvesting in 1847.
Native Americans, long before the Pilgrims arrived in 1620, mixed
deer meat and mashed cranberries to make pemmican - a convenience
food that kept for long periods of time. They also believed that
cranberries had medicinal value, and were used by medicine men as
an ingredient in poultices to draw poison from arrow wounds. Cranberry
juice was a natural dye for rugs, blankets and clothing. The Delaware
Indians in New Jersey used the cranberry as a symbol of peace. Cranberries
have had a variety of different names since their discovery. Eastern
Indians called them "sassamanesh." Cape Cod Pequots and
the South Jersey Leni-Lenape tribes named them "ibimi,"
or bitter berry. The Algonquins of Wisconsin called the fruit "atoqua."
But it wasn't until German and Dutch settlers came up with "crane
berry," because the vine blossoms resembled the neck, head
and bill of a crane, that we arrive at what we know today as the
cranberry. Cranberries are unlike any other fruit in the world.
From Cape Cod to Washington State, the cranberry has played a role
in holiday culture and family health & wellness for years. Its
unique health benefits and refreshing, tart taste put it in a league
of its own when it comes to healthy refreshment. American recipes
containing cranberries date from the early 18th Century. Legend
has it that the Pilgrims may have served cranberries at the first
Thanksgiving in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. During World War
II, American troops required about one million pounds of dehydrated
cranberries a year. The hearty cranberry vine thrives in conditions
that would not support most other crops: acid soil, few nutrients
and low temperatures, even in summer. Epidemiological evidence has
long supported the role of naturally occurring anti-cancer agents
in fruits and vegetables in reducing the risk of many diseases,
including cancers and heart disease. A variety of compounds produced
by plants, such as flavonoids, have been investigated for their
anti-cancer activity.
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| The anatomy of a Cranberry
bog. |
Cranberries are a rich source of these compounds, which may have
anti-cancer activity. Other research being presented at Experimental
Biology continues to support the potential benefit of cranberry
juice in protecting against cholesterol oxidation. Last year, The
Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science issued
a report calling for increases in daily intake of the antioxidant
vitamins C and E to exploit their role in maintaining good health.
New research supports a potentially broader range of benefits for
fighting bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella
enteritidis, as well as E. coli. For cranberries destined for the
fresh market, these berries are hand harvested with a “mower.”
These berries are then taken to the packing shed where they are
dumped into a “ladder.” Each ladder rung is 6”
tall. As the cranberries fall down the ladder, if they “jump”
over the series of 6” rungs and make it to the bottom, those
berries pass the ladder test and end up in bags for the fresh market.
These “ladders” made of wood and are over 100 years
old. When asked why they use such old equipment, an Ocean Spray
spokesperson told us, “We only use them once a year…for
about 4 weeks. They don’t get a lot of wear and tear.”
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| The Kiwifruit
is like the coolest Vitamin Pill…with fuzz. |
KIWIFRUIT
(Tuesday, October 18): This is National Health Education Week, so
let’s talk health in the produce department. What are the
most nutritious fruit and vegetable grown on planet earth today?
You’ll be shocked to know that the
Kiwifruit is the most nutrient dense fruit grown on earth, more
potassium than even a Banana. Potassium from fruits and vegetables
helps the heart work more efficiently, and is significantly in controlling
blood pressure - the "silent killer". Potassium controls
heart activity and maintains fluid balance. A single serving of
kiwifruit outranks bananas as the top low-sodium, high-potassium
fruit. And it loaded with Vitamin C, far more than even an Orange.
Vitamin C is a very powerful anti-oxidant. The Kiwifruit is like
a cool vitamin pill…with fuzz. Kiwifruit is also loaded with
Lutein. This phytochemical is receiving a great deal of recent attention
for its effectiveness in reducing the risk of cancer, heart disease,
and may help prevent cataracts and macular degeneration - a leading
cause of blindness. This carotenoid functions as an antioxidant,
and next to yellow corn, a single serving of kiwifruit (2 medium
kiwifruit) is the richest source of lutein in the fruit world. Kids
need copper, and Kiwifruit has copper. Lots of it. California Kiwifruit
is high in Copper, vital for infant growth, bone strength, brain
development, and building immunity. Copper is a mineral involved
in making red blood cells and developing a strong immune system.
And we haven’t even touched the Folate, Magnesium, and Vitamin
E in kiwifruit, offering health benefits that range from bone formation
to reduced risks of heart disease. Plus kiwifruit contains no saturated
fat or cholesterol. Remember that we are now getting new crop Kiwifruit
from California and Italy. What we have had is old crop Kiwi from
the Southern Hemisphere, particularly New Zealand and Chile. Their
fruit has been very ripe. You buy it today, you can eat it tonight.
The new crop fruit from the Northern Hemisphere growing regions,
will not be as ripe. They will take a few extra days to ripen, so
be patient, and let them ripen.
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SWEET
POTATOES (Friday, October 19): Today, we’re talking
Sweet Potatoes. North Carolina grows about 40 – 50% of the
nation’s Sweet Potato crop. The #2 state is Louisiana, followed
by California. There should be plenty of Sweet Potatoes for the
upcoming holidays. If you want to lower your risk of cancer, try
Sweet
Potatoes. They are the healthiest
vegetable grown on planet earth today. Are your Sweet Potatoes
cured? You didn’t even know they were sick, did you? Well,
they’re not sick, but growers are now artificially “curing”
Sweet Potatoes. The process allows the Sweet Potato to have better
flavor and to store better…and longer. Sweet Potatoes can
naturally be cured, but that takes longer. The first dug Sweet Potatoes
of the year are often called “green,” because they have
not been cured. To “cure” Sweet Potatoes, growers will
put them into to “warm, high-humidity” rooms for 5 –
7 days, with temperatures between 80 – 85 degrees and a relative
humidity between 70 – 90%. This curing process tightens the
skin and keeps them from bruising. Basically, it helps them store
longer, better and sweeter. They taste sweeter because the curing
process also turns some of the starch into sugars. By the way, do
not refrigerate your Sweet Potatoes. This tropical tuber hates the
cold. The cold temperatures will cause chill damage and “hard
core.” Just keep them in a cool, dry, dark place. The sweet
potato (Ipomoea batatas) is another of the native American plants
found by Columbus and his shipmates. Although it was probably found
on various islands of the West Indies on some of the earlier voyages,
it is not definitely mentioned in their records until the fourth
voyage. In the islands off the coast of Yucatan and Honduras the
sweet potato was called axi and batatas or betatas by the natives;
in 1514, Peter Martyr named nine varieties that grew in Honduras.
It was taken to Spain about 1500 and several kinds were cultivated
there by the middle of the 16th century, including red, purple,
and pale or "white" varieties. Cultivation of sweet potatoes
was tried unsuccessfully in Belgium in 1576. John Gerarde of London,
claimed that in 1597 he grew the plant in England (probably without
much success) and that it was known in India, Barbary, and other
hot regions. Early Spanish explorers are believed to have taken
the sweet potato to the Philippines and East Indies, from which
it was soon carried to India, China, and Malaya by Portuguese voyagers.
The original introductions from America into the Pacific and Far
East were so unobtrusive that the origin of the plant was long overlooked,
many believing it native to southern and southeastern Asia. Sweet
potatoes were cultivated in Virginia in 1648, possibly earlier,
and are said to have been taken into New England in 1764. They were
grown by the Indians of our South in the 18th century, but we do
not know how much earlier. In the South today they are generally
preferred to Irish potatoes as a staple food; in the North the reverse
is true. Generally speaking, the northern consumers prefer the so-called
"dry-fleshed" type of sweet potato, such as Big Stem Jersey
and Little Stem Jersey, while the southerners prefer the "moist-fleshed"
type, such as the Porto Rico and Nancy Hall varieties. A strange
fact about these two types of sweet potato is that the "dry-fleshed"
ones have more water in them than the "moist-fleshed"
ones do! The soft, rich, "moist" varieties are erroneously
called "yams" in the United States. This confusion in
names is unfortunate, since the yam is an entirely different plant,
belonging to the genus Dioscorea. True yams are still a curiosity
in the United States. The flesh of most sweet potato varieties is
white or nearly so, although in the United States we prefer yellow
or orange-fleshed varieties because of their valuable carotene (provitamin
A) content. Some kinds have purple flesh, but they are not grown
here. Skin colors range from nearly white through shades of buff
to brown or through pink to copper, even magenta and purple.
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| Get out the cinnamon and
brown sugar. It’s time for baked Sweet Potatoes! |
Americans are prejudiced against the purplish skin colors because
certain "red" varieties formerly grown here were of poor
quality. True yams belong to a completely different botanical family
and are mainly grown in Africa and Asia. Yams are commercially grown
to produce hormones for contraceptive pills and steroids. In the
1920s, a professor at Louisiana
State University developed a new variety of Sweet Potato. Unlike
the dry, colorless Sweet Potatoes grown at that time, he developed
a bright colored, very sweet and moist Sweet Potato. To not confuse
the two types, he gave it a different name. A Yam. And we have been
confused ever since. What we call a “Yam” is just a
variety of Sweet Potato. And Louisiana is still at it. In 1987,
Dr. Larry Ralston, an entomologist with the LSU Agricultural Center's
research branch, the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station,
developed a more insect-resistant sweet potato and named it the
Beauregard. The Beauregard has a sweet, rich flavor, bakes well
and is disease-resistant. It helped Louisiana farmers reclaim lost
market share in the sweet potato industry. The Beauregard helped
Louisiana’s sweet potato industry contribute a value of more
than $151 million to the state's economy in 2003. *According to
figures from the LSU AgCenter. Thanks to the Beauregard, the sweet
potato industry continues to be the largest vegetable enterprise
in Louisiana. Figures from 2003 indicate that the crop can claim
$87.6 million in gross farm income. Another $63.9 million can be
added for transportation, distribution and marketing connected with
production and processing. That means a total annual value to the
state of $151.6 million.
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| The most treasured asparagus
in Europe: White Asparagus. |
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| Does the white in the
Peruvian flag symbolize White Asparagus? |
ASPARAGUS (Thursday, October 20): In the Valley
of Ica, one of the world’s most delicate vegetables is now
being grown. The Valley of Ica is about 4 hours south of the capital
of Peru, Lima. This valley has a rich history of Inca Indians. In
fact, when the valley was being transformed into farming, farmers
would often find remnants of the famous Inca Empire. Farmers found
Incan cooking utensils, pots and pans. Today, this coastal valley,
with rich, sandy soil, grows some of the world’s best Asparagus.
Rich soil helps the crown stay healthy. Sandy soil allows the tender
spears to grow straight and fast. This valley also has an average
yearly rainfall of “zero.” That’s right. No rain,
which would bring decay and disease. This valley is completely irrigated
with deep well water. The well water comes from deep underground
aquifers, fed by pure water from the Andes Mountains. The Valley
of Ica is a somewhat isolated growing region…geographically
anyway. To the north and east are the Andes Mountains. To the south
is the driest desert on earth, the Atacama Desert. To the west is
the Pacific Ocean. It is very difficult for disease or pest to enter
this valley. Growers here, therefore are able to use less pesticides
on their crops. This coastal valley also has near perfect growing
temperatures, warm during the day, but cooled by the ocean breezes
at night. Those cool nights, getting down to the upper 40s, help
produce the very sweet spears of asparagus in Peru. Because of this
very special growing region, and its very special and unique environment,
growers here are able to produce 4 to 5 times more asparagus per
acre than even the famed California Delta region. In 1987, the first
Asparagus crowns were planted in this Valley. It was part of a U.S.
drug program to help Peruvians leave the cocaine drug trade and
begin employment in a different trade. So they went from an illegal
agricultural crop, to a very classy crop. Imports from Peru have
been coming into the United States since 1989. Imports from Peru
have grown by about 25% a year. Last year, the United States imported
about 10 million cartons, about 110 million pounds. Asparagus in
the Valley of Ica is cut, washed, packed and chilled in the mornings.
Then they are trucked to the Lima International airport where they
are loaded onto planes. The next day, that Asparagus is in Miami
or Los Angeles, and then immediately trucked to stores across the
country. We are also getting White Asparagus from Peru. In fact,
Peruvian growers have helped bring White Asparagus back into popularity.
Unlike the zesty and strong flavor of the more common green variety,
White asparagus is remarkably tender and delicate. It is far less
fibrous than its green relative and so the entire white asparagus
spear is edible and brimming with flavor. Its color is nothing special
- it simply means that the asparagus has not been exposed to sunlight.
Growers will mound up the dirt, covering the tender spears. As soon
as the tip breaks the surface, that’s when they are harvested.
That’s why a lot of times, the very tip has a very light green
color. It’s the only part that was exposed to sunlight. Tradition
demands that white asparagus be eaten in the simplest way possible.
Boil them in salty water for 7 minutes and then serve them to grateful
guests dipped in mayonnaise. At the spring festivals in Italy, Germany
and Austria, they are served by farmers with a plate of hardboiled
eggs, aromatic extra virgin olive oil and a refreshing glass of
Garganego wine. Away from the rustic simplicity, however, chefs
often marry white asparagus with exotic flavors to create more sophisticated
dishes. Legendary Italian chef Gianfranco Vissani mixes White asparagus
with coffee garganelli in a lemon-tea-potato sauce, and Isidoro
Consolini, renowned in the Veneto area and owner of the restaurant,
Alcaval di Torri Benaco, combines the white delicacies with parmesan
wafers and a smoked beef carpaccio. While in Milan, Carlo Cracco,
the young owner and chef of Cracco-Peckin, strays even further from
tradition and serves his guests glazed asparagus with an almond
sherbet and whipped oil. Not only good for your spirits, white asparagus,
unlike most of life's pleasures, is also good for your health; it
is a great source of vitamins and minerals and is known for its
diuretic value. Its medical application has been known for centuries,
dating back as far as Roman times. No lesser authority than Julius
Caesar himself devoted pages to its diuretic qualities, and today
nutritionists believe it contains antioxidants that help the body
to fight disease.
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| It’s time to head
to the Pumpkin Patch. |
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| If you’ll be cooking
with your Pumpkin, then choose one that is smaller, but very
heavy for its size. |
PUMPKIN (Friday, October 21): It’s another
“happy crop” of pumpkins. Let’s all sing: Here
he comes, the Pumpkin Man, the Pumpkin Man, the Pumpkin Man. It
was in Ireland where Halloween had its scary beginning. As the Irish
legend claims, a man named Stingy Jack was too mean to go to heaven
and had played just too many tricks on the devil to be allowed in
hell. When Jack died, he had to forever walk the earth carrying
a lantern made out of a turnip with a piece of coal burning inside.
Thus, the infamous Stingy Jack became known as "Jack of the
Lantern" or as we know it today, "jack-o'-lantern".
This Irish legend began the tradition of putting jack-o'-lanterns
made of vegetables by doors or in windows on Halloween. The first
jack-o'-lanterns were not made with pumpkins but instead were made
from potatoes, rutabagas, turnips and even beets. Meant to scare
away Stingy Jack and any other spirits believed to be walking earth
that particular night, it wasn't until immigrants brought this tradition
to the United States that pumpkins were used for jack-o'-lanterns.
Pumpkins have been cultivated in North America and Mexico for thousands
of years. The protein-packed, oil-rich seeds were probably the part
of the fruit that was most attractive to the prehistoric growers
of this member of the squash family. When European settlers arrived
in North America, Native Americans introduced them to this valuable
member of the gourd family, which quickly became a part of the Thanksgiving
tradition in the form of the pumpkin pie. There’s no reason
that pumpkins should be reserved only for pies. You can turn a Pumpkin
into a salad, main course, and the dessert of any fall-season menu.
Native to Central America, growers through the years have cross-pollinated
different varieties of pumpkins to create new cultivars. Seeds developed
by William Warnock near the turn of the century are credited for
all the giant pumpkins grown today. In fact, he grew the very first
record-breaking pumpkin in 1893 which weighed in at a whopping 365
pounds. The word pumpkin, surprisingly enough, refers to no real,
distinct botanical category. Cucurbita (pronounced kew-CUR-bit-a)
is the genus comprising pumpkins, squash, and gourds, and the proper
term for all Cucurbita is squash. But you won’t get many people
around the table during the holidays proclaiming the “squash
pie” was fantastic.
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Choose a Pumpkin with
a weird looking stem. It adds
character. |
We get the word pumpkin from "pepon", a Greek word meaning
"a large melon". The English called it "pumpion or
pompion", a term dating back to 1547. It wasn't until 1647,
however, that this term appeared in print. One of the many foods
prized by Native American Indians in the New World, the grand pumpkin
which they called "isquotersquash" was also a very welcomed
hardy food for hungry Pilgrims. Not only excellent for eating, creative
Indians pounded strips of pumpkin flat, dried them and wove the
dried pumpkin strips into mats. More than 16,000 acres in the United
States produce pumpkins used as a food fresh, frozen or canned.
Pumpkins are also a popular feed for stock. A pumpkin by-product
having a strong flavor and vivid color called pumpkin seed oil is
most often mixed with other oils for cooking, salad dressings and
for many other uses. The largest pumpkin ever grown was 1,061 pounds.
It was grown by Paula and Nathan Zehr in Lowville, New York in 1996.
Pumpkin halves were supposedly used as guides for haircuts in colonial
New Haven, Connecticut, giving rise to the nickname 'pumpkinhead.'
Total U.S. pumpkin production in 2002 was 790.7 million pounds.
Illinois, with a production of 299 million pounds, led the country.
There also were big pumpkin patches in California (150 million pounds
produced), Pennsylvania (117 million), New York (107 million) and
Michigan (60 million). The value of all these pumpkins was $83 million.
About 99% of all pumpkins sold are for decorating. What's fall without
a visit to the pumpkin patch? Pick up some extra pumpkins while
the getting is good, because there's a lot more you can do with
pumpkin other than your basic pumpkin pie. Pumpkins are available
in all shapes, colors and sizes, from the miniature to the gigantic
sweet sugar pumpkin which can weigh in at as much as 100 pounds.
The pumpkin is a member of the gourd family, which also includes
muskmelon, watermelon and squash. Its orange flesh has a mild, sweet
flavor which is used in side dishes and in many desserts. For cooking
purposes, choose smaller sizes, which will have more tender, flavorful
flesh. Select pumpkins which are free of blemishes, harvested with
their stems intact, and those which feel heavy for their size. When
I’m choosing a Pumpkin, I first feel the blossom end, making
sure it’s firm, not real soft. Remember, the Pumpkin is part
of the “hard squash” family, so the shell should be
somewhat hard. I then put a little pressure on the stem. If the
stem comes right off, then that’s a Pumpkin that will most
likely melt on my front porch before Halloween. For decorating,
choose different shapes and sizes. And always try to find one with
a weird looking stem. It adds great character. Store in a cool,
dry place, such as an attic or spare room (root cellars are too
damp) at 45 to 60 degrees F. up to a month, or refrigerate for up
to three months. Higher temperatures cause the flesh to become stringy.
For extended storage, wash skins in a solution of about a tablespoon
of chlorine bleach to a gallon of water to disinfect the skin and
discourage mold or rot. Dry immediately as dampness encourages spoilage.
If you find mold, wipe with vegetable oil to remove the mold and
seal the spot. Leftovers can be frozen or canned. Pumpkins are loaded
with Vitamin C, Potassium and Beta-Carotene, a very powerful anti-oxidant.
A study by the USDA indicated that diets high in pumpkin as a fiber
source tended to curb the appetite, yet provided more food for the
same calorie count. The subjects in this study also absorbed less
fat and calories from their food.
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