LONG PROMO:   Have you ever wondered why your mashed potatoes sometimes get gluey?  I’ll tell you about it.  It’s National Chemistry Week.  Plus tomatoes.  How many volatile chemicals are in here that make up the flavor?  And where do you store your  tomatoes?  Also, why does your lettuce sometimes get limpy when you put the olive oil on it?  And onions, why do they get sweeter when you cook them?  Next week, with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.

SHORT PROMO:  Mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving is just around the corner.  How to keep those mashed potatoes from getting gluey…next week with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.
                                                                                                         
ONIONS (Monday, October 22):  Hey, all this week is National Chemistry Week, so we’re going to go to a chemistry lesson down the produce aisle – so much fun because there are a lot of chemistry lessons we can learn!  For example, onions…that right, you’ve got to have onions in the kitchen especially with holidays just around the corner.  So we’re going to be cooking some onions for the holidays.  Have you ever wondered, however, why in the world do onions get sweeter when you cook them?  Aha!  Well, if you could take an onion and if you could actually look at the cell structure inside this onion you would see two major chemicals in here that make up the flavor, the flavor profile of an onion.  One is sugars.  Of course we all know that.  They have sugars.  The Vidalia sweet onion, Texas ten-fifteen onion, Walla Walla sweet…And then the other is acids, pyruvates or yeah those pyruvates.  So when you cook an onion, here’s what happens.  The sugar level is here.  Here is the acid level.  Acid level goes down making the onion taste sweeter.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.   

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, why do onions taste sweeter after you cook them?

TOMATOES PART I (Tuesday, October 23): All right, how many of you out there, raise your hands, you love tomatoes?  Aah, how do you have a sandwich, a salad, tacos?  How do you have salsa? You gotta have the tomatoes.  However, there are a couple things about tomatoes that you need to know.  All this week we’re talking about…we’re talking about chemistry lessons in the produce department, and there certainly is a chemistry lesson with tomatoes.  There are 23 volatile chemicals that make up – 23 volatile chemicals.  Uncle Harry, did you hear him?  Right?  Volatile chemicals.  There are 23 of them in here that make up the flavor.  One of those chemicals is called Z9.  You can’t see it, but when I cut this tomato, I crushed 1001 cells of Z9.  Actually more than that.  And that is, (Smells) oh man, when you cut a tomato, that’s what you smell.  You smell Z9.  But the problem with Z9, chemical lesson here, it dissipates.  It disappears.  It leaves within 15 minutes.  So if you want a good flavor tomato on that sandwich, cut it just before you put it on the sandwich
I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.   

TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report…there are 23, count them, volatile chemicals right in this tomato. 

TOMATOES PART II (Wednesday, October 24):  You know, this is national chemistry week, so we are having a chemistry lesson in the produce department.  Yesterday, we were talking about tomatoes and the volatile chemicals in tomatoes.  There are some other things about tomatoes you need to know.  This is a fruit.  That’s right.  This is a subtropical fruit just like a banana.  Now how many of you put an unripe banana in the refrigerator to ripen?  Raise your hands.  Right?  None of you.  Right?  So why in the world are you putting this tomato in your refrigerator to ripen?  No, you leave it out on the countertop just like that with the crown end up because this is the weekest part of the fruit.  You do this, its going to make it really soft.  So if you put it in the refrigerator it gets what we call chill damage.  The molecular structure on the inside of the tomato literally breaks down, collapses.  And that’s why when you pull a tomato out of the refrigerator and go to slice it - Why is this thing all mushy?  Chill damage.  It’s chill abuse on that tomato.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.

TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, do not chill abuse your tomatoes.

LETTUCE (Thursday, October 25):  Okay, here’s the deal.  You got your lettuce made, right, your salad made and you pour on the olive oil and vinegrette, right?  And you take it out.  One minute it looks beautiful and the next minute those leaves are so wilty!  You think, “What in the world happened to my salad?  I mean it was just looking fresh just a minute ago!”  Well, if you could look at a leaf of red leaf or green leaf or any leaf of lettuce…look right in here.  It would look exactly like a sponge.  That’s right, a sponge. Now on this lettuce there have been little bugs, and those little bugs bite the lettuce.  You can’t see them, but there are little tiny holes in the lettuce so when you pour on the olive oil or the vinegrette, and it goes in those little holes, right?  What is this?  A sponge.  What does a sponge do?  (Slurping noise)  It sucks up literally all the dressing that you put on that salad.  It sucks it up, and it just makes that leaf just go all wilty.  So here’s the thing – chemistry lesson for you.  Never ever in a million years put the dressing on until just before you serve the salad.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.   

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, how to keep your salad from getting limp on you.
  
MASHED POTATOES (Friday, October 26):  You know all this week we’ve been having so much fun because it’s, you know, it’s National Chemistry Week so we’ve been having chemistry lessons every day in the produce department.  Oh, I love it!  I love chemistry!  Anyway, science and chemistry.  Now, you know, the holidays are right around the corner and that means of course what?  Oh, yes!  Mashed potatoes.  Oh my goodness, how do you have a holiday meal without mashed potatoes?  But have your mashed potatoes every turned to glue?  Have you ever wondered why those mashed potatoes turned to glue?  It really has nothing to do with the potato that you use.  You could turn red potatoes into glue.  You could turn russet potatoes into glue.  In here is starch.  Right?  You got it?  Starch.  Now, what happens to starch when you take that starch and you beat it or you whip it, and you beat it too much or you whip it too much?  Those starch cells start to cling together to each other, and what does that create?  Starch glue.   And that’s why your mashed potatoes…so do not when you’re mashing your potatoes, don’t overwhip it.  Don’t overmash it.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.   

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, please, holidays are coming up, don’t turn your mashed potatoes into glue. 

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