Dan's
December Best of Season

Fruits
Apples
Ambrosia apples
Honeycrisp apples
Lady apples
Pink Lady apples

Buddha hand citron

Citrus: Grapefruit, Lemons, Oranges and Tangerines

Grapefruit
Florida grapefruit
Red grapefruit
Texas grapefruit

Lemons
Meyer Lemons

Limes
Sweet limes

Mandarins
Clementine Mandarins
Satsuma Mandarins

Oranges
Blood oranges
Navel oranges
Texas juice oranges

Tangerines
Fairchild tangerines

Cranberries

Dates—California

Kiwi—California

Kumquats

Pears
Asian pears
Bosc pears
Comice pears
Concord pears
Forelle pears
Red pears
Seckel pears

Persimmon
Fuyu persimmons
Hachaya persimmons

Pomegranates

Pummelo

Quince

Star Fruit
Star fruit

Nuts
Almonds
Chestnuts
Walnuts

Vegetables
Broccoli Rabe

Broccolini

Brussels sprouts
Brussels sprouts
Brussels sprouts on the stick

Belgian Endive

Cardoone (cardoons)

Celery Root

Fennel

Gourds
Gourds for fall décor

Leeks

Parsnips

Potatoes
Fingerling potatoes

Pumpkins—roasting

Rutabegas

Squash (Hardshell)
Acorn squash (green, white & orange)
Butternut squash
Carnival squash
Delicata squash
Kabocha squash
Spaghetti squash
Sweet Dumpling squash

Sunchokes

Sweet Potatoes and Yams
Sweet potatoes
Beauregard yams
Garnet yams
Jewel yams

Truffles

Turnips

Watercress

Wild Mushrooms

Winter Greens
Chard:
Green Swiss chard
Rainbow chard
Red chard
Kale (curly)
Kale Lacinato (Dino)
Mustard greens
Turnip greens
 
Columns to Savor
Dan Avakian

Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere!; andPomegranates: They’re Not Just for Staining Your Clothes Anymore!

Green Beans— They're Not All Green!

Guido Ferro and Dan Avakian are newspaper columnists and the hosted a weekly radio program, "Dan the Produce Man and Guido the Gardener". Guido and his mother, Rita Ferro are the the Beyond Wonderful Internation Home Chefs, Italy.

Produce Expert
Dan Avakian

Getting Fresh

A Honey of a Crisp

Remember the Jimmy Buffet song Son of a Son of a Sailor? Well that’s kind of what the Honeycrisp apple is. Somewhere in the early 1920’s, in a marriage arranged by the Geneva Research Station in New York, the Macintosh apple (dating back to the 1800s in Ontario, Canada) and The Jersey Black apple (an old American variety) were crossed – and the Macoun apple was created.

The Macoun was a proud child being that it had such prominent parents. It had the squatty form and intense flavor of the Macintosh, with the deep color and extra crispness of the Jersey Black. That’s one side of the family.

On the other side of the family we find the Haralson Apple, which originated in 1922 thanks to the University of Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station. The Haralson is a crisp, tart white-fleshed apple great for out-of-hand eating and cooking.  Also in the mix is the Golden Delicious apple, which was introduced in the late 1800’s in West Virginia. When the Haralson and the Golden Delicious were crossed by The Minnesota Horticulture Research Center in 1970, the result was the Honeygold apple, boasting all the characteristic of the two apples combined.

When the Macoun and the Honeygold got together, the Honeycrisp was born; the son of a son of an apple which has all the characteristics of all of the illustrious ancestors described above.

In my market, Honeycrisp is a real winner and its popularity is growing fast – so fast that I am seeing this apple elbow its way to the top of the list, threatening to overtake number one Fuji (just as Fuji did to Red Delicious seventeen years ago). While these two apples play king of the hill I will make a prediction; if the Honeycrisp doesn’t take the Fuji’s place completely as the most popular apple on the produce stand, it will definitely sit right next to it.

The Honeycrisp apple is the perfect salad apple combining sweet with tart, crispness with juiciness. I have pointed this apple out to many of the chefs from surrounding restaurants that frequent my produce store, and they have all come back for more. Out-of-hand eating, sauces and baking are all great uses for this versatile gem. It’s also the perfect apple for kids and teens for healthy snacking because they love the crunch, the juice and the flavor. Okay ‘nuff said here; like an old Indian food distributor used to tell me “once you try it, you can’t deny it.”

The Honeycrisp apple is still a patented variety, which means growers must obtain a license to plant it.  With fruit, as with real estate, location is everything. The Honeycrisp thrives at higher elevations, such as the Washington State orchards of the Rainier Fruit Company. The cool air that flows off the Cascade Mountains is credited with creating a dense cell structure that leads to a very crisp apple with a crunchier bite.  New York and Michigan apple growers are also offering Honeycrisp apples in their mix, and have had favorable results.

Northern Michigan Apple Growers have already created a new variety called SweeTango; a cross between the Honeycrisp and a cultivar apple called Zestar. When the SweeTango gains some speed, and I’m positive it will, we’ll revisit it. For now, I’ll wrap up with  a closing verse from Buffet: “where it all ends I can’t fathom my friends.”

Sweet potatoes and yams are widely known as one of autumn’s great delights. In fact, they’re so closely associated with the fall that few people realize their season actually begins in July. What’s more, these orange beauties can—and should—be enjoyed all year long in dozens of scrumptious presentations.

So, let’s get this part out of the way right now - All yams are sweet potatoes but not all sweet potatoes are yams. And all yams are sweet potatoes only in the United States!  Did I confuse you enough? Lets start over. A true yam does not possess any of the characteristics desired in sweet potatoes. A true yam is called "nyami," an African word which refers to the edible, starchy root of the Dioscorea genus of plants. Grown in the Caribbean, nyami originated in West Africa and Asia and is now available in the US via import.

Read more about Dan Avakian.

Dan's Web site www.producepair.com