Eat This Now for the Week of 09/06/10
2010
Best if Used By 09/13/10
Eat This Now for the week of September 6th, 2010 features: Bartlett Pears, White Flesh Nectarines, White Potatoes, Iceberg Lettuce, and Yellow Peaches.
1. Bartlett Pears
So sweet, so creamy – a ripe Bartlett Pear makes a fantastic chin-dripping snack. The next few weeks will be high time for Bartlett Pears with multiple growing regions hitting their peak harvest – California, Oregon, Washington on a large scale, plus local crops in the Mid-West, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. I had some mega-flavorful Organic Bartletts this week from a Maryland orchard and all could say was, “wow.”
How do you know when they’re ripe? Bartlett Pears make it easy. The less green and more yellow the skin is – the riper and sweeter the pear. The fruit also becomes softer. Bartletts ripen quickest at room temperature, so only keep them in the ‘fridge if you want to eat them as a hard green pear or if you want them to hold for a while.
2. White Flesh Nectarines
Seriously sweet fruit that’s crunchy too. White Flesh Nectarines are picked with full sweetness and there is virtually no acidity to ripen out. Buy ‘em, then eat ‘em. The late season crop from California has been impressive. Oh, and if you find little white spots that speckle the red skin… you’re in luck! Those are sugar spots and that piece of fruit outta be great!
3. White Potatoes
The summer harvest of fresh dug White Potatoes is in from most growing areas in the US. That means great quality and affordable prices. For longer lasting freshness keep your White Potatoes in a cool, dry and DARK place like your pantry or basement. Light turns the skin green.
4. Iceberg Lettuce
Other lettuces have more nutrients. Other lettuces have more flavor. But no other lettuce packs the mouth-watering juicy crunch of good ‘ole Iceberg Lettuce. Quality on Iceberg Lettuce from Salinas, California is solid and prices are fair. Doesn’t a crisp Iceberg salad or BLT sandwich sound tasty?
Produce Lore: Iceberg Lettuce got it’s name from what East Coast supermarket receivers would call out many decades ago when a railcar of head lettuce would arrive from California. Ice was packed on top of the cases of lettuce and after a long ride it would often be frozen into big blocks. So they’d say, “The icebergs are here, the icebergs are here!”
5. Yellow Peaches
Last call for top notch Peaches! California is running a couple weeks late this year so great Organic and Conventional varieties are still hitting stores right now, plus PA, NJ and other eastern states have great fresh picked Yellow Peaches this week. Enjoy. But don’t wait around until the end of September since quality at the end of the season can go south fast.
Forward this to a friend if you think they’ll like it – Here’s to fresh!
The Produce Geek,
Jonathan K. Steffy
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