Best if Used By 02/08/10

Eat This Now for Tuesday February 2, 2010 features: Red and Green Grapes, Sweet Red Peppers, Idaho Russet Potatoes, Roma Tomatoes, and Hass Avocados.

1.  Red and Green Grapes

There’s good news, all ye snackers!  Grapes have been available from Chile for several weeks, but this week starts a two month run of promotable volumes as the summer grape season hits it’s peak in the Southern Hemisphere.  What does that mean for you?  This healthy snack food will be affordable and yummy!  Starting now, Green and Red Seedless Grapes will frequently be on sale at $.99 to $1.99 lb. at stores across the country.  (Those bags weigh about 2lb by the way, so don’t be surprised at the register.)  Look for Grapes with no wetness in the bag, and feel free to ask the produce clerk or manager for a sample.

Green Seedless, also called White Seedless, are running with decent firmness and fresh-sweet flavor.  Red Seedless are coming in with good sweetness and a crisp-juicy pop.  Think of all of the processed snacks you could replace with Grapes at lunch, for dessert, after school.  Heck, buy one less bag of tortilla chips this week for the Big Game and instead spend that money on some fresh, wholesome Grapes!

2.  Sweet Red Peppers

Ohhhh yeaah…  So surprisingly sweet, so jam-packed with jaw-drooling tangy flavor – when they’re good, like they are right now out of Mexico, I eat them like apples.  That’s right, I’m talking about a pepper: Sweet Red Peppers.  The current harvest flush is on Extra Large size, field-grown, Sweet Red Peppers that are easily identifiable by their elongated shape.  There will be promotions at $.99 to $1.99lb this week (half the price of Greenhouse Colored Bell Peppers), so buy some and try out some new recipes.

Cut out the stem, seed cavity and white membranes – the rest is sweet bliss, loaded with Vitamin A and ridiculous amounts of Vitamin C with only 46 Calories per 1 Cup chopped.  Sweet Red Peppers are perfect for sauteing with onions to top hot sandwiches, add to pastas or serve with chicken, beef or tofu.  For the Big Game, brighten up your veggie tray with Sweet Red Pepper strips.

3.  Idaho Russet Potatoes

February is Idaho Potato Lovers Month.  You’ll see hot pricing, great quality and maybe even some creative displays on Russet Potatoes from Idaho the next four weeks.

DO: Make gourmet potato recipes for your Valentine. http://www.idahopotato.com/recipes
DO NOT: Give him/her a 5 or 10lb bag of Idaho Potatoes for Valentines Day.  I know it’s a wicked-awesome value, but…
DO: Make homemade Potato Skins for your Bowl party. http://www.idahopotato.com/football
DO NOT: Buy pre-made frozen appetizers.  Go with fresh ingredients – then everybody wins.

4.  Roma Tomatoes

You may have heard about the freezing temperatures in mid-January that devastated much of the Florida vegetable crops including Round, Grape and Cherry Tomatoes.  The impacts from this crop loss will be felt by all in terms of high price points and shaky quality on Tomatoes all this month.  So what to do about that fresh salsa you were hoping to make for the Big Game this weekend?  INSIDER TIP: Mexico is exporting high quality Roma (Plum) Tomatoes to the US and prices are reasonable.  This week and next, Roma’s are the way to go.

5.  Hass Avocados

More Hass Avocados will be consumed this weekend than any other of the year.  Guacamole galore!  Avocado topping everywhere!  High quality Organic and Conventional Avocados are readily available from Mexico, Chile and California.  Shop early this week so you have time to ripen your Hass Avocados for use this weekend.  Big Game Recipes: http://www.avocadocentral.com/

No ripe Avocados on display at the last minute?  Try fresh Guacamole in vacuum packs.  They can be found in the convenience refrigerated case in many supermarkets.

Enjoy the game!

Do you have a recipe for any of ingredients that you’d like to share or a comment about what you’ve read here?  Email us or post a comment at www.producegeek.com.  Thank you for reading.

Forward this to a friend if you think they’ll like it – Here’s to fresh produce!

The Produce Geek,
Jonathan K. Steffy

Impending Short Supply of Florida Tomatoes

Tomatoes (Round, Roma, Grape, Cherry):
Go buy some tomatoes this week while they are still nice and affordable.  In about a week and well into February regular Round, Roma (Plum), Grape and Cherry Tomatoes will be in extremely short supply, weak quality condition and very high in price – especially Round Tomatoes (also called Vine Ripe, Slicing or Beefstake Tomatoes).

Here’s why:

There was a stretch of extemely cold weather last week in Florida that continued through the weekend, with temperatures dropping into the mid 20s in many growing areas.  Florida and Mexico are the two primary regions that supply field-grown tomatoes to the US and Canada in the winter months.  But because of the prolonged cold, Florida’s volume and quality will be crimped dramatically for what would normally be in stores at the end of the month and beyond.  There isplenty of very high quality fruit that’s already been harvested and is in the supply chain right now.  It will get gobbled up quickly on this skyrocketing market.  You should take advantage this week and Eat Tomatoes Now, before things get dicey.