A Fruit Surprise October 16, 2006

My daughter walks into the kitchen holding a chess board. "Dad, can you play chess with me?" Surprised, I say: "Sure, do you know how to play chess?" Her six-year-old face twists and her eyes roll in a "gimmie a break" kind of way. "Of course I know how to play chess," she says. "Okay," I reply and begin to follow her into the living room. As we walk she yells: "Hey everybody, come on, we're gonna play chess with Dad. I get to be the goalie!!"
At The FruitGuys our fruit selection for the Horn of Plenty and Harvest Flyer crates is like playing chess with a surprise goalie. Or for those "Calvin and Hobbes" fans, like Calvin Ball (how can anyone strike out if they've already touched 14th base?). For example, this week we're putting in a surprise fruit - the Fuyu persimmon. Many people who have experienced persimmons only know the Fuyu's cousin the Hachiya persimmon. The Hachiya is an orange, acorn-shaped fruit that cannot be eaten firm. The Fuyu on the other hand can be eaten both firm and soft. You can tell the Fuyu persimmon by its bright-orange color, leafy top and squat appearance. Although I don't usually recommend peeling fruit because that's where many nutrients reside, I do recommend peeling the Fuyu persimmon because its naturally waxy exterior has a texture that many people don't like. After peeling it, I just like to eat it like an apple. You can also cut out wedges and share with friends. The taste will be a very fall flavored mix of light nutmeg and pumpkin spice flavor. Erik, our COO and triathlete madman, says that he eats the Fuyu for the wonderful aftertaste. "It leaves your mouth refreshed like cantaloupe sorbet." Be daring and enjoy.

This week in Apples:
Can you tell that we are falling fast into fall? Dan bought two red varieties from local farms this week that I want to point out. The first is a small dark red apple from Gowan's orchards called the Jonathan. Jonathans are a softer apple with a very fresh and wonderfully tasty hint of berry sweetness in the skin. The other apple came from a grower named Chris Bierwagen who has a family farm up in the Sierra foothills, east of Sacramento. His Empire apple is a red apple that descends from a Macintosh cross. It was first seen in 1966 and has been a favorite of many since then.
Check out the section on our site that explains what each fruit is: www.fruitguys.com/pages/in_the_mix.shtml .
Enjoy and be fruitful!