Fruit Buying Guide – August 2009

Posted by Tom Kovacevich • August 1, 2009 •

Take this sheet with you to the market! Shop as if you have Tommy K at your side!
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Recommended Selections for August

Best Now
Avoid Now
Try Now
Fruit Odds

Best Now

Local Berries, Melons and Peaches

This time of year you must make the time to go to your local farm or farmer’s market and see the fresh fruit offerings. Fragrant, and tender to the touch, peaches. Small yet full flavored “Tristar” strawberries. Plump and perfect blackberries. These are a few of my favorites! Each tastes great and may remind you of how fruit tasted years ago…This is a particularly excellent year for local cantaloupes and actually all melons have been running great. With cantaloupes, avoid fruits that have any sunken areas, look for fruit that is firm, fragrant and heavy. With Blackberries, bigger is better, unlike local strawberries where generally the smaller berries are most sweet. Store berries in the refrigerator, and do not wash them until just before you are ready to eat. There are lots of great recipes for berries, but try also serving them plain naked! When buying peaches, look for ones with a little bit of give and that also have a sweet aroma. Remember our Rules of Fruit Buying and always buy peaches RIPE! Firm peaches are a poor gamble. Buy ripe and buy often! Buying local means buying from the farmer directly at a Farmers Market. "Local" can be "stretched" by some stores.

Check out the Best Fruit Now channel on YouTube for great recipes and much more!

California Dapple Dandy Pluots and White Fleshed Peaches

A Pluot you may know is a cross between a plum and an apricot. There are hundreds of varieties of pluots, with many different appearances, tastes and textures. Dapple Dandy Pluots are sometimes sold as Dinosaur Eggs. These are speckled purple and look like plums despite having around 25% apricot parentage. They will start arriving in markets in the beginning of the month. Usually I suggest waiting until the second or third week as they will be a bit more mature at that point, however this year they great right from the onset. Buy with confidence. The best tip on buying Dapple Dandy Pluots is to avoid a green background color. Lots of green coloring means they were picked too early, so avoid those. As long as there is little green you can buy Dapple Dandy pluots hard and ripen them at home. In the summer I store fruit on the counter and suggest you do the same, typically out of sight means out of mind. Leave them on the counter and your family will eat them faster, and faster is key with fruits as fruits dehydrate quickly. Store very ripe fruits in the refrigerator. MID MONTH UPDATE: DAPPLES ARE STARTING TO LOOK TIRED, IF YOU HAPPEN TO SEE A PLUOT CALLED FLAVOR GRENADE TRY THAT INSTEAD, THEY ARE RUNNING UNBELIEVEABLE, LIGHT IN COLOR WITH GREEN IS AOK, THE GRENADES ARE BEST EATEN HARD..GIVE THEM A TRY NOW!! California white flesh peaches are running great NOW! Look for these to be free of dents, shriveling, large bruises and any other signs of age. A bright fresh looking, and heavy feeling, white peach from California is great fruit choice right now. Most people prefer their white fleshed peaches hard and crunchy, I however subscribe to the school that prefers them soft and juicy. There is no right or wrong on this. Did you know that white fleshed fruit tastes sweeter because it has LESS ACID in the fruit. Fruit acids are what give yellow peaches the TANG, and the lack there of, are why white peaches (and white nectarines for that matter) are sweet when crunchy. Also keep a look out for "fruit in foreclosure" - these are super hot deals on fruits in oversupply NOW! Two items under presssure are strawberries and local melons!

Avoid Now

Perfect Looking Yellow Peaches

As I am sure you know, selecting peaches can be tricky. I have been eating and enjoying local peaches for a few weeks and August is sure to be a great month for peaches…that is why I want you to go to your local farm or farmers market and buy some NOW. You must only buy the peaches that are RIPE. You can tell peaches are ripe by just giving them two quick tests. They must yield to gentle pressure, some peaches in the pile should look a bit bruised. The peaches must also have a sweet aroma. So avoid plastic looking, rock hard peaches with no aroma. These will likely dehydrate and shrivel rather than taste good, don’t waste your money! This is not to suggest to go out and buy the real wormy looking, scabbed over peaches you may see, just be tolerant of a few minor bruises.

Antique Fruits

The "Fruits to Avoid" section should always feature this category, "Antique Fruits." Be a smarter fruit shopper, read the "Rules of Fruit Shopping." Avoiding Antique fruits, simply means to avoid fruits that are dehydrating on the store's shelf, aging not so gracefully. Wrinkles add character to people, but are a sign of trouble in fruit. In August, that can be any fruit in the store. Even summer fruits like peaches and nectarines can be "antiques" in some stores. If the fruit department manager has eyes and a pulse - you should be OK. "Should" is the key word; be critical when buying fruits. Turn you berries and grapes over, looking for wetness. Bruising on summer fruits does not scare me. I do generally avoid a piece of seriously bruised fruit, however a peach display with many bruised peaches can actually be an indicator that the fruit is really ripe and thus delicious. For August, mainly be leery of old peaches, plums and California valencia oranges and grapefruit.

Try Now

South African Navel Oranges

If you love seedless Navel oranges, you will be happy to know that there are fresh arrivals of sweet and juicy Navel oranges from South Africa. I can hear people now, why is he suggesting a fruit that has traveled from so far away? Well, Navel oranges travel very well, the fruit’s thick skin acts as a moisture retaining wall that will keep an orange fresh for weeks. Look for oranges that are bright orange and FIRM, softness in oranges is a sign of age and thus dehydration. For the local purist, substitute a new crop summer harvest apple like Paula Red or Tydeman which will be starting soon.

Champagne Grapes

This is a variety of grape that may also be called Zante Currant. Champagnes usually come packaged in a clamshell and are very small. They are called Champagne grapes only because they make a nice garnish to a glass of champagne. Regular red seedless grapes are very good NOW too, so maybe try some Champagnes in addition to your regular purchase of red Flame seedless grapes. Store all your grapes in the fridge and wash just before serving. Look for green stems and avoid wet berries.

Dragon Fruit

Dragon fruit are an awesome tropical treat which happen to be running great NOW. These come in several varieties, mainly the difference is the inside color and flavor. Any of them are excellent, think tropical sweetness, kiwi, mango, papaya. Be adventurous, try some today! To eat a Dragon Fruit simply get yourself a knife and a spoon. Cut the fruit from top to bottom and then simply spoon out the sweet creamy flesh. If you find one with a red interior that will be sweetest.