Produce Buzzers - A Podcast for Lovers of Fresh Fruits and Veggies

June is National Mango Month. So, in this week’s episode we celebrate this delicious and healthy fruit, one of the most popular fruits in the world, if not the most popular.  Mangos originated in India and are considered a sacred fruit there as well as other Asian cultures. They became symbols for many rulers and spiritual leaders throughout Indian and Asian history. According to legend, Buddha meditated under a mango tree.

This week’s guest is Dr, Noris Ledesma, a horticulturist specializing in tropical fruits. She is one of the world's foremost experts on mangos. She is an emeritus curator at the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden in Coral Gables, FL. and a courtesy professor at the University of Florida, Tropical Research and Education Center, Homestead, FL.  

Her work has taken her all over the world—the U.S., Mexico, Latin America, Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Africa, India, Oman and Saudi Arabia. Dr. Ledesma is working on breeding the “perfect mango.” In this episode she will tell us how mangos made it to the New World and how new varieties are being developed. Her passion for mangos is contagious and you will be craving them after hearing her talk about them. She will tell you why mangos are the "Fruit for your Soul!"

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month so we have a guest today who is going to enlighten us on the great contributions Japanese Americans made to agriculture in the United States beginning in the late nineteenth century and continuing today. Our guest this week is Glenn Tanaka, a.k.a. “Farmer Tanaka,” a third-generation Japanese American farmer who is continuing the legacy of his family’s farms in Southern California. He joins us along with Ron Inatomi, a produce manager at Gelson’s Markets in Southern California. They will talk about the major contributions that Japanese American farmers have made to American agriculture since the early twentieth century. When Pearl Harbor was bombed, thousands of them were forced off their farms and into internment camps for the duration of the war. Most of them lost everything and had to completely rebuild. Listen to be inspired by their resilience. Learn about their dedication and loyalty to the United States, even though they had everything taken from them by the country they loved and of which they were legal residents.

Build your passion for fresh fruits and veggies as you listen to a 50-Year Veteran of the Produce Industry. Our guest this week is Dan Avakian, a.k.a. “Dan, The Produce Man” and he has almost 50 years working in the produce business. He has a deep passion for all things about fresh produce and brings that energy, along with his deep, rich, velvety voice when he talks about fruits and vegetables to his audience. He was probably the first person to have a radio show that focused on fresh produce. Long before we had the term “podcasting” our guest was on the radio airwaves across the country with a show called “The Produce Pair.” Now Dan is featured regularly on one of the most popular podcasts about fruits and veggies, “The Produce Industry Podcast.” He is featured in a specially themed version of the show called “Fresh from the Field Fridays” in which he zeroes in on a particular fruit or veggie to give the audience everything they need to know about it. We love Dan’s passion for fruits and veggies

Season Five Episode Thirteen

Spring has arrived and spring vegetables have been showing up in your local produce aisles and markets for a few weeks now. But this week is the sweetest week of the spring vegetable season. That is because this is the week that the sweetest onions in the world will be first shipped for the 2023 season. Yes, it’s time for a fresh crop of Vidalia Onions. They are named for a small town in Georgia which is at the center of the growing region for onions in the state. The area there has a special soil that gives them their deliciously sweet flavor. Today we are going to celebrate Vidalia Onions and we have a very special guest joining us to tell us all about them. Delbert Bland and his family have been growing Vidalia onions for over 40 years. They started with just five acres of the onions but now are the largest producer of them in the region. From those humble origins, Delbert has grown the business into a nationwide and international farming success with farms in Texas, California, Mexico, and Peru.

The Environmental Working Group recently released its annual report known as “The Dirty Dozen” which identifies the fruits and veggies that have the most pesticide residue. But the fear it inspires might harm our health more than these pesticides. This week's guest is Dr. Steve Savage, a plant pathologist, and agricultural expert who has studied the data in great detail. Listen to our latest podcast to hear his findings. They may surprise you. He will answer whether organic is safer than conventionally grown produce. If you are not eating fresh fruits and veggies because you are afraid of these residues, you may be impeding your well-being. The chemicals in these fruits and veggies will do more to help you than the pesticides on them will harm you.

Bananas are underpriced. This most popular fruit is one of the cheapest fruits per pound in the produce aisle. They are usually one-fourth to one-third the price of apples, oranges, and pears. The reason is that the farmers and farm workers who grow and harvest the fruit are underpaid, while the global companies who export and distribute them keep the vast share of the profits. Our guest this week on the podcast is out to change that. Kim Chackal is the Director of Sales and Marketing at Equifruit based in Montreal, Canada. They are the leading importer of Fairtrade bananas. Fairtrade is an independent international organization that certifies products are produced and sold according to established fair trade standards.

Kim calls herself a “banana badass!” She took the title to draw attention to her and Equifruit’s mission to make the banana industry predominantly fair trade and ensure the growers and workers get more of the benefit from the billion-dollar revenues that flow from it. She will enlighten you about all things banana and convince you of the importance of looking for fair trade bananas coming to a store near you. It may cost you a bit more, but fair trade bananas are still a bargain compared to other fruits and other foods in the grocery store. And the extra cost to you as a consumer need only be pennies per purchase to ensure they are fair trade. For the average consumer, that may only be the price of one Starbucks coffee per year added to their banana purchases!

The peanut originated in South America and was first cultivated by Indigenous people in Peru. It was a status symbol in those societies and used as a currency! So, working for peanuts there was not a bad thing. But peanuts throughout the centuries were mostly eaten boiled. Since the 1800’s people in the Southern United States have preferred them boiled rather than roasted. In fact, roasted peanuts did not come onto the scene until the mid-20th Century. And peanuts in most other cultures around the world are primarily eaten boiled.

Lauren Marcinkoski, CEO of Luray Peanut Company in South Carolina is our guest this week and she is going to enlighten you about the delicious boiled peanut. Also known as the “caviar of the South!” Her company is on a mission to popularize them with a very convenient and tasty new microwavable package of boiled peanuts. Boiled peanuts are much more nutritious than roasted peanuts and have 40% fewer calories! Tune in to learn about them and the amazing peanut—the most sustainable source of protein on the planet according to Lauren.

We have a unique guest joining us on the podcast this week. She is a pioneer in the produce industry and one of the first women to establish her own business in the fresh produce world. Janice Honigberg is the founder and CEO of Sun Belle, a leading grower and importer of all types of berries and some other specialty fruits and vegetables. Janice’s story is an inspiring one. She is truly a visionary who anticipated and instigated trends that changed the global fruit and veggie markets. She was one of the first to begin importing berries from Central and South America so that we can have them year-round. She will tell us about how those get to us from so far away and the great strides that are being made in taste and quality. And you will learn about a delicious new fruit called “goldenberries.”

Farmers and purveyors of fresh fruit and vegetables face tremendous risks like no other business or industry. In addition to the risk of adverse weather, pests, and the high perishability of their products, they put themselves at legal risk. This week’s guest is an attorney who helps them navigate those legal minefields. Katy Koestner Esquivel has over 15 years of litigation and advisory experience in the produce industry. She has earned a reputation for being a fearless, thorough, and aggressive advocate for her clients. Add to that her experiences as a woman, and a mom, as well as her perseverance, grit, and determination and you will understand why Katy has been able to build a very successful law firm that has helped people and businesses in the fresh produce industry. Katy will tell us about the dedication and commitment of these people to keep the grocery store shelves stocked with healthy fruits and veggies. We hope it will give you newfound respect for the people who grow your food.

Today the Produce Buzzers are in a bit of a pickle. But don’t worry. We wanted to be. Because we are going to honor one of our favorite foods—pickles! Almost any vegetable can be pickled but we are going to focus on the most common ones, those made from cucumbers. And we have one of the country’s foremost experts on them with us today. Bill Olvey buys and sells cucumbers to pickle packers all over the U.S. He joins us to tell us all about how they are grown, harvested, processed, and packed.   S05:E06