Getting Fresh with the Banana August 14, 2006

In 2006, the San Francisco Bay Guardian editors awarded us with their Best of the Bay selection for “Best Banana in your inbox.” They held a party to celebrate all the “Best of” winners at San Francisco’s Club 6. Feeling inspired, I donned the banana suit and proceeded to get down on the get down with my peeps (aka the banana peels). It’s amazing how many people want to be your friend when you are wearing “the banana.” Kids want to hug you and adults want to also, well, kind of hug you too. You can casually start conversations with strangers that you’d otherwise never say hello to. And when someone gives you the cold shoulder, you can say to yourself – “it must be the banana suit.” Dumbo had his feather, and I’ve got my banana costume. In short, had I started wearing a banana suit in high school, maybe I could have been captain of the football team (did I mention that I don’t play football?)

In a previous post, I wrote about our produce buyer Dan, his travels into central California, and the summer heat that has affected all things CA-grown. The normally tan-brown hills that bump down I-5 have a strangely toasted look, and Dan is finding that harvests are sped up a bit due to the intense weather. Blake Carlson (the Kingsburg grape farmer who has been delivering freshly picked bunches to us daily) is picking our fruit very early in the morning, before the day heats up, and bringing it for us to put in your crates for delivery the very next day. We are happy to say that you are experiencing the freshest grape we could possibly get. You should also notice the fresh Gala will be firmer and sweeter than other conventional apples which have been stored since the previous harvest.

Enjoy and be fruitful! – Chris Mittelstaedt chiefbanana@fruitguys.com