The Family Tree May 15, 2006

It’s mother’s day, and I’m thinking about the perfect gift for my wife. Sure there will be the extra hour of morning sleep while I try to keep the kids tip-toeing around like secret prep-cooks – readying grapefruit, making toast, squeezing orange juice and arranging it all on a plastic tray for a little breakfast in bed surprise. My wife will act unsuspecting as she does every year – carrying on the tradition of mothers started many generations before her. As I get older, I can’t help but seeing my mother and father emerge in odd ways when I do something or look in the mirror – we’re all linked by those who came before us.

That said, I want to bring your attention to the aprium in the conventional crates. Apriums are the product of a mother apricot and father plum. This orange colored fruit looks closer in heritage to the apricot but has a wonderfully sweet plum flavor to it. The fruit is technically 2/3 apricot and 1/3 plum. Enjoy it – this is a very early variety and extremely delicate. You should eat them when soft to the touch but don’t let them get too soft or mushy as they will quickly move past their prime. As our resident poet and distribution manager Jeff say:: “The difference between a fresh apricot and an aprium is the difference between silk and velvet. There is just enough extra pucker in the aprium to make you feel it would be worth wearing and fun enough to paint on.”

For the majority of the summer, there is the chance that we could get farm-fresh strawberries daily. (Finally!!!!) We are always excited when we get fresh berries out of the field for you. Our goal in general with strawberries is 1) that they are organic 2) to get them as quickly as possible from the farmer to you.

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