I have to admit that as a kid growing up on the East Coast in the 1970s and ’80s, I didn’t really know what real grapes were. I mean, I knew what they were, but somehow I thought that the two …
Fruit Delivery | Fresh Organic Produce Delivery
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
I have to admit that as a kid growing up on the East Coast in the 1970s and ’80s, I didn’t really know what real grapes were. I mean, I knew what they were, but somehow I thought that the two …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, Black Seedless Grapes, Concord Grapes, grape, grape freshness, grapes, grapes ripening, Muscat Grapes, Perlette grapes, Red Crimson Grapes, Red Flame Grapes, seedless grapes, Thompson Seedless
By FruitGuys Staff on
Since 1964, UMOM has helped Arizona families in need, and The FruitGuys is proud to have such a wonderful organization as one of its community partners. The largest homeless shelter in the state, UMOM …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, GoodWorks Tagged With: Arizona, article, homeless assistance, life skills, southwest, transitional housing, tree planting, umom
By Julie Collins on
By Gretchen Bay It’s officially summer. And summer means (among other delicious things)—plums! Unlike their stone-fruit cousins' peaches and nectarines (which come with a white or yellow flesh and …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, Produce Glossary Tagged With: antioxidants, article, dietary fiber, european plums, japanese plums, nutriional value of plums, plum, Plum Crazy for Plums!, plums, stone fruit, summer, vitamin C
By Heidi Lewis on
By Heidi Lewis You know what sweet summer cherries like? They like winter. That’s when they catch up on a little shut-eye and wake up refreshed. Many stone fruits and pomes need the chill hours to …
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Filed Under: Food, FruitGuys News Tagged With: anthocyanin, antioxidants, article, beta carotene, black tartarians, cherry juice, cherry season, gold cherries, how to store cherries, maraschino cherries, nutritional value of cherries, rainer, red cherries, sequoia, stone fruit, summer, tart cherries
By Heidi Lewis on
Farmer-Beekeepers Count the Ways Honey from bees is quite the miracle. Why does it taste so good? And why does it have so many healing properties? Many scientists have studied the organization of …
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Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: article, bee hives, bee pollen, beekeepers, beekeeping, beekind, bees, gabriel farm, honey, honey bees, royal jelly
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Mr. Brown is in the kitchen, head down, looking for a spork. Ms. Bright walks into the room and heads to The FruitGuys crate. They smile at one another, nervous to acknowledge the habit they have both …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, Passion Fruit
By Rebecca Taggart on
Looking for a miracle food that helps you lose weight, feel full, lowers blood sugar and cholesterol levels, and keeps you regular? Fiber is the answer. Most of us know very little about fiber, beyond …
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Filed Under: Diet and Health, FruitGuys News Tagged With: apples, article, berries, fiber, fresh fruit, fruit, insoluble fiber, organic apples, organic pears, pears, plums, soluble fiber
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
A cool fall breeze rustled the leaves outside of Peter's toy-store window. "Pauline," he piped." Pat pitched Paul a prototype policy that primes Pat for promotion." Pauline pulled the penguin puppet …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, Produce Glossary Tagged With: article, john koman, Passion Fruit, passion fruit farm, white dove farm, white dove passion fruit farm
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Our FruitGuys softball team has a motto: “More runs than injuries.” Up until last week, we hadn’t yet won a game, but we were wildly successful with our safety goals. Mom would be proud. This past …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: apple, apples, article, harold mcgee, pear, pears, pome, pome fruits, softball
By FruitGuys Staff on
The Gravenstein Apple is dear to many apple lovers for its tart taste and superior juice, sauce, and pie abilities, but it is especially dear to the residents of Sebastopol, CA (Sonoma County) where …
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Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: ark of taste, article, Gravenstein Apple, gravenstein apple fair, Gravenstein Apple Presidia, Presidia, sebastopol, slow food russian river
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
During Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, and my all-things-marine-life son is loving it. Between South African great white sharks that launch themselves into the air after yelping seals, and the …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, Discovery Channel, local produce, regional produce, Shark Week, suport small farms
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Ed Magee spends his days thinking about sunlight. When he isn’t working on his 38-acre orchard of white peaches and nectarines in Vernalis, California, he’s in a lab studying the energy of …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, E & M Farm, E&M Farm, Ed Magee, Farm Steward, nectarines, organic farming, owl box, owls, peach orchard, peaches, scientist, sustainability, white peaches
By Heidi Lewis on
Look closely at your plum. Real close. See that? That's Luther Burbank's thumbprint. Luther was a botanist wizard at the turn of the century, a Midas of sorts whose more than 800 varieties of …
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Filed Under: Food, FruitGuys News Tagged With: article, luther burbank, plum, plum storage, plums
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Fruito the Ripenificent was a world famous fruit magician. For years he had competed for top billing against Vern the Vegetastic until Vern suffered a fatal injury while trying to extricate himself …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, nectarines, peaches, ripeness, ripening fruit, stone fruit
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
As an ex-suburban Philadelphia kid now turned Californian, I find myself drawn to stories of the underdog. Gosh knows the Philly area is full of tales of heroes on the brink who have pulled it back …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
In the pantheon of great lyrical misunderstandings, I remember this: summer sunlight circa the mid-1970s and me dancing around our living room while singing at the top of my lungs to the “The Age of …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, nectarines, Peach, peaches, pluot, stone fruit, summer
By Bridget Meigs on
PHILADELPHIA My commute: therapeutic, thought-provoking, calming and centering. Is such a commute possible? You bet! I am one of the estimated 10,000 Philadelphia residents who bike to work each …
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Filed Under: Fitness, FruitGuys News Tagged With: article, bicycling, bike commute, bike to work, commuting, Philadelphia
By Pia Hinckle on
The Light Brown Apple Moth is an indigenous pest considered harmless to crops in New Zealand, Hawaii, Australia, and the UK, all countries that are free to export fruits and vegetables to U.S. markets …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: alliance to stop the spray, article, blue moon organics, California, chris mittelstaedt, commonwealth club, farming, LBAM, light brown apple moth, pesticides, quarantine, stop the spray
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
I have many favorite fruits but cherries hold a special place in my heart. Maybe it’s because their harvest period is relatively short; or maybe it’s because they just taste so good—whatever the …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, cherries, cherry season, fresh fruit, Kauffman's, Kauffman's Fruit Farm, seasonal fruit
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
When the price of corn started going up in Exeter, California due to high demand for ethanol, Mr. Herrera, an owner of 22 acres of family farmland, nearly plowed under his 40-year-old plum orchard. …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, family farms, organic, preservation harvest, ronnie gutierrez, small family farms, small farms
By Bridget Meigs on
Warm spring weather is waking up the farmer in me. I suddenly have the urge to sink my hands into the soil and grow greens, tomatoes, potatoes – you name it. A new resident of Philadelphia, I was not …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, GoodWorks Tagged With: article, community gardening, crob mob, east, farming, groundswell, horticulture, Philadelphia, philly
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
In elementary school, some friends and I went through a phase where we had dreams of being city planners. We diagrammed a world of baseball diamonds and arcades and woods with bike paths that somehow …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, Capay Valley, collaborative, CSA, FarmShares, take home, TakeHome, Yolo Country
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Nick fell into my office crying like an Italian sub forced onto sprouted wheat that had run aground on Mixed Metaphor Island. “Fire all morta-della-pedos!” he shouted in meat panic. He was in …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, Peach, peaches, White Peach, Yellow Peach
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Our all-seeing school bus driver with the flip-up, two-tone shades, and an extra-wide mirror above her head had a ranking system that was distinguishable by the depth and tone of her voice. Sit in …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, Produce Glossary Tagged With: article, blueberries, blueberry, punch buggy
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Chrissy W., a Fruitguys customer service expert, flies me back to South Carolina on a magic carpet woven just for Mother’s Day from matriarchal memory threads in a southern storytelling …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, mothers day, Peach, peaches
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Nessie, the six-month-old chocolate lab, tears through the house wanting nothing more than to lick the cat until it becomes her friend. A puffed up and spitting blur of fur trailed by a bottle brush …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, cherries, cherry, early peaches, peaches, spring, stone fruit
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
In my daydreaming mind, skyscrapers in cities all across America turn Chia Pet and sprout Alfalfa as a cover crop on their roofs; highway medians spontaneously erupt with tomato vines causing traffic …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, strawberries, take home, TakeHome
By Heidi Lewis on
It’s quiet at Kokopelli organic berry farm except for the occasional proud exultation of a laying hen. Farmer Dr. Shepherd Bliss loves it that way; the quiet gives him peace after his own …
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Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: agropsychology, agrotherapy, article, california farm link, ecotherapy, farmer veteran coalition, farming therapy, farms not arms, fvc, healing, kokopelli, Shepherd Bliss, swords to ploughshares, veterans
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Every summer when I was kid we would visit my grandparents in New Orleans. My dad’s folks lived in Metairie, a parish just outside the city near Lake Pontchartrain in a small, brick, one-story house. …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: acid reflux, antacid, article, Banana, banana trees, bananas, louisiana, magnesium, manganese, new orleans, potassium, serotonin, vitamin b
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
As a kid, I always looked forward to springtime. Winter didn’t just mean less sunlight and standing at a bus stop early in the morning in a red down jacket trying to quickly mound up disparate …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, crops, farming, frost, fruit trees, may full moon, spring, spring frost, Weather
By Pia Hinckle on
In March, California held senate hearings on the status of the state’s eradication program for the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM). FruitGuys founder and CEO Chris Mittelstaedt testified in defense of …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, LBAM, light brown apple moth, News
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
In the fruit world, spring is the hardest time of year. Summer brings its abundance of stone fruits, Fall its apples, pears, persimmons, and pomegranates, and Winter all varieties of citrus that grow …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, blueberries, grown in USA, local, regional, spring, stone fruit, strawberries
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
My daughter walks into the kitchen like a drill sergeant as we are getting ready for dinner. “OK everyone!” she yells. “Belly check!” We all look at each other as she approaches my wife. “Shirt UP!” …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, belly, belly button, fructose, fruit sugar, high fructose corn syrup, honey, mercury, sugar
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
The plum tree in my backyard is awake with white blossoms that shine silver in the moonlight and cluster on the dark wood branches like downy-snow. These small, soft, flowery nests attract wobbly …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, blossoms, photosynthesis, plum tress, plums, spring
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
I’m a chaperone on my son’s 3-day, 5th-grade outdoor education trip. We’re on a bus heading back from a camp in Santa Cruz. As my head bobs against the cool glass window, I’m jarred out of a twilight …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, carbon footprint, compost, composting, conservation, energy footprint, garbage, garbology, leftover food, reducing waste, waste
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Bob: “Jane, we’re here in client services where Engineering is finally getting the chance to redeem themselves against Outbound Marketing. It’s been a tough winter Olympic season for Engineering whose …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: apples, article, break, citrus, cruz farm, Gala Apple, minneola, Minneola Tangelo, olympics, Pinova Apple, sports, winter season
By Heidi Lewis on
The first time I went to a Scion Exchange I didn't know what to expect—was it a science-fiction convention? As I drew nearer I saw people entering the building with little sticks under their arms—was …
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Filed Under: Food, FruitGuys News Tagged With: article, branch cuttings, buds, cuttings, farmers, farming, fruit trees, gardeners, gardening, grafter, grafting, heirloom fruit, nut trees, rare fruit, scion exchange, spring planning, spring planting, swap, twigs, varieties, variety
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Day 26: The marsh of cubicles has cursed our party. We lost Lenny two days ago to the gurgling fried dough found in the quicksand pits of a budget-planning meeting. Sue has been eating the native …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, citrus, copy machine, cubicle, fruit, grapefruit, minneola, Nutrition, office, Tangelo, Tangerine
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
When we look for lessons in life, it’s not often that we can say: “Hey, check with the slime mold.” However, in The New York Times science section, there was a story about how researchers in Japan …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, eco farm, ecofarm, Farm Steward, FruitGuys Farm Steward Program, Kauffman's, Kauffman's Fruit Farm, natural world, nature, owl, owl box, owl boxes, owls, PASA, peaches, rodent control, science, stone fruits, sustainability, sustainable
By Heidi Lewis on
Oroville, CA - Oroville is a gold rush town in Butte County, CA. Oro means gold in Spanish, and during the Gold Rush prospectors stampeded over the area in a greedy frenzy. When Del Chaffin came to …
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Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: article, avocado, Chaffin Family Farm, chaffin family orchard, cherries, chickens, citrus, cows, eggs, figs, fruit trees, heirloom fruit, jam, land management, lemons, mandarins, olives, Peach, peaches, persimmon, pesticides, pests, Satsuma, satsuma trees, sheep, symbiosis, table mountain, wool
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Once upon a time, there was a little girl (she was a Libra for those who follow that stuff) whose mother was an amateur meteorologist. She dreamed of growing up and becoming the best weather …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, astrology, cirrus, cold, fruit, guarantee, meterology, Weather, winter
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
I was already on my second cup of hot water with lemon when the phone rang. “FruitGuy, are you experienced with Vegans?” The voice on the other end didn’t sound alien but I wasn’t taking chances. …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: antioxidants, article, Blood Orange, citrus, fish, fruitguy noir, motorcycle
By Rebecca Taggart on
Vitamin D has been getting a lot of attention lately for several reasons. It appears that vitamin D deficiency may affect many more people than previously thought who reside at mid-northern latitudes, …
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Filed Under: Diet and Health, FruitGuys News Tagged With: article, cod liver oil, dairy, depression, fatty fish, mackerel, milk, rickets, salmon, sunshine, supplements, vitamin D, vitamins, winter
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
At dinner one night, I announced a grand holiday idea: “I think we should road trip this year when we go visit my folks,” I said enthusiastically. My wife and kids just stared. “Come on! No airports. …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: apple, article, caffeine, coffee, energy, kids, new year, road trip
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
When I was 15, I had two secret wishes: first to become a ninja, second to be an astronaut. As I was already practicing my throwing-stars and rubber nunchucks skills in the backyard, I decided to join …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: aloe, article, astronaut, citrus, grapefruit, harold mcgee, medication, medicine, ninja, on food and cooking, vitamin C, winter fruit
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
I was on the outs with the in-laws. Thanksgiving had added lesson number 816 to my little black book of lessons I should have been born with. You know that kind of book—we all keep one. It starts with …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, citrus, in-laws, lessons, noir, orange satsuma, satsumas, Thanksgiving, turkey, Twin Girls Farm
By FruitGuys Staff on
For those getting on of our fruit mixes, you will notice these little easy-peel mandarins nestled amongst a variety of fruit. At The FruitGuys we treasure all the various fruits over the seasons …
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Filed Under: Food, FruitGuys News Tagged With: article, Gold Nugget, mandarins
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Here are two things that happened within a half an hour of each other: first, I was in a book store looking for a gift when I spied a rack of books that, for lack of a better description, can only be …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, blueberries, slow food
By FruitGuys Staff on
Congratulations to our fabulous farmer friend and environmental steward, Allen Harthorn of Harpo Organics, who grows succulent organic Valencia oranges in Ventura County. Allen Harthorn and wife, …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, GoodWorks Tagged With: article, environmental steward, farming, salmon
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Technology and life in general advance so quickly around us that sometimes it's hard to imagine what the future will really hold: What products will last? What will become obsolete? Sure, there are …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, asian pears, Nijisseiki Pear
By FruitGuys Staff on
Four hives and five months ago, The FruitGuys brought forth to Gabriel Farm a prodigious gift of pollination, conceived in the spirit of Farm Stewardship and dedicated to the proposition that all …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, GoodWorks Tagged With: article, bees, farm stewardship
By Heidi Lewis on
Recently Google celebrated their 10th anniversary. In honor of their birthday, they posted one of their oldest indexes. A search unearthed The FruitGuys very first webpage and a flashback to the early …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, farming, flash backs
By Jeff Koelemay on
Fruit + Mouth = YUM When you read a digital clock, do you try to make equations out of the time? When you're driving, do you calculate factors of the mile markers and add license plate numbers up to …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, Satsuma, Zipper-Peel Mandarin
By FruitGuys Staff on
February is American Heart Month. Not just the chocolate-filled, pink-foiled, "Will you be my valentine?" heart month, but the 10-oz …
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Filed Under: Diet and Health, FruitGuys News Tagged With: article, diet, health, health quiz, heart disease
By Jeff Koelemay on
Regular exercise is great for you, even without any other complicated changes to your daily routine. A Duke University study showed that walking just 30 minutes a day could help you lose weight and …
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Filed Under: Diet and Health, FruitGuys News Tagged With: article, exercise, health, walking
By Jeff Koelemay on
Prospecting for gold always makes me hungry. Panning for flakes gets me thinking about crispy corn cereal and managing a sluice box always leaves me craving a juice box. It’s been a long time since …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, Produce Glossary Tagged With: article, dancy, encore, gold mandarins, tang or
By FruitGuys Staff on
Many FruitGuys customers love seedless mandarins and grapes - they've become increasingly popular and even expected. But did you ever wonder how they get the seeds out? There are many varieties of …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, seedless grapes, seedless mandarins
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
The Case of the Crate on the Web They were standing around the FruitCrate when all heck broke loose. Jane was trying to convince John that "grapefruit" descended from a dinosaur egg-sized fruit-grape …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, fruit delivery, humor
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
By Chris Mittelstaedt On May 12th, 2007, the kids are still awake. My daughter has a quizzical look on her face as she skeptically slides her freshly-lost tooth under her pillow in a legal-sized …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: apriums, article, gmo, humor, hybrid fruit, tooth fairy
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Fruit is so good that scientists think it may make chimps smarter. "Chimpanzees remember the exact location of all their favorite fruit trees," wrote Matt Walker on Earth News (A BBC.com website). …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, chimpanzees, Earth News, fruit trees
By Heidi Lewis on
“They're here! They're here!” The FruitGuys' buyers exclaim as if they were kids and a favorite rapscallion uncle has just pulled up in a convertible Caddy with a trunk load of fireworks. FruitGuys’ …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: Angelcot, Angelcots, apricot variety, article, heavenly angelcots, hybrid, Maggiore
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
By Chris Mittelstaedt Wayne, PA, June 1981. It’s a hazy and humid gray-blue Saturday, and the summer beetles are whistle-clicking as I push the riding mower backward out from the garage. I’m in …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: Angelcots, article, California peaches, cherries, fruit mime, nectarines
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
When my grandfather was in his 80s, weak and suffering through the New Orleans summer heat, a dark yellow cat appeared at his back door in Metairie, Louisiana. The house was raised on cinder blocks …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, cats, how to pick a peach, peaches, white peaches
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Here are two things that I secretly wish sometimes: 1. That interpretative dance was an acceptable way to start a company meeting. 2. That I hadn’t tried to leap from my desk and spin on the …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, farming, video, white peaches
By Heidi Lewis on
Whether you choose fresh fruit as a healthy snack from a natural impulse or are making a conscious health decision, perhaps the craving for some crunchy or gooshy junk food is still there. Even a …
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Filed Under: Diet and Health, FruitGuys News Tagged With: article, health tips, healthy diet, junk food
By Pia Hinckle on
Here are some startling statistics: two out of five women and one out of five men would trade three to five years of their life to achieve their weight goals, according to the Eating Disorder …
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Filed Under: Diet and Health, FruitGuys News Tagged With: article, body types, Fitness, health
By Heidi Lewis on
Nestled in the Ukiah Valley, sandwiched between the famous Napa Valley and the redwoods of Mendocino County, is Johnson Orchards, a family farm for more than a century and home to some of the tastiest …
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Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: article, family farming, Johnson Orchards, Ukiah Valley
By Heidi Lewis on
By Heidi Lewis While the glowering Mr. Jack O' Lantern will certainly do some face-melting in the next week or two, inspiring investigation by the budding entomologists in your family, there is …
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Filed Under: Diet and Health, FruitGuys News Tagged With: antioxidants, article, autumn, cooking, cooking pumpkins, fall, halloween, health benefits of pumpkin, how to cook pumpkin, how to make pumpkin puree, how to roast pumpkin, November, Nutrition, October, pie pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin puree recipe, pumpkins, recipe for pumpkin puree, Sugar Pie pumpkin, sugar pie pumpkin puree recipe, winter
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Here's the thing about modern living. At 40 years old, I can form a rock band that gets top billing in my living room. Rehearsals are quick, and I tower over my band mates who barely crest four feet, …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Mr. Brown is in the kitchen, head down, looking for a spork. Ms. Bright walks into the room and heads to The FruitGuys crate. They smile at one another, nervous to acknowledge the habit they have both …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
We just got back from a trip to Southwest France to visit Jacky, my wife's ailing 82-year-old grand cousin. She's a very sweet lady who slaps your face when she is happy with you, lives in the tiny …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
My three-year-old niece takes a sip from her paper water cup and stops mid-gulp. Her pink Minnie Mouse ears are slipping. She purses her lips intently, tilts her head back and looks skyward as she …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
I'm just about to climb the Grapevine on I-5 South into LA when I get the call on my cell. "Papa," my daughter's voice sounds thin like she's trying to hold back tears. "Is Squeaky with you?" She …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
It's my humble opinion that Asian Pears are not only one of the tastiest of all fall fruit treats but also one of the most beautiful. The flavor of the different Asian Pear varieties plays in your …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Scott, the Firebird-drivingm, WYSP-FM-listening, tan and mustachioed manager of the Friendly's ice cream restaurant in the King of Prussia mall, is scowling at me. I'm only a few months into my first …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
I took a late vacation in 2009 - one week at the end of August up at the Russian River in Northern California. We rent a small house that's down a bumpy one-lane road, up and over hills, and through …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
"Mama, I woke up at 3:19 this morning!" my 8-year-old daughter announces to my wife. My wife, who has the superhuman ability to raise just the end of one eyebrow as if tugged on an invisible string, …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Popi's brown Chrysler smelled of warm leather, 70s dashboard plastic, starched shirts, white mint Tic-Tacs, and something atomized that I couldn't quite make out that felt powdery and sticky in the …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
It comes up all the time. In cafes, at dinner parties, just chatting with folks on the bus in the morning: "When you play "superhero," what's your special power?" Sometimes I say underwater breathing, …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
By Chris Mittelstaedt At this time of year, new varieties of peaches come in and out of harvest each week, evolving from early June tartness to the cinnamony-sweet notes of late August. As I track …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
It was 2 pm when Jane called and asked for my assistance. "The IT department did it again," she sighed. "Where is he?" I asked. "In the server room." I walked past the IT team and heard the high …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
I'm not a big gambler. I never knew when to hold em' or when to fold em' and if I walked away I wouldn't know where to go, or if I should saunter or skip or something. My first trip to Vegas was only …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
[SCENE: Orchard. Dappled sunlight falls softly. Ripe fruit hangs on trees.] DAD: Nectar? NECTAR: Yes, dad. DAD: Well, son, we have something to tell you. Mom and I have been thinking that …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Sometimes things just don't work out. Take the time I wanted to build a hovercraft from a lawnmower. Or the time that a 6th grader convinced me that if I sang Pink Floyd's “Another Brick in the Wall” …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
If I were a betting man, I'd wager most of you know about the board game "Hi, Ho! Cherry-O." It's a simple game, originally released in 1965, where a spinner tells players how many cherries they gain …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
This March in History: March 1938. Abbott and Costello debuted their famous "Who's On First" baseball routine for a national radio audience 71 years ago this month, and their classic comedic gem …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Whether corner, cubicle, home, or Oval, The FruitGuys believes all offices are created equal in their right to have fresh fruit and nutritious fare available in the workplace. In honor of Presidents' …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Jeff Koelemay on
The sound is deafening. In the post-Thanksgiving haze of sleeping babies and whispering adults tip-toeing on sock feet, the plastic-on-plastic rumbling of the Boggle game sounds like a string of …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
By Chris Mittelstaedt Early November 1975. Richie, Chachi, and Ralph Malph are drinking milkshakes at Arnold's Drive-In Restaurant, swapping wholesome fantasy stories about catsuit-clad rock star …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, fonzie, happy days, the fonz
By Jeff Koelemay on
By Jeff Koelemay Dracula and Linus walk into a Halloween pumpkin patch. Linus says, "Hey, are you waiting for the great pumpkin too?" Dracula strokes his pointy chin and looks a little embarrassed. …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, fall, halloween, health benefits of pomegranate, how to eat a pomegranate, October, pomegranate
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
The first time I traveled out of the United States, I remember going into a bank with my parents to change money. This was sometime in the 80s when you still had to go to a bank or currency exchange …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Red Flames may not be what people want to hear about in a month of record wildfires, but these are the delicious thirst-quenching kind. Red Flame Grapes are the first eating grapes of the season to …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
My wife recently finished writing a book with two other authors on California legal history. In it, she wrote of the early industry in the San Francisco Bay Area. It's hard to imagine amongst the …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Don't be afraid - this is not Homer Simpson's donut. This donut is not fried or powdered or sugared. It's not meant to be dunked or hoarded or stuffed into some flour-covered, winking baker's …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, produce glossary
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
"Like Fruit in the FruitGuys crate, we see the changing of the seasons, because these are the days of our earth!" Organ music dramatically plays as we fade in on peaches and a handful of apricots in a …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
We've had some questions recently about the availability and rising cost of bananas in the grocery store. We've still been able to provide bananas to those clients who want them, but I thought it was …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
When April rolls around, the sunlight beams a little brighter, the days last a little longer, and I start to think about spring cleaning. The piles on my desk that I haven't moved in a month twitter …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Because soda, and diet soda, in particular, is one of the most common drinks available in offices, I wanted to share with you an article I saw in the Tuesday, February 5, 2008, New York Times by …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
I thought I had the Great American Novel by the tailback in 1995. I grew up in the suburbs where old Pennsylvania farmland - the kind painted by Andrew Wyeth - had been mixed and cooked into 3/4 acre …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
When I was in college, we'd pack the elevator with students, turn off the lights, and yell - "Molecule!" The car shook in the shaft as we bounced off of each other and the walls, finally tumbling out …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
When I was 15, I had two secret wishes: first to become a ninja, second to be an astronaut. As I was already practicing my throwing-stars and rubber nunchucks skills in the backyard, I decided to join …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
During my freshman year in college, everyone made each class choice seem dire and grave: "Are you sure you're making the right choice? This is the rest of your life you're talking about here." To let …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Most fruit is named for the farmer (or someone close to the farmer) that cultivated it. Sometimes it is named for a fantastical image that the fruit conjures in mind. Take for example the Elberta …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
The Russian River in Northern California bends quietly through the thick redwood covered hills of Sonoma County. Communities of shingled, dark wood river houses are tucked into the musky groves and …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
I grew up pretty naive. Before moving from my home town of Philadelphia in the early '90s, I didn't know what to expect of Northern California. I thought that nude beaches were the punch line of a …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By FruitGuys Staff on
Here's my little poem, I've sprinkled it with rhyme Tis an ode to the fresh sweet tastes of fruit in summertime. Week one of grapes has now arrived from warm California sun We've found again the white …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
We all wore togas to our Latin Club party my senior year in high school. I wasn't a great Latin student, but I lived by the motto developed by our Latin club members - semper ubi sub-ubi, "Always wear …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
April had a knack for making my life complicated. So when April walked through my door on the First, I couldn't help but feel like a fool. "Trick or Treat," she said with a smile. It was all show and …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
It's 1980, and yes, I'm wearing Izod. My dad has a consulting gig with a large hospital group in LA, and we're on a flight from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. Tray table down, window shades up, my folks …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
It's the little things that keep me going. The bits of life that compress into diamonds that make me laugh and feel connected. Like the time my friends Matt and Maria ordered an elegant seafood meal …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Well, you made it through the holidays. Mom assured you that she would be "just fine" on the floor of the guest bedroom while dad noted that the blow-up camping mattress smelled like the battleship he …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Lo' the waning of the peach Makes me to the fruit box reach For that fresh and tasty pear That apple that puts the wind in my hair Even on that patch of balding where Nothing flows but cool …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
At one company meeting, Jeff, our distribution manager, told us a great story about how on the second day of a rafting trip on the Snake River in Idaho when he was 10, he and his dad woke up early on …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
It was 1982 — 7th grade at Valley Forge Junior High school. My shop teacher, Mr. Mickey, had the stereotypical nub of an index finger that he could put on his nose, so it looked like it was going into …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
The folks around the office make fun of me when the flavorosa pluot begins to come in. I must have some synaptic cross-wiring because when I bite into the sugary-sweet flesh of the purple-plum looking …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Imagine a tree, a gigantic herb really, that produces a single flower. From that frightful and fantastic flower grow 20 hands. If this seems impressive and terrifying to you, if it puts images of …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
It's 4:30 on a Friday afternoon at LAX. I'm waiting for my flight to San Francisco to board. A group of five-year-old kids wearing i-pod headphones is singing out of key and out of synch. People wait, …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Have I mentioned how impressed I am with nature? I gave it a job review previously. I mean, all those things it does for us, like make the trees magically bud and the gnomes come out and those talking …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Dad is on the hood of the family Volvo - jumping up and down and cursing. I'm 18 years old, it's the 4th of July weekend, and we're having a grand old time. Yesterday, I drove the family car into …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Scott, the ice cream store manager, looks up from behind his bushy brown mustache. His feathered hair is a constant windblown reminder of his recent promotion and brand-spanking-new black Trans-Am …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
It is Thanksgiving 1975, and our customer service FruitGuy, Erin Giordano is eight years old. Wild red hair and polyester, she is off at her aunt Dorothy's house in Glendale, California for the …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
When I was born, my grandfather Popi planted a peach tree in the small back yard of his house in Metairie, Lousiana. He did the same three years later for my sister Jenna and five years after that for …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
When my sister was three years old, she loved plums. Dad called her the "plum body." She would go to the oven and pull down the small, bottom door that held the pots and pans. She carefully spread out …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By FruitGuys Staff on
We once spent a day driving through the Brentwood agriculture corridor hunting of the perfect nectarine. Brentwood is only a 90 minutes drive from San Francisco and is an ideal oasis near the …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, brentwood, california delta, nectarines, stone fruit, summer, u-pick, uptick
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
In the middle of the summer, The FruitGuys truck turns twice a week down a dusty driveway off a bumpy two-lane road in Patterson, California to load up on freshly-picked apricots. The workers on the …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
Straight from the central valley of California comes this weeks fab-four of summer taste explosion. Enjoy and as always – let the peaches ripen until they give slightly to the touch. Pluots and …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By FruitGuys Staff on
One of the things I love about peaches is that the taste of summer itself is captured in the peach at the moment of harvest. Peach varieties build in sugar as the days lengthen from May to late June. …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
The new Food Pyramid came out last week. Walt Handelsman drew an excellent cartoon for Newsday on Friday, April 22nd, 2005 in which an overweight Uncle Sam was lounging in a recliner with a …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
In the 1970s, as a fan of Sesame Street, Cookie Monster was my hero. There was not a better role model on the face of the planet to illustrate the process of getting your mom to make a fresh batch of …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
In 1980, when I was in fifth grade, my family took a trip to the West Coast. After 7 hours on the cross-country flight listening to The Captain and Tenille's Greatest Hits, I couldn't stop humming …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
By Chris Mittelstaedt Let's admit it; the holidays can be stressful. It could be your mother and father crammed into the guest bedroom telling you not to go to any extra trouble, and that they …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: apples, article, b vitamins, berries, citrus, depression, folate, Folic Acid, greens, holidays, stress, vitamin b, winter
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
At the age when a kid starts to wonder if the whole Santa thing is real, my sister and I used to try and catch him. From age 6 until 10 on December 25th we'd wake up to the Pennsylvania winter cold, …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By FruitGuys Staff on
'Twas two weeks before the holiday when all at work; reports abounded and budgets began to lurk. The memos were posted in the kitchen with care; in hopes that The FruitGuys would soon be there. When …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article
By Chris Mittelstaedt on
When I found this week's heirloom apple (the Arkansas Black), I thought about being ten years old and accompanying my mom on an antiquing trip in the country outside of Philadelphia. We visited Ms. …
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Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: apple, arkansas black, Arkansas Black apple, article, fall, winter
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