Hurricane Isabel left apple and sweet potato crops in its path relatively unscathed.
In Pennsylvania, one of the top six apple-producing states in the nation, damage was relatively light. In North Carolina, which produces 40 percent of the nation's sweet potatoes, the prognosis was much the same.
"She moved in very fast, and she left as quickly," Sue Johnson Langdon of the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission said of the hurricane.
"There was a lot of wind, but very little rain."
Still, said Langdon, supplies of North Carolina sweet potatoes, now being harvested, will be "very tight" because of heavy rainfall during the growing season. The harvest also will be late, she said, but there will be sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving.
Julia Daly, spokeswoman for the U.S. Apple Association in Vienna, Va., said the apple crops in states affected by Isabel mostly have been spared.
"We're still getting damage reports, but it looks like the damage was minimal. In Pennsylvania, it looks like they lost 5 percent of the fruit. New York just had rains. They didn't lose anything," she said.
The news gets better. Shoppers can look forward to several new varieties of apples this season, including honeycrisp, developed at the University of Minnesota. The honeycrisp tastes like "a cherry Life Saver," a researcher at the university has declared. Cameo, another new variety, is said to be both sweet and tart. And pink lady, developed in Australia, is "a beautiful apple," Daly says.
"It is pink and it is very white inside and it resists browning, so it's a great choice for salads, and (it) bakes well. It's a very good multipurpose apple. It's been very popular. Our biggest challenge is getting enough supply," she said about the variety, which is grown in Washington and California.
Strawberries are coming from California this month, but produce expert Michael Marks says that the harvest could come to sudden end because the crop endured one of the hottest summers on record. October rains will add to the stress and curtail the harvest, which normally lasts until November, Marks said.
However, California's hot summer has been beneficial for pomegranates.
"The saying is, the hotter the summer, the sweeter the pomegranates in the fall. So get out your favorite pomegranate recipe," Marks said.
Marks, known as the Your Produce Man, produces a report for the CBS affiliate in Sacramento. His produce report also is seen on the Do It Yourself Network. He is passionate about produce and has been encouraging Americans, especially children, to eat more fruits and vegetables.
He encourages parents and grandparents to be better role models. "When you reach for a snack, are you reaching for a Snickers bar, or are you reaching for the carrots? One of the things I did with my kids, when my kids were real small, is that my little children did not eat a whole box of french fries. They didn't eat a whole candy bar. Cut it down to a child's size," he said.
It's up to parents to make sure that their children get the recommended five servings of fruit and vegetables a day, and they should make the experience fun, he said.
"October is National Apple Month. Walk into any grocery store and you will find 10 different kinds of apples. Make a game of it. Let them select an apple of the week. Have a tasting test, for flavor, for tartness," he said.
"Involve your kids and get your children back into the kitchen. If all else fails, just bribe them."
Produce
October is a good month for apples, broccoli, avocados, cauliflower, cucumbers, lettuce, snap beans, kumquats, okra, peppers, spinach, star fruit, brussels sprouts, cucumbers, grapes, kiwifruit, pears, pomegranates, plantains, persimmons, winter squash and sweet potatoes.
Seafood
In a few days, it will be time for stone crabs once again. The season opens Oct. 15. If predictions are on target, make sure you grab the delectable claws when they hit the market.
"If the weather stays like this, we'll have stone crab claws the first week" when the crabs scurry for bait and are caught in traps, Gib Migliano of Save On Seafood in St. Petersburg, said.
Barring that, said Migliano, "They bury up in the mud" until a cold front comes through.
He forecasts high prices, around $8 to $9 a pound for medium claws and $15 to $16 a pound for large claws.
October also will bring red snapper for the first 10 days as well as the fall migration of kingfish, mackerel and pompano.
Pompano will cost about $4.99 a pound whole. Expect to pay about $1.99 a pound for whole mackerel and $3.99 a pound for fillets, Migliano said. Kingfish will cost about $2.99 a pound whole and $5.99 a pound for steaks, he said.
This also will be a good month to enjoy blue crabs. After being scarce for a while, they're back, Migliano said.
He added that the cost will be around $7.50 a dozen for medium crabs and up to about $15 a dozen for large ones.
