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To Market

It's time to sample the exotic

Pluots, plantains, a red avocado: Summertime offers a parade of unusual produce to savor between commercial harvests.

By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
Published August 3, 2005

Blame Hurricane Emily for higher grouper prices. The storm diminished the grouper catch from Mexico, raising prices for the local favorite.

But August is a good month to find something new in supermarket produce aisles and small markets. Look for tropical fruit like mamey sapote or for specialty products like pluots, the sweet plum and apricot hybrid. For good measure, why not try a plantain, the banana's cousin? Fry, boil, saute or bake it, ripe, green or in-between.

Though most of the state's commercially grown crops are over for the season, some Florida-grown produce is still around, though it might be a little different from what you usually throw into your grocery cart.

"At local markets you're seeing a lot of small gardeners bringing a lot of stuff right now," said Les Harrison of the Florida Department of Agriculture. These "heirloom and micro crops" are worth trying, he said: "Interesting squash. . . . All kinds of sweet and hot peppers, locally produced bananas."

This is also Florida avocado season, said Mary Ostlund, marketing director for Brooks Tropicals in Homestead. Besides the SlimCado, a variety that boasts 35 percent fewer calories and 50 percent less fat than the California avocado, there's a variety called the hard red; its name reflects the color of its skin.

Papayas are also in stores this month. Ostlund noted that there is a growing demand for the Caribbean red, a large variety with deep-red flesh. Brooks Tropicals' Caribbean reds come from Belize.

"If you cut it in half and scoop out the seeds, it's fantastic for breakfast," Ostlund said. "What I do is I put in a scoop of yogurt. In many countries, it's considered a breakfast fruit."

Ostlund added that Queer Eye for the Straight Guy recently featured the Caribbean red as an edible bowl filled with baked shrimp.

The smaller sunrise papaya has pink flesh. She suggested drying its peppercorn-size seeds and sprinkling them on salad. Papaya combined with other tropical fruits makes a cool, refreshing salad, Ostlund said.

Arsenios Paschopoulos, owner of City Produce Fruit Market in St. Petersburg, knows that shoppers crave unusual tastes. Pluots, a favorite at his store this time of year, should be available through September, he said.

The fruit is "a plum that's crossed with an apricot and that offspring is crossed back with a plum," said Dave Parker, director of marketing for Fruit Patch Sales in Dinuba, Calif.

The result, he said, is "more plum than apricot."

California is the country's largest producer of pluots. The fruit, created by plant breeder Floyd Zaiger, was introduced during the late 1980s. Pluots come in several varieties. Fruit Patch Sales, which ships fruit worldwide, begins with flavorosa in May and ends with the suitably named flavor fall in September. Other varieties include royal treat, candy stripe, flavor queen, dapple dandy and flavor grenade - available now.

Shop for avocados, apricots, beans, cabbage, cantaloupes, cucumbers, sweet corn, grapes, lettuce, nectarines, okra, peaches, bell peppers, plantains, plums, tomatoes, squash, watermelons, mangoes, atemoya, carambola, guava, mamey sapote and pluots.

Florida lobster season opens Saturday, so local stores will have catch from the Florida Keys. Even as one season opens, though, another ends. Paul Johnson of Seven Springs Seafood Co. in New Port Richey reminds shoppers that time is running short for Alaskan halibut this year.

Meanwhile, don't expect relief in grouper prices until mid month, said Gib Migliano of Save on Seafood, a wholesale and retail company in St. Petersburg.

"The storm interrupted the flow of fish from Mexico," he said. "Without any pressure from imported fish, the local fish will rise until the rhythm starts again."

Additionally, said Migliano, prices will be affected by the government's new lower limits for the grouper harvest. Fresh grouper will cost at least $10.99 a pound, he said.

His good news was that Save on Seafood will import farm-raised pompano from the Bahamas, which means the company can offer a steady supply of the seasonal fish. Migliano said the farm-raised variety will be available at his store for about $9.95 a pound for fillets and $4.95 a pound whole. Save on Seafood will also supply Publix with the farm-raised fish, he said. There also should be plenty of mangrove snapper from the Gulf of Mexico this month.

At Seven Springs Seafood, Johnson, its chef-owner, wants to offer a way for noncooks to enjoy seafood. Johnson is building a kitchen to prepare takeout meals. Customers will be able to order from a menu or to select seafood from the display case for preparation, he said.

"A lot of people seem to want seafood, but a lot of them don't want to cook it. Some are afraid to cook it. Some people still have the notion that if they cook seafood, their house is going to smell," he said.

"I'm trying to make it easy for people, especially for people who work all day and don't want to go home and cook. And yet, they don't want the same old thing."

- Waveney Ann Moore writes about produce and seafood monthly for Taste. She can be reached at 727 892-2283 or moore@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 2, 2005, 09:45:05]