To market: Holiday staples in stock

Sending citrus gifts? Wait much longer and you'll pay more to ship them. Meanwhile, seafood retailers are bracing for busy days.

By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
© St. Petersburg Times,
published December 12, 2001

It might be difficult to imagine, but shiny oranges, squirming eels and salted cod all manage to evoke wondrous waves of holiday sentiment.

For some merrymakers, delicacies such as eels and salted cod are part of a cherished cultural tradition that is celebrated only at Christmas. For others, sweet, shiny oranges bring the greetings of family and friends in sunny Florida.

With that said, Citrus Santas, here's a nudge. In a few days, the cost of having your oranges and grapefruits delivered in time for Christmas will increase a bit.

Orange Blossom Groves, for instance, which has stores in Clearwater and Seminole, promises to get citrus gifts to their destinations by Christmas if they are shipped by Dec. 19. After that, overnight service will be suggested for timely arrival.

"It is rather expensive, but that is the price people pay when they are procrastinators," said Richard Miller, general manager of Orange Blossom Groves and someone who unabashedly numbers himself among the perennially tardy.

This year, though, would-be Santas have more serious concerns than punctuality. "They are inquisitive and making sure that we feel comfortable that the Postal Service is a safe way to ship the fruit, and we assure them we are comfortable with it," Miller said.

The company has always sealed the trailers that carry its holiday gifts to bulk mail centers, he said.

This year, though, extra care is being taken because of the threat of anthrax.

"We are just doing a few extra precautions to make sure we are putting out a safe product," Miller said.

While companies like Orange Blossom Groves are gift-wrapping Florida's citrus, other evidence of the state's winter bounty is making its way to supermarkets throughout the nation.

Everything is plentiful this month, said Les Harrison of Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs.

"They've had the best pecan crop they've had for a long time," he said, adding that squash also is abundant this season.

This year, said Harrison, Florida's crops have escaped the vicissitudes of the weather. Hurricane Michelle, for instance, caused only minor wind scarring to some fruit and dropped blossoms on some plants, he said.

"Somebody was paying the preacher right on that one," he said.

Produce

This month, shop for apples, avocados, beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, starfruit, cranberries, cauliflower, celery, pears, Chinese cabbage, cucumbers, eggplants, grapefruits, oranges, tangerines, lettuce, limes, okra, peppers, squash, sweet corn, tomatoes, persimmons, radishes and sweet potatoes.

Seafood

At Save on Seafood's retail store in Gulfport, employees are steeling themselves for the annual Christmas Eve stampede.

Yes, they will stock up on live and smoked eel, octopus and whole snapper, but they also will hire an officer to control traffic jams wrought by harried shoppers.

"This place will be mobbed," said Save on Seafood's Gib Migliano.

"They will be here before the doors open. It's a mess, and everybody is impatient."

Regulars know that specialties must be ordered beforehand.

"Generally, we like to take orders up to the 15th of the month," Migliano said.

Those picking up live eels at the store, at 1449 49th St. S, will arrive armed with coolers to take away wriggling fish that only minutes earlier had been swimming in the store's tank.

Eels mostly are bought by shoppers of Italian and German ancestry, Migliano said. Italian-Americans prefer live eels, and German-Americans prefer smoked, he said.

The eels, which Save on Seafood purchases from a Delaware farm, are sold by the pound. Live ones will cost about $7.99 a pound, smoked ones about $15.99.

For some Italian-American families, Christmas Eve dinner traditionally consists of seven fish dishes. The menu might include seafood such as calamari (squid), octopus, scungilli, scallops, eel, mussels, clams and shrimp.

Shoppers can expect to pay about $5.99 a pound for scungilli and about $2.99 a pound for calamari, which Save on Seafood sells in a 2 1/2-pound box. Octopus, which will cost about $3.99 a pound, will be available frozen and, adds Migliano, "There is one individual animal per bag."

Whole snapper is a Cuban-American favorite.

"Most families will order a 6- to 8-pound snapper, and they will stuff it either with crab meat or something else like that," Migliano said.

Whole snapper will cost about $3.49 to $3.99 a pound, he said.

Some Spanish-speaking Americans, Brazilians and Caribbean immigrants will want bacalao. The salted fish, which sometimes is made into savory balls, will sell for about $5.99 a pound.

Holiday shoppers can also expect to find plenty of shrimp, cooked and raw; salted mackerel; kippers; smoked salmon; and other seafood delicacies.

Migliano looks forward to this time of year.

"It's amazing that it's the only time of year that some people eat seafood," he said. "It's like they come out of the woodwork."

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