Posts Tagged: fruit
Small changes are a big step towards health
Amidst recent headlines that the United States population falls short in consuming the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables, a group of dedicated parents in California’s Central Valley have demonstrated that one small change is a big step towards health for children and families.
As part of the City of Fresno Parks and Recreation Department’s Healthy Lifestyle and Fitness Camp for Kids, parents and kids participated in a series of nutrition education classes lead by the UC Cooperative Extension’s Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program (FSNEP).
Following several weeks of classes on reducing fat, sugar and salt, and increasing whole grains, low-fat dairy and fruits and vegetables, groups of parents were invited to flex their nutrition muscles by making small changes to some of their family’s favorite recipes. Their goal? Improve the nutritional value of their dishes through small changes like increasing fruits and vegetables while decreasing ingredients high in fat, sugar and salt.
Fresh vegetables are a great addition; frozen veggies are also a great choice.
Competition was healthy as teams of parents assembled their entries for the City of Fresno’s Inaugural Healthy Lifestyle and Fitness Camp Parent Cook Off. Think Bravo’s Top Chef meets Food Network’s Challenge, minus all the truffle oil and stage lighting. FSNEP educators were nutrition education partners with the parents to note original recipe and the parents' creative changes. Not your average pizza. Small changes like using whole grain tortillas, fresh tomatoes and light cheese improve the nutritional value of this family favorite.
Fruit and yogurt are a perfect pair.
Judges that lent their palettes to parents’ culinary adventures included: local Kaiser Permanete nurses, fitness camp counselors including Amanda Cogdill, recreation specialist, and UC Cooperative extension’s Jeanette Sutherlin, county director, and Connie Schneider, nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor.
One of the winning recipes was the taffy apple pizza. Parents cut the fat and sugar drastically and paid attention to portion size to make this family favorite a healthy hit! It was so popular, camp counselors prepared it for the parents’ children participating in the Healthy Lifestyle and Fitness camp.
One of the winning parent groups is recognized for their efforts.
Healthy food tastes great!
What small change can you make to your family’s favorites?
Taffy Apple Pizza- Original Recipe
Makes 16 servings
Ingredients
1 package refrigerated sugar cookie dough
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese softened
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
3 medium Granny Smith apples
¼ cup caramel ice cream topping
½ cup peanuts, chopped
Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 1 Slice
Calories: 150
Total Fat: 9g
Sat. Fat: 4g
Cholesterol: 15 mg
Sodium: 85mg
Total Carbohydrate: 16g
Dietary fiber: 1g
Sugars: 10g
Protein: 3g
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Taffy Apple Pizza - Winning Recipe
Healthier substitutions indicated with asterisks**
Makes 32 servings
Ingredients
1 box low-fat graham crackers**
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 package (8 ounces) fat free cream cheese, softened**
¼ cup packed brown sugar**
¼ cup reduced fat creamy peanut butter**
3 medium Granny Smith apples
¼ cup sugar free caramel ice cream topping**
½ cup peanuts chopped
Preparation
1. Mix cream cheese, vanilla, brown sugar and peanut butter in small bowl
2. Spread mixture on graham crackers
3. Thinly slice apples
4. Arrange apple slices on graham crackers
5. Drizzle with caramel sauce
6. Sprinkle with peanuts
Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 1/2 cracker
Calories: 60
Total Fat: 2g
Sat. Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 65mg
Total Carbohydrate: 8g
Dietary Fiber: less than 1g
Sugars: 4g
Protein: 2g
Apple time!
Remember that snow on the foothills back in May? That cold spell delayed the apple harvest in El Dorado County about 10 days, but the ranches of the Apple Hill Growers Association are now open for visitors. Gravensteins are already ripe and the first crisp and juicy Galas are ready to pick, with Jonagolds close behind. September is the perfect month to visit the ranches, pick your own apples and maybe stop for a glass of wine or a slice of fresh apple pie.
More than 50 Apple Hill Association member ranches welcome the public onto their small foothill farms every fall with fruit stands, U-pick opportunities, wineries, apple pressing, bake shops, and attractions including live music, old-time steam engines, craft fairs, apple-head carving classes and pie-eating contests. The association hosts a website to help visitors find farmstands, where to pick their own fruit or what events are scheduled.
Apple Hill was born of hard times. In the 1960s, pears were the chief source of income for the area. But a disease known as "pear decline" was ravishing the trees. A small group of local farmers met with the UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor and the county agricultural commissioner to discuss how to save the farms. Since most of the farms had a few apple trees on the land, they decided to try inviting people from the Sacramento Valley up the hill to buy some apples and a fresh-baked pie or two as a stop-gap measure until they could figure out a solution. The apple and pie event was instantly successful, the growers formed their association and planted more apple trees, and Sacramento Valley families have made a tradition of the short drive to Apple Hill every fall for the past 50 years.
All over California, apple growers are harvesting now. California is fifth in the United States in apple production, and many of California's growers have organized together to share their harvest season directly with visitors. In San Bernardino County, about 90 minutes from Los Angeles, The Oak Glen Apple Growers Association offers U-pick apples, U-press cider, hayrides, farm animals, tours and history. In Sonoma County, you can check the Sonoma County Farm Trails to find an apple ranch to visit. To find other apple ranches, check the California Apple Commission's site.
When you do pick your own apples at one of the many ranches open to the public, you may be pleasantly surprised to learn that you don't have to climb any ladders. In fact, due to liability concerns, most U-pick operations now make sure that you keep both feet firmly on the ground by planting dwarf varieties of fruit trees for visitors' picking.
Just picked, crisp sweet apples can't be beat for good eating. They are also good for you; an apple a day just might help keep the doctor away. apples are very low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium, and are a good source of dietary fiber and vitamin C.
Apples will keep for three or four months, or even longer if stored properly. When harvesting, do not remove the stems from apples that will be stored. Be sure to store only apples without bruises, insect or disease damage, cracks splits or mechanical injury. Store apples at around 40 degrees F for best results. You may also want to wrap each apple in newspaper to keep them from touching each other.
Apples are also great for cooking. Here's an apple crisp recipe from www.momswhothink.com:
Mama Shirley's Apple Crisp Recipe
Apple Crisp Ingredients :
12 medium Granny Smith & Macintosh apples (6 of each); peeled, cored and sliced
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
Apple crisp directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Place apples in a mixing bowl, sprinkle evenly with vanilla. Toss to combine.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, oatmeal, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar. Cut butter into mixture until crumbly.
- Evenly place coated apple slices into the bottom of a greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Cover apple slices with crumb mixture.
- Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 to 50 minutes or until apples are tender.
California's crop diversity is unmatched
On a recent trip to the East Coast, our first in almost 13 years, I reflected on our differing coastal experiences with agricultural diversity. Our travels took us through most of the mid-Atlantic farming region – Delaware, District of Columbia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania – where we lived for almost 35 years.
We saw the familiar vast fields of corn, soybeans and alfalfa throughout most of the region. There were occasional pockets of other crops: apples, pears and grapes in the more northern parts; sorghum, sweet potatoes, peanuts and tobacco in the more southern states. We also saw occasional plots of sweet corn, green beans, oats and barley. But mostly we saw corn, soybeans and alfalfa.
We stayed at our cousins’ farm in Warriors Mark, Penn. Guess what they were growing – corn, soybeans and alfalfa. However, this year they were also growing Timothy hay for the local “hobby” horse population, as cousin Hank likes to call his high-paying customers. Our cousins have a huge vegetable garden, but do not farm vegetables because, they say: ”We can’t make any money from vegetables, they are not as profitable as the common three field crops." This seems to be the reasoning behind the tri-crop standard.
When we moved from central Pennsylvania to central California 15 years ago, we were intrigued, but mostly mystified, by the crops growing in fields near our home. With the help of new friends and colleagues, we eventually learned to identify fields of sunflowers, tomatoes, walnuts and almonds. We were astonished by the diversity of crops in our new home state, and intrigued by our lack of knowledge about crops we saw by daily. As we traveled throughout the state, our ability to identify roadside field crops grew. We saw acres of artichokes, lettuce, pistachios, figs, olives, kiwi fruit, avocados, all new as field crops to us. Using guides and manuals we found in the ANR Catalog for vegetables, fruit and nut crops, and agricultural production as well as the Fruit & Nut Research and Information Center website photo albums, we were able to identify most of what we saw. We also identified quite a few acres planted in the familiar corn and alfalfa, but hardly any soybeans.
We discovered what was growing in a nearby field when our eyes began to water and our throats close as a field of garlic was harvested. We had the same reaction to rice straw as it burned and canola harvested in a cloud of dust. The first time we saw acres and acres of sunflowers and an almond orchard in full bloom, we couldn’t help but smile. Our sense of smell also assisted in our discovery of newly harvested fields of squash, olives and tomatoes.
You can find more than the acres of corn, soybeans and alfalfa growing along the East Coast, but exceptions are usually planted in a very few acres and in limited locales. However, California’s crop diversity is readily apparent along every highway and byway in every county. Thank goodness!
Equivalent areas covered: mid-Atlantic states = 107,942,470 acres, California = 99,689,515 acres
Alfalfa stretches to the horizon in the Eastern U.S. (USDA photo)
It looks great, but does it taste great?
Taking a look at melons, berries, tomatoes, pears, stone fruit, and more, researchers from UC Davis, along with collaborators from the University of Florida, are focusing on increasing consumption of specialty crops by enhancing quality and safety. Funded by the USDA, work on this Specialty Crops Research Initiative (SCRI) grant began about a year ago.Americans, after years of hearing that fresh produce is valuable for numerous health benefits, have still not significantly increased their consumption. So, why don’t we eat more fruits and vegetables? Researchers believe that the key reason is that the quality of produce is inconsistent – often with poor texture, flavor or aroma. It might look beautiful on the outside, but when you take a bite – Ugh! It just doesn’t match up to its attractive exterior.
Most produce found at the local market is harvested from the field or orchard before it is fully ripe, shipped a long distance, and then the ripening is completed at a regional produce distribution center or at the local market.
“Harvesting produce early reduces losses due to bruises, decay and other defects,” explained Beth Mitcham, SCRI Grant UCD project leader, “but oftentimes the product never reaches its potential, a full ripe flavor or aroma. Fresh produce, especially when harvested near full ripe stage, can be challenging to handle properly.”
The SCRI grant is an ambitious effort to understand what characteristics are critical for consumers to enjoy produce and develop better methods to measure flavor quality, then work with better tasting varietals and improved shipping and handling practices to allow economically viable delivery of truly delicious fruits and vegetables.
Consumer focus groups are being interviewed for their input, trained taste panels are enjoying a variety fresh produce, and experiments with pallet shrouds and other modified atmosphere transportation experiments are underway. Significant information has already been elicited from consumer groups. Through focus groups, the investigators have discovered that aroma and texture are nearly as important as sweetness, and shoppers get really irritated when produce looks good but tastes bad, and this keeps repeat purchases to a minimum.
Produce managers also have a tough time: set up displays of produce, keep it at the right temperature, watch people wandering around squeezing everything to see if their firmness requirements are met, meanwhile damaging the fruit. It’s a tough market for fresh fruit these days, with fewer consumers’ dollars allocated for produce purchases, but with the advances researchers are making through the SCRI project and others, sweet success is on the way.
Note: This topic was featured on a CBS13 (KOVR) News clip dated 7/17/10, see: http://www.cbs13.com/video/?id=76639@kovr.dayport.com
Melon fruit fly found in Kern County
Farmers and ag officials will gather at the UC Cooperative Extension office in Kern County at 6 p.m. Wednesday to discuss the recent discovery of five melon fruit flies southeast of Bakersfield, according to an article in Western Farm Press.A native of Asia, melon fruit flies' only U.S. home currently is in Hawaii. However, CDFA says it poses a significant threat to a wide variety of agricultural crops important to California, including peaches, oranges, beans, tomatoes and most crops in the cucumber family.
To eradicate the flies already in Kern County, the agricultural commissioner's office and CDFA are using a "male attractant" for trapping within a 4.5-mile quarantine area and have increased trapping densities to 1,000 traps per square mile within a nine-mile grid, said the Western Farm Press article.
In a news release, the Kern County Agriculture Department implored residents to help prevent the introduction of exotic insects and diseases.
"When returning from a trip out of state, please do not bring back prohibited vegetables, fruits, or other plants, because there could be an insect pest or a plant disease hitching a ride with you," the release quoted ag commissioner Ruben Arroyo. "Foreign insects and plant diseases can kill or significantly harm native species, destroy landscaping, commercial and homegrown fruits and vegetables, increase the use of pesticides, and add extra costs to California’s agriculture industry - costs that will get passed along to you the consumer."
Melon fruit fly is about the size of a house fly.