Produce Buzzers - A Podcast for Lovers of Fresh Fruits and Veggies

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month so we have a guest today who is going to enlighten us on the great contributions Japanese Americans made to agriculture in the United States beginning in the late nineteenth century and continuing today. Our guest this week is Glenn Tanaka, a.k.a. “Farmer Tanaka,” a third-generation Japanese American farmer who is continuing the legacy of h...

Build your passion for fresh fruits and veggies as you listen to a 50-Year Veteran of the Produce Industry. Our guest this week is Dan Avakian, a.k.a. “Dan, The Produce Man” and he has almost 50 years working in the produce business. He has a deep passion for all things about fresh produce and brings that energy, along with his deep, rich, velvety voice when he talks about fruits and vegetables to...

Spring has arrived and spring vegetables have been showing up in your local produce aisles and markets for a few weeks now. But this week is the sweetest week of the spring vegetable season. That is because this is the week that the sweetest onions in the world will be first shipped for the 2023 season. Yes, it’s time for a fresh crop of Vidalia Onions. They are named for a small town in Georgia w...

The Environmental Working Group recently released its annual report known as “The Dirty Dozen” which identifies the fruits and veggies that have the most pesticide residue. But the fear it inspires might harm our health more than these pesticides. This week's guest is Dr. Steve Savage, a plant pathologist, and agricultural expert who has studied the data in great detail. Listen to our latest p...

Bananas are underpriced. This most popular fruit is one of the cheapest fruits per pound in the produce aisle. They are usually one-fourth to one-third the price of apples, oranges, and pears. The reason is that the farmers and farm workers who grow and harvest the fruit are underpaid, while the global companies who export and distribute them keep the vast share of the profits. Our guest this week...

The peanut originated in South America and was first cultivated by Indigenous people in Peru. It was a status symbol in those societies and used as a currency! So, working for peanuts there was not a bad thing. But peanuts throughout the centuries were mostly eaten boiled. Since the 1800’s people in the Southern United States have preferred them boiled rather than roasted. In fact, roasted peanuts...

We have a unique guest joining us on the podcast this week. She is a pioneer in the produce industry and one of the first women to establish her own business in the fresh produce world. Janice Honigberg is the founder and CEO of Sun Belle, a leading grower and importer of all types of berries and some other specialty fruits and vegetables. Janice’s story is an inspiring one. She is truly a visiona...

Farmers and purveyors of fresh fruit and vegetables face tremendous risks like no other business or industry. In addition to the risk of adverse weather, pests, and the high perishability of their products, they put themselves at legal risk. This week’s guest is an attorney who helps them navigate those legal minefields. Katy Koestner Esquivel has over 15 years of litigation and advisory experienc...

Today the Produce Buzzers are in a bit of a pickle. But don’t worry. We wanted to be. Because we are going to honor one of our favorite foods—pickles! Almost any vegetable can be pickled but we are going to focus on the most common ones, those made from cucumbers. And we have one of the country’s foremost experts on them with us today. Bill Olvey buys and sells cucumbers to pickle packers all over...

This week, we welcome back Robert Schueller of Melissa’s World Variety Produce. He will tell us about some unusual, exciting, and delicious new products they will be offering in 2023. Robert’s official title at Melissa’s is Director of Public Relations. But we prefer his unofficial title given to him by countless consumer and national trade publications along with TV and radio personalities. “Prod...

Patrick Kelly is a recognized expert in the supply chain for fresh produce. For more than 15 years Patrick has been dedicated to growing supply chains for produce partners around the world. He is also a fellow podcaster with a show that focuses on how the industry works. He joins the Produce Buzzers to tell us all about how fruits and veggies get from the farm to your table. It’s a complex system...

The Chinese calendar is based primarily on the phases of the moon which is why this celebration is also called the Lunar New Year. The new year usually begins on the second new moon after the winter solstice. This year it begins on January 22nd and ends on February 5th. It is believed that the Chinese have celebrated the new year for about 3,500 years. But the first reference to it came from a Chi...

January is the beginning of the season for the most delicious citrus fruit of the year. Groves in California, Florida, and Texas are getting into full production and will peak soon in flavor and volume. To celebrate that, we have a guest on the show this week who is one of the world’s foremost experts on tree fruit, especially citrus. Zak Laffite, the president of Wonderful Citrus, one of the larg...

Welcome to Season Five of the Produce Buzzers Podcast! We start the New Year with a little alliteration. LOL! There is no more satisfying meal in the cold winter months than one featuring a hot, rich, and hearty soup. And if it is chock full of veggies there is nothing that is healthier. But soups are not just gastronomic treats. They are usually very quick and easy to make and very budget friendl...

On this week’s episode of PB Podcast, we want to look back at 2022 and pay tribute to the wonderful guests we had on the show. They helped make our podcast one of the most popular podcasts in the food category and right at the top of podcasts about fruits and veggies. So get ready for some of the best clips of the podcast in 2022 featuring the most interesting and knowledgeable experts in the fres...

When we think of Christmas, we tend to believe that most of the world will celebrate it beside a toasty fire indoors wearing comfy sweaters and nice warm socks because, well. “Baby, it’s cold outside.” We see them imbibing imbibe in hot chocolate and hot mulled cider. They are feasting on roasted meats, winter root vegetables, and the fruits of deciduous trees like apples and pears. But on the oth...

This week we have an extraordinary guest on the show with a fascinating mission in the world of fresh fruits and veggies. This man has to be one of the foremost experts, if not THE foremost expert, on the amazing diversity of edible plants that mother nature has to offer. Bob Harrington is the president of Specialty Produce, a wholesaler of fresh fruits and vegetables primarily to restaurants in S...

Doing good is good business. That is the belief of Martin Casanova of THX! Dreams, a fresh produce company that donates part of its profits to help farm workers fulfill vital needs. And it is not only his belief, but he is showing that it is true. THX! Dreams provides many types of necessities to needy families who work on farms where their fruits and veggies are grown--from computers and tablets...

It will probably come as no surprise that November is National Roasting Month since the Thanksgiving meal most often features plenty of roasted dishes. So just in time for your holiday meal, the Produce Buzzers talk about a few of the best vegetables to accompany your turkey. Beets, Brussels sprouts, and rutabagas. But some anthropologists believe that humans learning to cook may have been one of...

Consumers have always despaired over the high perishability of fruits and veggies and how easy it is to lose them to rot or decay before having a chance to eat them. But now that Inflation is here and stinging us in the …ummmmm… back pocket, throwing away those veggies is even more painful. Even before the pandemic and the steep rise in costs we have seen over the past year, tossing out those mold...

We all desire “La Bella Vita” or the beautiful life. And eating lots of fresh fruits and veggies is one of the keys to experiencing it. In Italian, “Bella Vita” translates literally as “beautiful life” but, it also means “healthy life.” The Italians know well the ingredients and recipe for a beautiful and healthy life. This week’s guest on the podcast is an Italian man who has been in the fresh pr...

How well do you know your exotic fruits and veggies? Mother Nature has given us some strange and wacky fruits to delight us and sometimes disgust us, but either way, they are fascinating. Some of Mother Nature’s weird creations have become commonplace for us in the modern world, like kiwifruit. But some exotic fruits have not made their way to our grocery store shelves here in the United States an...

`She is “The” Produce Mom." But she will not pester you like your mom did and tell you to “Eat your veggies!” Instead, she will inspire you to LOVE fresh fruit and veggies and make them a delight in your meals like they should be. Lori Taylor, founder and CEO of The Produce Moms® joins the Produce Buzzers to tell her amazing story of creating a multimedia powerhouse that is having a major impact i...

September is National Fruit and Vegetable Month! Since we are celebrating all things fruit and veggie this month, we are thrilled to have back on the podcast this week a woman who is at the epicenter of efforts to get people to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak, MS, RDN, is the President and CEO of the Produce for Better Health (PBH) Foundation. At PBH, she guides the Fo...

You have heard of “Johnny Appleseed,” but have you heard of “Johnny Mushroom Spore?” He is the man who is spreading mushrooms throughout Western North Carolina, and we have him on the podcast this week. Greg Carter of Deep Woods Mushrooms in Mills River, NC, joins us to tell us about the amazing world of mushrooms. Greg has been growing mushrooms for over 20 years and has made a successful career...