Heyo, SuperForest!
A few days ago, I was driving home from my evening lecture, stuck in rush hour traffic, and feeling stressed. I was thinking about a huge project transition plan that I had to submit, downtown urban redevelopment sketches that I had to draw, getting my car serviced, the list went on and on, and amidst this flurry of thoughts, an “ugh and I have to grab something to eat, too!” flickered across my mind. This is when I realized something was wrong. Something with our entire society as a whole is wrong: our perception of food. I’m going to generalize a bit here, but you’ll catch my drift.
Somewhere along the passage of time, food transformed from being a vital part of one’s day and as being seen as a way to fuel and replenish and reenergize our bodies to some routine part of our schedule that stops our stomachs from growling. There was a shift from “let’s all gather at the dinner table and share a meal together” to “okay let’s get this over with so I can get back to work”. Generally speaking, so many petty things have flooded into our social consciousness and when it comes to the most vital things in life: food, water, air, etc., we barely give them any thought. And this shrinkage doesn’t only apply to our thoughts, a recent statistic shows that in the 20s and 30s, 27-30% of people’s income would go to food, now this statistic has shrunk to 6-7%. To sum it all up, it is clear that when it comes to food, we have to retrograde, we have to go back to basics.
Sooooo….
It is with great pleasure that I introduce a spankin’ new SuperForest series of posts, SuperForest Fresh Picks! The name pretty much says it all. Once a week, SuperForest is going to feature a particular fruit or vegetable that is currently in season and we are going to teach you how to pick it!
This week, we’ll start with a basic one and premiere with: California Navel Oranges!!!
The California navel orange season is just beginning and for next two months they are just going to get sweeter and less expensive as the season progresses. So when you go to the market to pick some up, here are some things you should look for…
- A deep orange color
- Smooth skin (rough or bumpy skin usually means that the skin is thick)
- Heaviness (the heavier the orange, the juicier it is)
- Shiny skin
- A solid feel (it shouldn’t be squishy)
- And of course, no bruises
Easy stuff, right? Basically you look for any characteristics you would look for in an oompa loompa. And as compared to the valencia orange, which is excellent for juicing, the navel orange is great for eating. Also, it’s important to remember that to keep the oranges fresh and tasty, do not keep them at room temperature, keep them in the refrigerator.
Tune in next week when we get a bit more adventurous and learn about the Fuyu Persimmon.
And of course, if you have any specific requests, send them on over!
Love to all,
C
P.S. A special thank you goes out to SuperForester Ghassem (my pops) for inspiring this series of posts. My grandmother taught him how to pick fruits and vegetables explaining that life lessons such as those were things you could keep with you for the rest of your life. Years later, he would open up his own produce business and ever since I was a wee lass, he has instilled these values in me as I’ve been exposed to fabulous healthy and natural foods. For this, I will forever be grateful.
Recent Comments