Summertime is all about the fresh fruits and vegetables. Where we live, we are lucky to have some established fruit trees and bushes, so we can just go outside (with the kids, of course) and pick what we want to eat. If you don’t have such direct access to fresh produce, try the farmer’s market or other markets in your area that carry fresh, locally grown fruits and veggies – there really is a difference in taste.

Our favorite way to enjoy summertime fruit is in a quick and simple fruit sorbet. Fresh peaches, strawberries, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, or a mixture are all delicious – just be sure to adjust the amount of sugar so that the sorbet isn’t too tart.

To make sorbet, you need:

• About 5 cups of chopped fruits or berries. (The juicier the better, such as various berries and stone fruits.)

• Wash and remove any peels

• Chop the fruit so that all are about an inch in diameter.

• Set aside about 1 cup of fruit from the batch, and scatter the other 4 cups onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

• Place the sheet in the freezer and the 1 cup of fruit in the fridge overnight.

When you are ready to make the sorbet, remove frozen fruits from the freezer and pulse them in a food processor until it looks like a smooth fruit puree. Add some sugar as needed to smooth out the fruit even more and sweeten the mixture – about half a cup should be enough, but be sure to add enough so that the sorbet is sweet and not too tart (raspberries, for example, need more sugar than peaches or strawberries). You can also add a little water to further smooth out the fruit. Add the fruit from the refrigerator and blend until smooth, then serve.

In this final installment of the Food for Thought series, we’re taking a closer look at produce.

The health benefits of fresh produce are widely publicized … from being low-calorie snacks to sources of helpful antioxidants. But as you navigate your way through the produce aisle, do you know what?s lurking behind those fresh leaves and bright colors?

Know the code ? the secret language of produce

Understand the numbers on the product look-up (PLU) codes. All produce has small oval stickers on them with a series of numbers. Anyone who has gone through the self-service checkout lane at the market, knows that those numbers help identify the item along with the price per pound.

But those little numbers tell you more than just the price, they contain a wealth of ?secret? information. PLUs were developed by the International Federation for Produce Standards, a coalition of fruit and vegetable associations that started in 2001. There is no regulatory body for the use of PLUs and grocers are not required to use them, but most do.

PLUs consist of four or five numbers. Four numbers starting with the number three or a number four indicate produce grown in conventional methods, for global distribution and sustained with pesticides. Five numbers, starting with the number nine, are organic, and five numbers starting with the number eight are genetically engineered/genetically modified (GE/GM). The PLU codes also indicate the type of produce, variety (white grapes or red grapes for example), distribution information and price per pound. For organic and GE/GM varieties, the numbers nine and eight respectively are added as a prefix to the existing PLU code for the conventional version of that type of produce.

Conventional/Traditional Produce

Conventional crops are fed synthetic fertilizers, which force the plant to grow bigger in mass, in a shorter period, thereby not allowing the plant the time to take up the same full amount of nutrients as organic crops.

Some examples:

Alfalfa Sprouts (4514)

Granny Smith Apple, small (4138)

Beefsteak Tomato (3061)

California Sweet Onion (4165)

Yellow Banana [including Cavendish] (4011), small (4186)

Organic Produce
Five numbers starting with a “9″

Organically grown produce means that the produce has been grown without the use of artificial chemicals, synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, and do not contain the residues of toxic pesticides. Organic produce follows the principles of ecological sustainability.

Example:

An organically grown California sweet onion would bear the number 94165

GE & GM Produce
Five numbers starting with an “8″

Genetically engineered or genetically modified produce means that genetic material (whether natural or manufactured) is introduced into the DNA of a host species, a procedure that results in disruption of the genetic blueprint of the organism.

The FDA describes GE/GM produce as ?an extension of traditional plant breeding [or grafting, but] involves direct modification of DNA … [and makes] it possible to direct and predict changes without introducing … undesirable traits … and will allow scientists to introduce genes from essentially any organism into a plant.”

There are many who caution against consuming GE/GM foods because of concern over allergies, toxicity, an increase in viruses and resistant bacteria, and yet unknown adverse effects on human and animal biology.

Examples:
A GE/GM Beefsteak Tomato would bear the number 83061.

For some produce contain residual traces of pesticides even after washing, something that we tend to think is a reliable way to protect ourselves. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) studied 43 fruits and vegetables, among which many stapes in our family?s diets ? including peaches, apples, lettuce, spinach, carrots and cucumbers. It?s important then, that the next time you?re in the produce aisle, consider what those little oval stickers may mean for the health of your family.

Learn more about understanding the organic label.

Inexpensive ways to buy organic.

Genetic engineering: The future of foods?

Get/View the EWG?s produce report.

Pregnancy legends say whatever you eat in your first trimester will be your baby’s favorite foods later in life. As my husband and I both sat here devouring the sweetest Florida oranges you could ever want to taste, I cringed thinking about my future food bills – specifically, the price of fresh fruit!

Pre-pregnancy, I loved vegetables. Fresh green beans, canned peas, broccoli, cauliflower, even brussel sprouts and lima beans. You name it, I’d eat it; raw, steamed or saut’ed with garlic and butter. I ate a relatively balanced diet, but never shied away from my greens.

I realized around week 5, when I finished my steak and brown rice and left my salad sitting in its bowl, that I had lost my taste for vegetables. “Since when do I leave my salad for last?” I moaned to my husband. “Our future child won’t like vegetables, and it’s your fault!” My husband likes only a handful of vegetables, all raw, and corn in any form except creamed.

Concerned about not eating enough healthy foods during pregnancy, I ransacked the produce section of Stop n’ Shop. “If the kid doesn’t like vegetables, he’s going to eat fruit!” I came home with oranges, apples, grapefruits, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, and kiwi fruit.

I’ve been making a smoothie in my Magic Bullet once a day with a banana, five to seven strawberries, a handful of blueberries and a cup of non-fat milk. Not only does it calm the nausea and fill me up for a whole two hours, it’s probably one of the healthiest foods I actually have a desire to eat.

I started to get worried this morning about my fruit stock. Last night, I ate the last banana and the last apple and my strawberry supply was running dangerously low.

When my husband came home from work with bananas and oranges, I hugged him as if he had given me diamonds and the keys to a new car. I dug deeper in the grocery bag and found sugar snap peas, one of the few foods on his list of ‘approved vegetables.’ I tossed them aside in hopes of revealing a pint of strawberries.

Two out of three isn’t bad, I guess, but if this is a glimpse into the future, I’m thinking we ought to reconsider our vegetable garden concept with rows of tomato plants and green beans. We’ll just need to buy enough land to grow an orchard.

If you feel that washing your vegetables with plain water just isn’t good enough, you could buy a produce cleaning solution at your local grocery store. Or you could save a few bucks and try this recipe for creating your own veggie wash.

• 1 tbs organic lemon juice
• 10 drops grapefruit seed extract
• 2 tbs baking soda
• 1 cup filtered water
• 3/4 cup white vinegar

1. Mix in a sprayer bottle
2. Shake before each use
3. Spray produce and let sit for 5-10 minutes (don’t spray mushrooms as they absorb will the solution)
4. Rinse

Thanks to Recipezaar for this recipe.