Earlier this month, produce sellers, buyers, chefs and students gathered to sell and celebrate the incredible harvest that passionate produce professionals make readily available to North American consumers. James Prevor, co-founder of the New York Produce Show and Conference, strives to make this show part of an over-arching industry effort to increase produce consumption in the United States. According to Prevor, improving produce quality, making fresh produce convenient to consume and adding a culinary flair (borrowed from countries that are less reliant on meat proteins), are all critical in driving additional revenues in the produce business.
Prevor’s insights could be seen in living color across most of Pier 94’s 133,000 square feet conference space on the Hudson River in New York City. The quality was undeniable as fruit and vegetable distributors set up their own fresh market stands and welcomed any opportunity to share their product’s unique flavor with grocery, restaurant, foodservice and media representatives on the engaging show room floor. While fresh onion tastings, for instance, may not sound tantalizing, it was impossible not to bite into an Oso Sweet onion as a most enthusiastic representative was sharing Oso Sweet’s growing seasons in Georgia, California, Chile, Nevada , Peru, and Texas.
While sweet, it was still an onion, so the carafe of Red Jacket cold pressed fruit juice one aisle over caught my attention. The tasting gave me ample time to chat with Red Jacket Orchards General Manager, Peter Schulick, about this country’s knowledge of juice processing and the impact of production on the nutrients left in the juice. The conversation changed immediately after my first sip as production took a back seat to the taste. Red Jacket Orchards juices are made with fruit grown in the company’s orchards in the Finger Lakes region of New York. The drink I tasted had an effervescent texture and potent just picked flavor.
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