Published Feb. 2, 2005|Updated Aug. 24, 2005
February is a short month, but a lot is happening during it. Ash Wednesday, which summons Christians to a time of penitence, and Chinese New Year fall on Feb. 9. The Super Bowl is Sunday and Valentine's Day is not far off.
While Lent is traditionally associated with seafood dishes, Chinese New Year is a time for fruits such as pomelos, oranges and tangerines, all signs of prosperity. Valentine's Day, of course, calls for chocolate, but a New Port Richey Seafood shop plans to offer lobster. As for Super Bowl Sunday, practically anything goes, though a fruit or vegetable tray might help assuage snacking guilt.
Even better, the nation's first low-carb, reduced-calorie potatoes have made a debut.
The good news is that there should be plenty of fruit, vegetables and seafood for every observance. The recent cold weather appears to have spared Florida's produce.
Tomatoes, we're being told, are plentiful and inexpensive. This comes after last fall's post-hurricane shortage and subsequent sky-high prices. Now fields of tomatoes are being left unpicked because it doesn't pay farmers to harvest them.
During a recent tour of South Florida farms, Florida agriculture commissioner Charles H. Bronson was told that the public is convinced a tomato shortage still exists. Bronson has ordered a marketing effort to get the word out that Florida is still very much in the fresh tomato business.
"Basically, what you've got is a situation where it would appear that people have gotten out of the habit of buying tomatoes during that period immediately after the storm," said Les Harrison of the Florida Department of Agriculture.
"We've got a magnificent supply right now. For consumers, they're an excellent buy."
Plenty of Florida strawberries are also available.
"With the recent cold snaps, everyone fared very well," said Ila Crocker, marketing director of the Florida Strawberry Growers Association, in Plant City.
"There are no signs of damage and, at this point, volume is up and quality is good."
The nation's first low-carb, reduced-calorie potato is expected to make an appearance in Tampa Bay area Kash n' Karry, Publix and Target grocery stores this week. The slim spuds, which now are grown only in Florida, are 30 percent lower in carbohydrates and have 25 percent fewer calories than the standard russet potato.
Jim McDowell, director of sales and marketing for SunFresh of Florida Marketing Cooperative Inc., a farmer's co-op based in St. Augustine, says the potatoes are being sold under the SunLite brand. They are available in 3-pound bags.
"We're growing it in several places in Florida and will eventually grow it in other states to ensure year-round availability," McDowell said.
"Typically, potatoes, particularly out West, are grown, harvested and stored. Our goal is to have the freshest potato on the market, so we want our potato to go from the farm to the consumer's table in a matter of days."
For some shoppers, pomelos also might be something new. They look like grapefruit, but the large member of the citrus family is sweeter and drier.
Popular for Chinese New Year celebrations, the fruit was one of the must-haves during a recent fundraiser at Chua Phat Phap Buddhist Temple in St. Petersburg. The thick skin of each fruit carried New Year greetings for prosperity, long life and other wishes for the year of the rooster. Pomelos usually can be found in Asian markets and specialty stores.
Produce
During February, shop for apples, avocados, peas, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, beans, cabbage, sweet corn, cucumbers, grapes, eggplant, peppers, low-carb potatoes, radishes, squash, tomatoes, strawberries, cherimoyas, grapefruit, oranges, tangerines, tangelos, pomelos, guavas, carambola, kumquats, greens and lemons.
Seafood
For Valentine's Day, Seven Springs Seafood Co. in New Port Richey is offering a special on lobster tails. That is, said owner Paul Johnson, if the weather in the Northeast cooperates.
In time for Lent, the store at 4036 Little Road also is holding an old-fashioned fish fry each Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. throughout February. The shop will offer a complete dinner with french fries, coleslaw and hush puppies. Everything is cooked to order and shoppers get to choose from seven to eight varieties of fish.
Prices will run from $4.99 to $10.95 a pound for each meal.
Fishing for shallow-water grouper, red and black varieties, will close Feb. 15 for a month. Deepwater grouper fishing will remain open, but prices are expected to be high, about $10.99 a pound for yellow edge and snowy grouper, said Gib Migliano of Save on Seafood, which has a wholesale plant in St. Petersburg and retail stores in Gulfport and Tampa.
Johnson of Seven Springs Seafood said his store will carry grouper and have a good supply of New England fish, including cod, haddock and sole. Fresh red snapper will also be available; the season opened in the gulf on Tuesday. If the weather holds, Johnson said, there also should be stone crabs.
While cold weather might not have affected the state's fruit and vegetables, Migliano of Save on Seafood said it might have had some effect on stone crabs.
"If the water is too cold, the meat tends to stick to the shell," he said.
"So when it is cold, we try to bring most of our harvest from Marco Island and the Keys."
Stone crab season lasts until May 15. Migliano, however, described the current supply as "fair" and said he didn't expect even that to last much longer.
Wild Florida shrimp continues to be plentiful and a good buy, he said.
Waveney Ann Moore writes about produce and seafood monthly for Taste. She can be reached at (727) 892-2283 or mooresptimes.com.
