Crop of the Week in Review: Grapefruit, Broccoli, Watermelon and Leaf, Mixed Lettuce

WATERMELON

*Watermelon is a widely grown African vine of the gourd family thought to have originated in the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa.The melons are the plant's fruit. The first record of watermelon harvest is found in Egyptian hieroglyphics on tomb walls dating back 5,000 years.Watermelons were left as food to nourish the dearly departed in the afterlife.

*In 1999, more than 4 billion pounds of watermelon were produced in the United States. By weight, watermelon is the most-consumed melon in the U.S., followed by cantaloupe and honeydew.

*In 2005, melon producers in Yuma County grew more than 1,000 acres of watermelons valued at over $3.8 million. Yuma County is the leading producer of watermelons in the state.

*Watermelon does not contain any fat or cholesterol. It is an excellent source of vitamins A, B6 and C and contains fiber and potassium. Scientists found that watermelon contains more of the healthly compound lycopene per serving than any other fresh fruit or vegetable. Lycopene gives watermelon and tomatoes their red color and is thought to act as a powerful antioxidant that may help to reduce the risk of age-related diseases.

*Every part of the watermelon is edible. The first cookbook published in the U.S. in 1796 contained a recipe for watermelon rind pickles. Seeds may be baked and eaten. Fresh watermelon is often used to flavor summer drinks and smoothies. Grilled watermelon, known as watermelon steak due to its visual similarity to raw steak, is becoming a popular item in some restaurants. In Israel and Egypt, the sweet taste of watermelon is often paired with the salty taste of feta cheese.

*Select watermelons that are firm, symmetrical and free of bruises, cuts and dents. Lift it up - a watermelon should be heavy for its size. Turn it over - on the underside of the watermelon there should be a creamy yellow spot from where it sat on the ground and ripened in the sun.

*During the Civil War, the Confederate Army boiled down watermelons as a source of sugar and molasses.

*Watermelon is 92 percent water. Early explorers used them as canteens.

*To produce seedless watermelon, a plant manipulated to have four sets of chromosomes is pollinated with a normal plant containing two sets of chromosomes. The resulting plant with three sets of chromosomes is like a sterile "mule" and does not produce seeds. It may, however, have some empty white seed coats.

*Watermelon snow is a phenomenon where snow appears pink or red and has a distinctive watermelon scent. It is common in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California in the summer months at altitudes of 10,000 to 12,000 feet. The pink snow is caused by an algae that thrives in very cold temperatures.

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MIXED, LEAF LETTUCE

*Salad has been around since ancient times, named for the Latin for salt (sal), in which the greens were seasoned with salt.

*Lettuce is believed to be one of the first vegetables brought to the new world by explorer Christopher Columbus.

*Today, lettuce is the second most popular fresh vegetable in the United States. In 2004, total lettuce consumption reached a record high of 34.5 pounds per person.

*Production of leaf lettuce in Yuma has increased more than 20 percent from 1998. In 2005, Yuma producers grew more than 8,000 acres of leaf lettuce valued at over $120 million. Leaf lettuce is the third-ranking crop grown in the county, based on gross farmgate receipts and has been grown in the United States since colonial times.

*In the 1970s, salad became a national obsession as salad bars sprang up everywhere.Along with increased interest in salad came widening choices of ingredients and more variety in salad dressings. Tuned-in restaurants served salads and sandwiches bulging with alfalfa sprouts and avocados, perhaps the two ingredients most identified with salads at that time.

*The 1990s initiated the decade of convenience, with the emergence of the grocery store "salad mix" - precut, prewashed greens for an easy mixed green salad.Most of Yuma’s leaf lettuce is shipped by refrigerated truck to markets throughout the U.S. and Canada.

*Lettuce is a close relative of sunflowers, artichokes, chicory and endive. Like most lettuce, leaf lettuce is fairly cold hardy and will tolerate light frosts with little or no damage.

*Leaf lettuce (often called loose-leaf lettuce) forms loose rosettes of leaves that come in a range of colors from various shades of green to burgundy, including speckled types.

*Good-quality green leaf lettuce will have fairly large, loose heads and thick "crumpled" leaves. The leaves will be medium to dark-green in color blending to nearly white ribs or veins. A sweet or bitter smell means sweet or bitter flavor respectively.

*Iceberg lettuce doesn't offer much nutritionally, but loose leaf lettuce is nutrient rich. In fact, loose leaf lettuce provides five to six times the amount of vitamin A and five to 10 times the vitamin A compared to iceberg.

*Leaf lettuce is also fun to use as a wrap. Add grilled chicken and salsa for a healthy entrée.

*Choose bunches with crisp, evenly colored leaves with no sign of wilting or yellowing. As with all greens, leaf lettuce should be washed and either drained completely or blotted with a paper towel to remove any excess moisture before being refrigerated in a plastic bag. It will keep this way up to about three days.

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BROCCOLI

*Broccoli has been around for more than 2,000 years and is native to the Mediterranean and East Asia. It is believed to be the first of the cole crops to evolve from the wild species of kale or cabbage and was cultivated by the Romans.

*During the 16th century, the plant was grown almost exclusively in France and Italy. The word broccoli comes from the Italian brocco, meaning arm branch.

*Yuma County has become the nation's primary winter broccoli production area. Local production has increased more than 25 percent since 2002, to 25,000 acres last year for a value in excess of $65 million.

*Over the past 25 years, broccoli consumption has increased more than 940 percent.

*Thomas Jefferson was also an experimental gardener with a wide circle of European correspondents, from whom he got packets of seeds for rare vegetables. He noted the planting of broccoli at Monticello on May 27, 1767.

*Commercial cultivation of broccoli in the United States can be traced to the D'Arrigo brothers, Stephano and Andrea, immigrants from Messina, Italy, whose company made some tentative plantings in 1922 in San Jose, Calif.A few crates were shipped to Boston, where there was a thriving Italian immigrant culture. The broccoli business boomed, with the D'Arrigo's brand name "Andy Boy" named after Stephano's 2-year-old son, Andrew.

*Broccoli is known as the "Crown Jewel of Nutrition" because it is rich in vitamins and minerals and is a good source of vitamin A, potassium, folic acid, iron and fiber. It has as much calcium per ounce as milk.

*Broccoli contains important phytochemicals: beta-carotene, indoles and isothiocyanates. Phytochemicals prevent carcinogens (cancer-causing substance) from forming. They also stop carcinogens from getting to target cells and help boost enzymes that detoxify carcinogens.

*It takes about 144,000 broccoli seed to make up a pound. Planting is done either by direct seeding or by transplanting seedlings started in a greenhouse.

*There are actually two types of broccoli: sprouting or Italian broccoli, the most common; and heading broccoli, which looks like cauliflower.

*The edible portion of the plant is the flowering head, which must be harvested by hand before the flowers open.

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GRAPEFRUIT

*The principal ancestor of the grapefruit - a subtropical evergreen - was called pummelo, brought by a Captain Shaddock to Barbados from the Malay Archipelago. It was originally named the "forbidden fruit" of Barbados.

*The grapefruit got its name from the way it grows in clusters (like grapes) on the tree.

*More than 20 varieties of grapefruit have been propagated in the United States. The major white-pulped varieties are Duncan and Marsh and the major pink-pulped varieties are Ruby and Webb.

*Pink grapefruit gets its color from carotenoids (carotene) and contains more than 50 times the carotenoid of white grapefruit. In the body, carotenoids are partially converted to vitamin A, an antioxidant that is required in the diet for good growth, skin development and maintenance of peripheral vision.

*Grapefruit is a good source for vitamin C, potassium and pectin, a soluble fiber effective in lowering cholesterol levels.

*Grapefruit forms a core part of the "grapefruit diet," the theory being that the fruit's low glycemic index is able to help the body's metabolism burn fat.

*The grapefruit is readily crossed with other members of the citrus genus. The tangelo was produced by fertilization of grapefruit flowers with mandarin orange pollen.

*World production of grapefruit is almost 6 million tons; the United States produces more than 60 percent of this total.

*Yuma County produced about 250,000 cartons of grapefruit on 150 acres in 2005, valued at $155,000.

*Grapefruit peel oil is historically known for its aromatic scent is used in aromatherapy.

*You can eat grapefruit just like an orange by peeling it and dividing it into segments.

*A grapefruit is 75 percent juice. One medium grapefruit will give you 2/3 of a cup of fresh-squeezed juice. Stored covered in the refrigerator, it will retain 98 percent of its vitamin C for up to a week.

*The longer the fruit remains on tree, the larger and sweeter it becomes. A grapefruit holds very well on the tree, so fruit can be harvested as needed from late October through May.

*Some mature grapefruit trees can yield up to 1,500 pounds of fruit in a season.

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Source: Kurt Nolte, agriculture agent with the Yuma County Cooperative Extension. He can be reached at knolte@cals.arizona.edu or 726-3904.