We have been getting luscious peaches and loving it!  They are messy, but, oh the taste.  Last week I got into some that were mealy and pretty disappointing.  When you bite into one like that, you know what has happened.  They have been stored too cool, before they were ripe.

Peaches and nectarines are climacteric and do need ethylene in order to ripen properly.  But, they are a little more sensitive to temperature treatment than most fruits.  They should be fully ripe before they are refrigerated.  When you have peaches that need a little time, do NOT refrigerate them.  They should be stored together, perhaps in a closed space, at room temperature until they are ready to eat.  If they are stored together in a closed space, where the ethylene they are giving off can accumulate, the ripening will be a little more even.  Be sure not to restrict oxygen, though.  Only when they are perfectly ripe should they be put in the refrigerator, in which there is an E.G.G.

Peaches are one of the surest sign of summer.  Don’t miss out.

I had a long conversation with a customer (happy, I hasten to add) about using the E.G.G. with her bananas. She said that one of her problems has been that when she has bananas on the counter, her kitchen fills up with fruit flies.  She said that she has found a way around the problem. She puts the bananas into a brown paper sack with an egg (from the E.G.G.). The paper bag keeps the flies from getting to the fruit.  Before the E.G.G., she could not get away with that because the bananas would ripen very quickly, because of the ethylene trapped inside. She said the E.G.G. fixed the problem.  Clearly, that would work with any fruit that draws fruit flies if you live in an area that has that problem.

Generally, my calls from customers are asking for advice.  I love it when customers call me with advice.  If you have advice for our customers, drop me a line.  If you have advice for me, that is funneled through Betsy.  I am not giving out her email address!

Right after Friday’s post, we received this confirmation:

A friend referred me to your website. She thinks your product is amazing and is telling everyone how great it works!
WQ from CA 8/2/09

Of course, the real payoff comes when she tells her friends about it.

A friend highly recommended you.  If I like the product, will be recommending to our daughters.
PH from AZ
7/30/09

I was talking to a freind last week who was bragging about the raspberries he had picked last week.  Raspberries around here won’t be ready for another couple of weeks.  So, I think this was mostly a conversation about my choice of places to call home.  He said that they had eaten all they could weekend before last and had put the rest in the refrigerator.  He was pretty “disappointed” (my word) when they wanted to use them last weekend and found that they were totally consumed by grey mold.

Of course, I had a suggestion of what he should have done to prevent that.  Although raspberries are non climacteric (do not use ethylene in their normal ripening cycle), they are effected by ethylene.  For reasons not altogether clear, the presence of ethylene around raspberries increases their suseptability to diseases, especially mold.  If my friend would have had an E.G.G. in his refrigerator, he would have had a second weekend of raspberry heaven!

At least in Wyoming, we know about how to make our scanty produce crop last!  So there, Ed.

Few things are sadder than rotting produce!

Boy have I found out if these really work. Ran out on the 15th of May and my produce is rotting!

DM, OR 6/18/09

Since I clearly have problems keeping the blog current, I thought it would be a good idea to use some of our customers comments made while reordering the E.G.G..

The E.G.G. works so well. I’ve tried the produce bags that recently came on the market and I do not like them. They collect so much moisture inside and you’re constantly wiping out the inside of the bag. I don’t have time for that and they really don’t seem to work that well. But the E.G.G. keeps my produce so fresh and I never have to waste food. I love the E.G.G.!!!
RL, MN 5/15/09

VM’s email reminds me that roses, carnations, and several other varieties of cut flowers are very ethylene sensitive, too. Since I became aware of that several years ago, I always put an egg (from the E.G.G.) into any bouquet that I buy. I try to get the egg as close to the flowers as possible, without detracting from the aesthetics of the arrangement. I am sure that a bouquet will last a couple extra days when I do this. I will do about anything for an extra kiss or two!

We received an email last week that raises an interesting point about growing orchids.

I have a promotion idea for you.

Ethylene gas makes the blossoms of orchids drop. I just found your eggs at Abuncance co-op in Rochester NY and bought some for fruit in my kitchen that affects the orchids.

If this works, you could sell to orchid growers and flower shops for their patrons.

I’m excited to try this.

Am wondering if I would be better off putting the egg near the orchid rather than near the fruit bowl. Think I’ll start with the fruit bowl. Would love to hear from you.

VP, NY 7/3/09

Of course, the commercial growers, shippers and sellers of orchids are very careful to keep ethylene away from their product.  But, for the home growers of these magnificent specimens need to be aware of it too.  Some genera (e.g. Cymbidium, Phalaenopsis) are very sensitive to ethylene; others (e.g. Dendrobium) are less sensitive.   The two most common ethylene-induced symptoms are flower discoloration and premature wilting and flower fall.

We will keep you informed of VM’s experience.