Source: google.com
Publication date: 10/22/2010

Enjoyed a crisp white peach or a juicy plum this past summer?

Chances are that 85-year-old Floyd Zaiger was behind them in some way, through his disease-resistant root stocks, groundbreaking hybrids or commercial varieties that arrive in East Coast grocery stores unblemished.

“He eats, breathes and sleeps his trees, constantly thinking about their characteristics,” his daughter Leith Gardner said. “For my dad, it’s the love of his life, besides my mother.”

Zaiger’s 140-acre property on the outskirts of the California Central Valley city of Modesto is his laboratory. He and his family develop new varieties the old-fashioned way, by cross-pollinating his acres of leafy breeding stock and selecting for certain traits.

The painstaking process has paid off, with a hybrid plum-apricot he trademarked as the Pluot, and in Zaiger’s international reputation as a premiere developer of stone fruit, which are named for their hard pits.

Despite his age, Zaiger cruises the grove in a golf cart, working on new varieties that will be ready for market in several years.

“The Pluot was game-changing in my mind,” said Tom Gradziel, a pomologist at the University of California, Davis. “The plumcot cross-existed, but he saw potential in the plum’s sweetness and the apricot’s aromatics and crossed it back with the parent tree many times to bring out those characteristics — sweet but no bitter skin.”

Zaiger developed interspecies varieties like the aprium (part apricot and part plum), the peacotum (a hybrid of peach, apricot and plum) and the cherub (a cross between a cherry and a plum).

Gary Van Sickle, president of the California Tree Fruit growers organization, said Zaiger is the most prolific stone fruit breeder in the modern era.

“It takes somebody with vision to understand what the marketplace is going to want in a decade,” Van Sickle said.

What started as a hobby for Zaiger 55 years ago grew into an international business that is still family run. His daughter is the operation’s general manager. One son, Gary, runs the nursery and the other, Grant, tends the mature trees.

On a weekly field tasting tour with growers, Gardner squeezed a wedge of a fruit onto a handheld device that measures sugar in the juice.

Robert Woolley, the owner of Dave Wilson Nursery, plucked a plum from a high, sunny branch and took a bite.

“Whoa! That’s a sugar bomb,” he said. “It’s got everything except size.”

Even though researchers have made breakthroughs in fruit tree genome mapping recently — and despite the company’s name — Zaiger Genetics doesn’t splice genes or manipulate DNA to develop new plants.

It took researchers across the country and Europe 10 years to build a map of the peach genome, Gradziel said. But genomics has its limitations, he said. The field is in its infancy and might never duplicate Zaiger’s work.

“If you look at everything that Zaiger’s developed, none of those would be predictable with these new techniques,” Gradziel said. “Zaiger’s has a huge knowledge base and a huge germplasm to draw from. With linear breeding, we’ll lose his kind of out-of-the-box, creative, artistic, intuitive breeding.”

Zaiger and his staff make repeated and complex crosses in successive generations to make a bridge between two species. Their low-tech methods are painstaking and methodical.

He collects pollen with an eye shadow brush from a tree chosen for its flavor, then brushes it on the flower pistil of another tree chosen for its durability or resistance to disease.

Each of the 150,000 crosses currently in the orchard has a number to trace its lineage back to its great-great-grandparents or longer. Zaiger can track the expression of each characteristic in the progeny.

“The first thing I do when we see a tree with good characteristics and flavor is to open up the book and look at its pedigree,” Zaiger said.

These days, the book is a massive database of crosses.

“This is my bible,” he said, opening a three-ring binder in his office and pointing to the branches of an aprium hybrid’s family tree. “From here to here is six years work.”

From thousands of crosses, Zaiger and his children select a couple hundred to grow in a secondary plot. From those he chooses a few dozen to show off to growers every summer. With their feedback, he introduces a select few new varieties each year.

Each generation of trees takes three years to mature, and it can take decades for a successful variety to return a profit.

“We grew up with it, so we know you can’t be in a hurry,” Gardner said. “There’s always new material coming up the pipeline and we know that the next generation is going to bring new breakthroughs. We rely on the work we did 10 or 12 years ago.”

The Zaigers hold about 280 patents. Their best varieties, like the Pluot, are trademarked. Growers pay a royalty fee of $2.25 per tree, and 15 percent of the sales from their crop to Zaiger and marketers.

The company signed its first international contract in 1962 and now has contracts across Europe as well as New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Argentina and Chile.

“Many breeders have successful varieties but Floyd’s contributions have been many and probably surpass everyone else for lifetime achievement,” said Eric Wuhl, director of research and development for Family Tree Farms in Reedley, Calif. “I don’t think a grower could grow from the beginning of the season to the end successfully without having Zaiger trees in the lineup.”

What’s unique about the show is that it’s totally mobile! The cast and crew carry the whole operation on two big trucks that go on-location all over California (in this case in the orchards) for each new show. It was pretty cool to see the lights, mic-booms, steady-cams, mobile kitchen, semi trucks, generators, power cords (Basically a full studio)  set up around peach, plum and nectarine trees. And all in a few hours - they worked quick!

Take a look at the photos of their mobile set.

The set kitchen was fully functional!

The star herself

The morning segment was more focused on cherries and apricots, but the afternoon they brought on Debbie Shahvar, owner of Buttercup Grill and Bar to prepare her famous peach crisp. The video below shows the actual segment they produced right in front of us!

School is officially back in session bookmarking to another sweet summer in California. The end of summer used to mean the end of fresh summer stone fruit like peaches, plums and nectarines, but that’s changed over the past few seasons. California growers are constantly testing and naturally breeding new flavorful varieties of plums. If you recall our Aug. 14 post on Variety Tastings & Rootstock Tours you can see a taste testing session amongst California growers. They are not only breeding for flavor but they are also looking for varieties that harvest later and later into the year.

This means we can still get American grown plums in October! The most important thing to remember when buying fall stone fruit is to look at the PLUsticker for Country of Origin (COO). Southern Hemisphere fruit will just begin their production and sometimes the seasons overlap each other. So, to make sure you are buying produce that was grown and cared for by Americans make sure you check your labels before enjoying! ]]> http://www.plumbelieveable.com/2010/09/late-season-plums-check-your-plus/feed/ http://www.plumbelieveable.com/2010/08/plum-sweet-savory-ribs/ http://www.plumbelieveable.com/2010/08/plum-sweet-savory-ribs/#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:33:10 +0000 geoff http://www.plumbelieveable.com/?p=325

Makes 4 Servings

Ingredients

8 coarsely chopped fresh California plums
1 1/2 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
1 rack pork spareribs (1 1/2-2 lbs.)

Directions
In a blender or food processor, whirl plums until blended. In 1-quart microwave safe bowl, combine all ingredients, except ribs. Microwave on high, uncovered for 8 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes until thick. Heat grill to medium. Baste both sides of the rib rack with sauce and place on the barbecue grill. Continue basting and turning frequently until cooked through, approximately 20 minutes. Remove from grill and brush with sauce before serving. Slice ribs.
Per serving: 537 calories, 47g protein, 28g carbohydrate, 26g total fat, 158mg cholesterol, 250mg sodium, 2g fiber.

As I approached the tasting, I noticed my soon-to-be father in law gather in a group. That was the second time I had ran into him in the past two days! I must say, it’s pretty cool that we work in the same industry. As I walked around the tables, plates of fresh peaches, plums and nectarines were displayed on the tables. They were for eating, and I brought an appetite!

Variety tastings are an opportunity for peach, plum and nectarine ‘breeders’ to showcase their new varieties of stone fruit, giving the growers and other industry members the opportunity to savor the latest developments in stone fruit. Breeders grow and analyze sample trees to develop the best quality peach, plum and nectarine varieties that they know will cater to peoples’ taste buds. That’s what it’s all about right- biting into the best stone fruit they’ve ever had? Variety tastings gives the growers knowledge and expands their opportunity to grow new varieties that they know shoppers will enjoy.

Rootstock tours are a different breed, don’t mind the pun. Rootstock tours allow growers to see tree root bases that can accommodate varieties and help the grower to grow the new varieties they would like to plant.

They accompany a variety tasting because they allow industry members to observe the tree’s growth and study their development for growth of new varieties. This rootstock tour was at UC Davis Kearney Agricultural Center. As we hopped on the back of a trailer, we made our way out into the orchards.

So now that you have a brief summary of what variety tastings and rootstock tours are and why they’re important to growing tree fruit, check out the video.  And, don’t forget to leave us your thoughts in a comment. We love hearing from our readers.

~ Sara

“The research clearly indicates that California’s specialty crops touch every aspect of California life and positively impact the economic vitality of our state,” said Maile Shanahan Geis, BCMA Executive Director. “Despite the challenges facing California agriculture – from intense global competition to the growing water crisis – the state’s specialty crops prove that the industry continues to be a world leader in agriculture production, which is a title Californians should be proud to protect.”

The “California Grown” campaign is an initiative to educate Californians about the importance of choosing California-grown products whenever they shop. The study examined the financial impact of fifteen California specialty crops including the dairy and wine sectors, as well as asparagus, avocados, cherries, cut flowers, figs, kiwifruit, nectarines, olives, peaches, pears, plums, raisins and table grapes.

The study, conducted by Dennis H. Tootelian, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Small Business at California State University, Sacramento, indicates the expenditures by the state’s specialty crop growers create a ripple effect spurring the growth of more than 137,435 jobs. When it comes to labor income, more than $5.2 billion is generated as a result of industry spending, which is more than $14.3 million each day of the year. These dollars go to wages and salaries for new employment, as well as increasing incomes for those already in the labor force – a portion of which is reinvested throughout California’s economy to pay for an array of goods and services.

Additionally, nearly $567.7 million in indirect business taxes, such as property taxes, excise taxes, fees, licenses and sales taxes, not including income taxes, are generated by these specialty crop industries. The research extrapolates that, depending on how these funds are used, this funding pays for many state and local programs that further benefit California’s communities where specialty crop growers live and work. For example, the business tax dollars they create could be used to help pay for the entire budget of the California Department of Fish and Game’s 2008-2009 fiscal budget – nearly two times over.

“The goal of the study was to demonstrate the overall impact of the specialty crop industry under the ‘Californian Grown’ umbrella and its ability to generate business activity, employment, personal income and taxes for other industries and the state overall,” said Tootelian. “Even though we took a conservative approach to measuring the data, the results showed a very sizeable impact to the financial health of California.”

The report demonstrates the impact these specialty crops have on the state’s economy annually, based on averages during a three year time span from 2005-2007. Because agricultural revenues and expenditures can fluctuate significantly from year-to-year depending on climate, pest, market and other conditions, an “average year” was created based on historical and industry operating statistics.

The study was implemented by using industry statistics, facilitating grower surveys and interviews and analyzing the data through the IMPLAN model, which examines economic relationships between businesses and between businesses and consumers. This impact analysis then measures changes in economic variables on an entire economy.

Data provided through IMPLAN mainly comes from federal government sources. These include the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Cash income by commodity groups for 2005-2007 was obtained from the Agriculture Statistical Review, published in the California Agricultural Resource Directory 2008-2009.

The full economic impact report and related fact sheets can be found at www.californiagrown.org.

About the Buy California Marketing Agreement and the “California Grown” Program

The Buy California Marketing Agreement (BCMA) is a joint effort of agricultural industry groups representing the products of California’s farms and ranches. Working as an advisory board to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, BCMA brings together industry and government resources to increase the awareness, consumption and value of California agricultural products, helping the state’s consumers enjoy the best of the California lifestyle.

The following California agricultural organizations took part in the study:

California Asparagus Commission

California Olive Committee

California Avocado Commission

California Peach Commodity Committee

California Cherry Advisory Board

California Pear Advisory Board

California Cut Flower Commission

California Plum Marketing Board

California Fig Advisory Board

California Raisin Marketing Board

California Kiwifruit Commission

California Table Grape Commission

California Milk Advisory Board

The Wine Institute

California Nectarine Administrative Committee

For more information, visit www.californiagrown.org.

SOURCE Buy California Marketing Agreement

Take a look below and learn more about  the varieties that are being harvested in July!

I’ve finally made it! I have wanted to give to the magic of tree fruit for some time now, and it’s a pleasure to be here contributing to spreading the word about California peaches, plums and nectarines. But before I get into my passion, let me introduce myself.

My name is Sara, originally from the Bay Area, but after obtaining my college degree from a fabulous California State University recently, I have made my home right here in the Central Valley! When I’m not working in the tree fruit industry, I’m out on the lake, at the beach, or relaxing at my new home.

There’s nothing like plums in the summertime!

My passion for California peaches arose when I was I was very young. My mother would make my great grandmother’s recipe for strawberry peach cobbler, and from the first bite, my heart was with peaches. At that age, I couldn’t appreciate the hard work that went into each peach I enjoyed, but I have come to the realization that a California peach is no ordinary piece of fruit.

California Nectarines were introduced to me by my grandmother. She was a pediatrician, and was very adamant about us kids getting enough fruits and vegetables. Nectarines were my favorite fruit. The pit inside fascinated me, and my mouth watered at the site of my grandmother grabbing one from the fruit basket. She could sense me begging with my eyes, and would invite me over to share one with her.

With California plums, they grew on me as I grew up. I enjoyed them almost always fresh, sliced into pieces on my cereal. When I found out they were a good source of Vitamin C, well that was an added bonus!

It wasn’t until nearly two years ago that I saw a whole new side to California peaches, plums and nectarines. When my fiancé and I first started dating, we realized early on that we came from different worlds. I was raised near the big city by a single parent who worked as a teacher. He was raised by his mom and dad who devoted their lives to their family, and growing tree fruit and citrus, an industry that his family had been a part of for more years than he could remember. I noticed at family gatherings, the chatter about the industry and the long hours my fiancé’s family would work. It was common for his Dad to leave and tend to orchards, saying “It’s that season,” as he left.

I never imagined I would work within the tree fruit family as I like to call it, but here I am, and I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity! I will be joining this blog as a contributing writer, and I cannot wait to share with you the many wonders of California peaches, plums and nectarines. Get ready; it’s going to be an awesome ride.

We’ll be in touch!

Sara

Plum varieties are sometimes hard to distinguish by just looking at the outside skin. A plum with a purple skin could have creamy yellow flesh on the inside or bright red - just look at the differences between the Black Amber and the Black Splendor. You can also see differences in the skin color as well, some plums are ripe and ready-to-eat even when bright green. See the photos on the varieties below so the next time you see the variety name on the in store point-of-sale or PLU sticker you’ll know what your biting into.

Here are some of the plum varieties that are harvesting this June.

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