Beginning in June, the first harvests of the summer start coming to market from the Southern states—Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas. That’s when the stone fruits, like peaches, plums, avacados and apricots are at their best and ripe for the picking. Right now, because of better weather conditions, GreenAcres has California peaches and stone fruit that smell and taste divine. Our produce men say “the softer to the touch, the sweeter to the palate.” If the peaches are still a bit too firm, leave them on the counter to ripen further.
Never put fruit in the refrigerator. Buy just what you can consume in a few days and come back for more. “Once you put fruit in the refrigerator,” says Mick, our Wichita produce lead, “you stop the development of the fruit and kill the flavor.” That includes avocados, onions and above all, tomatoes!
In six weeks, the Colorado peaches roll in. Some say these are bar-none the best peaches anywhere. But just now, it’s California peaches, apricots, pums and berries, berries, berries.
Driscoll—a company that produces both conventional and organic fruit—is considered the Cadillac of all berry production. GreenAcres has huge, juicy Driscoll strawberries, raspberries and blueberries at excellent prices. You might want to grab a little organic whipped cream in the dairy case while you’re picking up fruit…just in case shortcake is in the offing.
Now for produce, the first fruits we see are asparagus, beets, cabbages and greens. GreenAcres carries four varieties of beets—some red, some yellow, some in between. Beets are best peeled and steamed, say our GreenAcres cooks, and sprinkled with a little kosher salt and cracked black pepper. Left over cold beets are wonderful in salads, and good for lowering blood pressure! 
Corn will debut a little later in the season, but the green beans, cauliflower, eggplant, bell peppers and tomatillos are in now and delish!
All eight of our GreenAcres Markets have excellent organic and conventional produce priced to sell and competitive with every other grocery store that carries excellent produce. We’ll put our “produce experts” up against any produce man or woman in the Midwest. Mick has worked in produce departments almost since he could walk. He knows where to find the best, and the bargains.
While we aim for excellent, organic produce, often because of temperature and weather anomalies in our harvesting states, our produce men decide which vegetables and fruits to bring in at any given time. If storms or draught in Florida or California have left the organic fruit at half par, Mick and our other produce men will find excellent conventional produce to make up the shortfall.
Sometimes our men find extraordinary organic produce, but it is so expensive, they have to pass on bringing it in because few would be able to afford it.
That’s why GreenAcres carries both organic and conventional produce—it’s so you, our valued customers, will have a variety, a choice and price points to choose from.