FreshPoint

What’s the difference between a shallot and an onion? 

What’s the difference between a shallot and an onion? Just ask my first restaurant chef when I graduated from The Culinary Institute of America.  He’d be happy to share the difference with you, just as he did me that fine day so early in my chef career when I used shallots instead of red onions...

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Cipollini Onion: Small but Mighty

The common mispronunciation of “Cipollini” is just about the only bad characteristic of this mini member of the onion family. Cipollini onion: small but mighty Pronounced chip-oh-lee-nee, the bite-sized onion quickly becomes a tasty treat with the right preparation.  The popularity of caramelized Cipollini onions is due to a higher residual sugar content than a...

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BJ’s Awards FreshPoint the Gold Standard Partner Supplier of the Year

This year at the 2018 BJ’s Brewhouse General Manager Conference, FreshPoint was awarded the Gold Standard Partner Supplier of the Year.  It was with true honor to accept the distinguished award that acknowledges the partnership we have nourished and continue to grow. “This is a huge honor as BJ’s has hundreds of vendor partners and...

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Fresh Things Video: Is a Quince a Pear or an Apple?

Fall is just around the corner, and I’m always asked, “is a quince a pear or an apple?” The answer isn’t as simple as you might think. It’s related to both, but it’s really neither. You can’t eat them raw because they’re super astringent. When you bite into a raw quince it isn’t gonna hurt you...

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Chef Story: Chef Marcel Martinez at the Broward County Convention Center

We talk to chefs for their orders, or see them in the mornings as they’re opening the kitchen, but we rarely get to hear their personal stories. Chef Marcel Martinez is the Executive Chef of “Savor…” at the Broward County Convention Center in Greater Fort Lauderdale, FL, and he shared his story with us. The...

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Fresh Things Video: The Best Apples to Cook With

Apple season is upon us. So what are the best apples to cook with? I get asked often which variety of apple is best to cook with, and it’s really hard to beat the Granny Smith. It’s my all-around favorite for the kitchen; great flavor with a subtle acidity, and a deep dense texture that...

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Fresh Things Video: Why Do Cranberries Float?

A few things are as a ubiquitous with the fall season as cranberries are. The history of cranberries is fascinating. The first commercial crop was in Massachusetts in 1816, native tribes used cranberries to make a meet based snack known as “pemmican”, which is very similar to beef jerky. The pemmican sustained them through the...

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How do you eat a pomegranate?

The pomegranate have become an incredibly popular menu item, both for their delectable arils and their delicious juice. Prized since antiquity, pomegranates have a deep cultural and religious history.     What is the history of pomegranates? Well, indulge me for a bit, I need to geek out a little.  Native to the region stretching...

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Why you Need to Cook Quince

Quince: the real fruit of the Cradle of Civilization. Spending some of my childhood in the Middle East and also being a student of Theology (I was a youth minister in my early 20’s, but that is a story for another time), I am well aware of the history of the quince.  It is thought...

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Fresh Things Video: What do Figs and Wasps have in common?

Hi I’m Chef Dan with FreshPoint, and well, I offered to shoot this video only wearing a fig leaf, but…well, you’re welcome… (Thanks Dan!) So figs and wasps have a unique relationship. Why is that? Well the fig tree isn’t pollinated by bees like most other crops. It’s actually pollinated by the fig wasp. Even...

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Fresh Things Video: Different Types of Heirloom Tomatoes

Now that the summer harvest is upon us, the tomato bounty is here as well. Exactly how old are heirloom tomatoes? What is an heirloom tomato? I brought along a few today, and you can see that they’re a little lumpy. They’re different colors, but boy oh boy, do they taste great! What are the...

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FreshPoint Oklahoma Hosts Zoës Kitchen Inc. for General Manager Meeting

OKLAHOMA CITY – On July 31, FreshPoint Oklahoma opened its doors to host nine General Managers for Zoës Kitchen Inc. for their regional business meeting and provide a tour of the produce distribution center. During the tour of the storage and 38,000 square foot distribution center – which receives approximately 60,000 cases of produce a week...

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Fresh Things Video: What is a Hatch Chile Pepper

The Hatch chile pepper harvest has begun. It’s a three week season, very short, and people in New Mexico go absolutely crazy for these gems. So what is a Hatch chile pepper? Much different than a traditional bell pepper–it’s a variety of Anaheim pepper grown in Hatch, New Mexico. Picked green it’s used in chili...

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Why Heirloom Tomatoes are so Special…

With regular red round beefsteak tomatoes, there’s no real surprises. You get a box of red, round, shiny tomatoes that can be shipped from here to there—perfect for slicing and dicing. And they’re great. But when you open a box of heirloom tomatoes, you don’t really know what you are going to get—and that’s part...

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FreshPoint Dallas to Host Groundbreaking Ceremony for Expansion

DALLAS, Aug. 02, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sysco Corporation (SYY) today announced it will host a groundbreaking ceremony for government officials, associates and other members of the community at its FreshPoint Dallas facility on August 6, 2018, at 9:30 a.m. CT. FreshPoint, Sysco’s specialty produce company, is North America’s leading produce distributor.   FreshPoint Dallas...

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Breathe Some Fire into your Menu with Red Dragon Fruit!

Red Dragon Fruit, originally known as Pitahaya, is native to Central America, and is grown in the dryer tropic climates of Asia and the Americas. The fruit is related to the cactus pear, and grows on a vine-like member of the cactus family. Its cultivars have flesh of various colors: white, pink and the most...

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Kalli tours Monterey Mushrooms: can you pick 40 mushrooms a minute?

While in sunny California this past week for the Produce Marketing Association Showcase, we had the pleasure of visiting Monterey Mushrooms for a tour. The Watsonville, CA farm is one of ten for the company, and is the largest mushroom farm in the United States. Monterey Mushrooms is a huge operation, currently have captured almost...

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Fresh Things Videos: How to use Jackfruit

Chef Dan has a new friend and his name is Jack. Jackfruit that is. Hi, I’m Chef Dan with FreshPoint, and I want you to meet my friend Jackfruit. He looks a little gnarly, it’s a big piece of fruit, it’s 45 pounds and grows on a tree in the tropics. That tree can produce...

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Fresh Things Videos: Types of Papayas and How to Use Them

What are the different types of papayas and how to use them? Hi, I’m Chef Dan with FreshPoint, and I have a couple different papayas to talk to you about today What can you do with papayas besides eating them as fruit? They’re great meat tenderizer. They have an enzyme known as papain that breaks...

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Fresh Things Video: Can you eat the kiwi skin?

Hi, I’m Chef Dan with FreshPoint, and I’d like to talk to you a little bit about kiwi, and whether or not you can eat the skin. I’m old enough to remember when it came out in the 70s and created quite the splash in the culinary world. Can you eat the kiwi skin? The...

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