Fruit Love Child

Have you ever tried a Pichuberry? Back in October, I attended the California School Nutrition Association’s (CSNA) annual conference with The FruitGuys Farm to School team. Did you know that we’ve been bringing local and unique produce to California schools since 2008??

This was my first time at CSNA. Our team did an amazing job decorating the booth with beautiful fresh produce. We brought many different California-grown fruits and vegetables as well as unique and imported items like kiwano melons and dragon fruit.?

Which brings me back to Pichuberries. Pichuberries, also known as cape gooseberries or ground cherries, are grown in the mountainous regions of Columbia, Ecuador, and Peru. They are named after Machu Picchu in Peru’s Andes Mountains.?

One gentleman from a San Diego area school district had never tasted a Pichuberry before.?

"It's as if a passion fruit and cherry tomato had a love child. It's sour with a tomato finish," he said. That’s probably the most accurate description I've heard of these sweet-sour berries that do taste a bit like tomatoes.

?Seeing people's faces and talking with them as they tasted something new, such as Pichuberries, finger limes, or kiwi berries (my personal favorite), was the highlight of the show for me.?

It was particularly exciting to see our school district clients, some of whom have worked with us for many many years. Nutrition services people have extremely tough jobs. They have to feed hundreds, sometimes thousands, of students of all ages on tight budgets and often without the resources to prepare or even cut fresh produce. Our FruitGuys school account managers do whatever they can to support these clients and their students with top notch service and by bringing new tastes and local harvests to their menus.?

Whether you are a school nutrition administrator or a corporate HR or wellness director, the challenges are the same: bringing something new and delicious to your staff or students that's also healthy. We can help you do that, no matter what industry you are part of or where in the U.S. you are located.?

Your Chief Banana,?

Erin Mittelstaedt