Friday Food Facts

Hungry for Apple pie this Christmas? There are so many kinds of apples that if you ate a new variety every day, it would take over 20 years to eat them all. In fact, 7,500 varieties exist. In Arizona, our locally-grown crisp, sweet apples come in a great variety too!

In America, the traditional Christmas meal is often turkey or prime rib, a variety of vegetables, squash, and pumpkin pie and other yummy goodness. Plus, the USA has such a range of immigrant cultures that just about every type of food is eaten someplace on Christmas Day. And, just about everything we eat at Christmas can be grown or raised in Arizona.

The West contains only 20% of the U.S. farmland but it produces 60% of the total value of the agriculture product we enjoy today; an important message for food security and national security. The Reason we’re so productive out West? Targeted, managed irrigation including drip, and other modern-day methods of raising the food we eat. We grow more, using less.

For beef lovers, prime rib is considered an ideal alternative to turkey at Thanksgiving. And no wonder, Arizona is home to some of the highest quality and tastiest beef around. For beef recipes and to purchase directly from an Arizona rancher go to Fill Your Plate.org. The Schnepf family tradition is to have Mark Schnepf do all the cooking.

Greek yogurt has become the next big superfood. In Arizona, our dairy cows produce high-quality milk for one of our very own yogurt manufacturing plants. Remember, dairy contains 9 essential nutrients, making it one of the most nutrient-rich food items you can enjoy.