By Betsy Finklea
Sixth grade students at Dillon Middle School had the opportunity to learn about fruits and vegetables from the school’s produce distributor, Carolina Produce Company from Anderson.
This will help the sixth graders meet their “Green Standards,” which they have been working on this year.
Jerry Wellborn from Carolina Produce, who sells produce to the school districts, made the presentation.
Wellborn said our bodies need five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. He said this is not much more than a spoonful. He said students who eat in the cafeteria have eaten three of the five servings before they go home each day.
Wellborn brought sample and showed the students fruits and vegetables in different shapes, sizes, and colors than they are used to seeing.
One product he showed was heirloom tomatoes. He said many students tell him they don’t like tomatoes, but that they love ketchup. He said grape tomatoes are usually used on school salads because they can be easily eaten.
The students were given samples of star fruit to eat He said it is a five finger fruit that can be used in salads, eaten like an apple or put in Jello.
Students also had the opportunity to sample kiwi. He said there are varieties of kiwi that are green inside and others that are gold inside.
Wellborn showed the students different forms of squash. He said when squash chances its shape and color, it changes the price considerably.
He spoke about potatoes that were purple in the inside and said they could be used to make purple french fries and purple mashed potatoes. He said the color of the skin of the potato does not indicate the color inside. An example of this is a red potato.
Wellborn had five teachers come forward and eat kumquats, a citrus fruit.
Wellborn also spoke about bananas and mangos. He said that mangoes are the most eaten fruit in the world although more than half to most of the students in the room had never eaten one. He said mangos are used just like an apple and can be used to make pies. They have a big pear-shaped seed inside. He said one can tell if a mango is ripe by determining if it is soft and has give. He said color has nothing to do with it.
Lemon grass was passed around for students to smell.
Each student had a sample tray with kiwi, zucchini, raw sweet potato sticks, pineapple, and more. He said that students shouldn’t form an opinion of what they like and don’t like until they tried it.
Wellborn said most vegetables are edible raw and they more they are cooked the more vitamins that are lost.
After the formal presentation, students had the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about produce.
