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>> Michael: We’re here in the gorgeous spinach fields of Metz Fresh, home of the delicious spinach
we use in Michael Angelo’s products.
Metz Fresh only harvests the youngest
and most tender spinach leaves for our products,
and the spinach goes through extensive testing
to make sure that it is
as safe as possible for our customers.
>> Laura: Welcome to our ranch.
We’re on the Waters Ranch here in the Salinas Valley, and Metz Fresh is really glad
to have you here today
to learn a little bit about our spinach program. I’d love to introduce you to John ***.
He’s one of the owners of Metz Fresh so let’s go meet him.
>> Michael: Great! Let’s do it.
>> Laura: John ***,
this is Michael, and Sara.
>> John: Sara, nice to meet you, John ***.
>> Sara: Hi John.
>> Michael: How are you doing, John? It’s good to meet you.
>> John: Mike, nice to see you today.
>> Laura: I’ve got to run and go meet Ernesto, but I’ll catch with you guys in a little bit.
>> John: Great, we’ll see you in a little bit.
>> Sara: Thanks Laura.
>> Michael: Alrighty, take care.
>> John: So, welcome to California.
>> Michael: Thanks for having us here.
>> John: So what do you think of our spinach fields?
>> Sara: Oh, I think that they’re wonderful. I think they’re great!
>> John: They’re nice. This is our passion. This is our life, and
everything we have goes into this spinach.
>>Sara: We appreciate that.
>> John: It’s nice because some people come out, and all they care about is how much this costs.
Now, after a while,
if all you’re worried about is cost, then eventually,
we probably won’t end up doing business.
Not just you, but anyone. There’s just so much more to it than that.
>> Sara and Michael: Right, exactly.
>> Sara: How did you come up with the technique that they have with the nuggets that we use in our vegetable lasagna?
>> John: Oh! Okay – what happened was the plants,
we might see the plants Sunday, we’re not going to see them today, but the product goes in,
it’s washed, sorted, it’s washed, it’s processed.
And then it goes into the flash freezers. It’ll go in, in a sheet.
But, to get it in a sheet, we spread it out as evenly as possible
it’s about maybe an inch and a half, two inches thick.
It comes out on the other side, kind of like peanut brittle sheets.
>> Sara: Do you know what’s nice about it? You lock in the flavor and the freshness, and we put those nuggets
in our product.
We don’t defrost it or anything. We put it in frozen as when you lock in that flavor and then freeze it.
That’s the way we maintain it and goes into the product.
It does not get cooked or defrosted until the consumer cooks the product – the lasagna.
>> John: Yes, okay.
>> Sara: So thats why we maintain that freshness even though you freeze it, we don’t.
We put it in frozen.
Well John, thank you very much for explaining that to us.
>> John: No problem, we appreciate you coming out here!
Why don’t we take some time, I’m going to walk you over. We’re going to meet Cooper Delgado, and
I think that maybe Ernesto might be over there. I think Laura is back there also.
>> Sara: Okay, thank you!
>> Michael: Okay – sounds good. Let’s go!
>> John: Cooper! I’d like you to meet Sara and Michael from Michael Angelo’s.
>> Cooper: Yes, sir!
Cooper Delgado.
>> Sara: Nice to meet you!
>> Cooper: Nice to meet you! Welcome.
>> John: Cooper is our Director of Operations –
planting and everything that has to do with productions. He’s the expert so I’m going to let him take it from here.
>> Sara: How long does it take the spinach to grow before you harvest them?
>> Cooper: It’s three weeks in the summertime – about 21 days.
>> Sara: 21 days?
>> Cooper: It’s about 28 in the winter or just in the cooler time periods.
>> Michael: Now, just for our consumers’ sake, how do you store spinach? What are the best way conditions to store spinach?
>> John: I keep mine in the crisper in about 34 to 36 degrees, and if it’s dry spinach, in my opinion,
correct me if I’m wrong, should be dry. You don’t want it to get wet until you want to, maybe, rehydrate it in the end.
But, you could easily hold spinach for 17-18 plus days as long as you don’t break the cold chain.
And if you want to revive it – a little cool water before you use it,
and if it gets a little wilted, stir it up and make some sautéed spinach.
>> Michael: There you go! A little olive oil, garlic, can’t have anything better.
>> Cooper: It is really awesome for you to come out here and really see what it takes for us to do this.
And it’s really nice for you to come and get an eye for what we’re doing, and to really understand
how much we put into this product.
>> Sara: You know, now we have to create more products with spinach in it.
>> John: Yea! There you go!
>> Cooper: You have one coming out don’t you?
>> Michael: Yea, I think so.
>> Laura: How’d everything go?
>> Michael: Fantastic! We really enjoyed the time out here today. Thank you so much for showing us around!
>> Cooper: Thank you, Mike, for coming out.
>> Michael: It was great meeting you!
>>Sara: Thank you!
>> Cooper: Thank you, Sara.
>> Sara: Thank you, John.
>> Michael: Thanks for joining us
as we learn about the spinach we use in our meals.
Check out our other videos and specials to learn more about the Italian history and fresh ingredients
at the Michael Angelo’s Family Table.