Thursday
Dec302021

Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year to all

We never thought we would be happy to let father time go faster, but with all the issues with covid this year, 2021 could not end soon enough. We hope all is well with everyone and we pray for those less fortunate in these trying times.  

From a farming perspective, 2022 is looking brighter.  Our workforce is steady with less covid issues and our crop of citrus is one of the best we have seen in years.  The oranges have amazing sugar content this year and the crop size is down to average levels which means we can work through this crop to maximize flavor and quality for our customers.  The weather is also better to us this year.  After one of the driest seasons on record, we are seeing above average rainfall and snow in the mountains.  This is very good news as last year the reservoirs were depleted and we had to use more ground water than we would have liked.

Farmers are great stewards of the land as this is what gives us our livelyhood.  We do not want to deplete the groundwater and damage our ecosystems and farmers are more in tuned to this than given credit.  We are fifth generation farmers with new little farmers in the wings.  Everyone should do what they can to reduce over use of water, chemicals, petroleum, etc...and provide all of our grandkids with a beautiful place to live and thrive.

Everyone have a healthy and happy new years, and that starts with getting your vitamin C!

Thursday
Oct072021

Second packing facility ready to go

Below is a video of the new Gillette Citrus packing facility in Reedley, CA.  

The facility is a state-of-the-art packing house that will handle HMC's plums in the summer months and Gillette's citrus in the fall through the spring time period.  This project is a venture between HMC and Gillette Citrus, both companies have invested considerable capital expenditures to make this a cutting-edge packing plant.  Technological features of this plant include a Compact Spectrim pre grader, a Compact Spectrim grader, as well as a Compact Inspectra 2 Brix-Acid grader for Gillette Citrus’ fruit bound for their high brix markets.  

Gillette Citrus will use this plant mainly for their export program. As shown in the video below, running fruit across a line designed for plums will ensure delicate handling of the citrus throughout the pack line, much more than a standard orange packing house design. HMC has been running plums on this new line the past season and they are very impressed with the gentle treatment on their plums and the efficiencies of the Compact Spectrim graders.

Gillette will begin using this facility for the upcoming citrus season on their navels. cara caras and blood oranges.

 

Sunday
Aug082021

Another good reason to REMEMBER to eat your oranges

One Major Effect of Eating Oranges, New Study Says

Amy Capetta   3 hrs ago
Like 1 Comment| 


Sure, eating more fruits and vegetables can do wonders for your health and wellbeing. Yet according to the latest research from the American Academy of Neurology, adding even a small serving of an orange (or green, yellow, or blue) food in your diet each day may help keep your brain young.

a close up of a bowl of oranges on a table© Provided by Eat This, Not That! oranges

Since previous studies have concluded that flavonoids—a large group of naturally occurring compounds found in plants that act as powerful antioxidant agents—can slow down or prevent mental decline, medical researchers from Harvard University decided to examine the link between long-term dietary flavonoids and brain health.

RELATED: Best Supplements For Your Brain, According to Dietitians

The team analyzed the data of 49,493 women (with an average age of 48) and 27,842 men (with an average age of 51) that was compiled over a 20-year period. Throughout the trial, the participants were asked to complete questionnaires about the meals they consumed, along with assessing their own memory skills.

And here's what they discovered: Even after certain health-related factors (such as age and total caloric intake) were taken into consideration, the adults who ate the largest quantities of flavonoid-rich foods—which amounted to an average of 600 milligrams a day—showed a 20% reduced risk of cognitive decline. (For reference, 100 grams or roughly one-half cup of strawberries contain 180 milligrams of flavonoids.)

a group of oranges on a table: half blood orange© Provided by Eat This, Not That! half blood orange

Then, the researchers took this information one step further and studied the different flavonoids—two of which stood out. Foods that contain flavones, including oranges (as well as orange vegetables, yellow fruits, and yellow vegetables) were linked with a 38% decreased risk of cognitive impairment—a reduction that equates to being three to four years younger!—while foods with anthocyanins (red, purple, and blue foods, such as cherries and blueberries) cut the risk by 24%.


Gallery: Secret Side Effects of Eating Raspberries, Says Science (Eat This, Not That!)

Plus, placing a little color on your plate or in your glass can make a big impact since investigators found that adults who consumed an average of at least half a serving per day of these powerful plant foods showed the greatest results. These findings were published in the online issue of the journal Neurology.

RELATED: Why You Need More Antioxidants In Your Diet—And How To Eat More Of Them

"I'm really not surprised, and I'm happy that there's more research to show that eating a flavonoid-rich diet may help keep our minds sharp as we age," says Amy Gorin, MS, RDN, a plant-based registered dietitian and owner of Plant-Based Eats in Stamford, CT.

If you're trying to incorporate more oranges into your day, consider tossing slices of this citrus fruit into a salad, drinking freshly squeezed orange juice, or making a Blood Orange Beet Smoothie.

a close up of a blue background: blueberries© Provided by Eat This, Not That! blueberries

If you're a blueberry lover, Gorin advises opting for the wild kind. "Not only do wild blueberries have two times more health-helping antioxidants than conventional blueberries, but a study published in the European Journal of Nutrition showed that older adults who added wild blueberries to their daily diet for three months made fewer mistakes in memory tests," she explains. Her two favorite ways to eat wild blueberries: "Tossing a scoop into a Greek yogurt parfait and in a batch of pancakes."

Also, there's no time like the present to eat more colorful foods found in nature. "It's never too late to start, because we saw those protective relationships whether people were consuming the flavonoids in their diet 20 years ago, or if they started incorporating them more recently," said study author Walter Willett, MD, DrPH, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard, in a press release.

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Read the original article on Eat This, Not That!

Tuesday
Jun012021

What a year.....

We have not updated this blog for quite some time.  This is not a blog written by an intern or front office personnel, but a blog written by the owners of this company, and it is us who let this get behind. In all fairness this has been the most unpredictable, time consuming and complicated year we have faced, and a blog was literally the last thing on our mind. 

With covid issues affecting every person and work place in the world, we were not spared. The issues we faced as a business were many, from a lack of a consistent workforce due to both covid and government programs paying workers to stay home, to the lack of consistent materials and supplies to keep our farms and packing operations going. Along with these issues, our export business was severly affected due to the lack of containers, ships and port shutdowns around the world.

Although covid is not gone, it is getting better.  We were able to get our employees all vaccinated early on and this was the most help to get us through this past year.  Our supply chain for our farms and packing also rebounded; and although we are still not where we would like to be we see the light at the end of the tunnel. The good news is that we did not lose any employees or family to the covid virus and our hearts and prayers go out to those who did lose friends and family.

We will become more diligent on this blog as we now have a little more time than we have had over these past nine months.  Thank you all for your support.

Mark and Jay

 

Monday
Sep212020

New Study Suggests Oranges Are the Ultimate Weight-loss Food

 

The study found oranges reverse the symptoms of obesity

BY YO ZUSHI

11/09/2020

 

ALEXANDER SPATARIGETTY IMAGES

The golden-age movie star WC Fields used to fantasise about watering the orange trees in his garden with gin. “Then,” he said, “all I’d have to do is squeeze the juice into a glass.” The Citrus sinensis, or the humble orange, is so closely linked to everyday health and well-being – think of all those vitamin tablets given its flavour – that it’d take the kind of sabotage Fields dreamed up to ever give it a bad name.

Somehow, though, we take it for granted. From maca root to rambutan, we all too easily assume that the more exotic a food is, the more potent its health benefits will be. But don’t dismiss the ubiquitous sweet orange as a mere vitamin-C fix, or a retro mid-match refreshment: scientists have discovered that a chemical compound it contains can put the squeeze on body fat and juice up your mood.

In a recent study, researchers at the University of Western Ontario introduced nobiletin –
extracted from oranges – to the diet of morbidly overweight mice. Not only did the flavonoid reverse symptoms of obesity in test mice, but it also reduced the harmful build-up of plaque in their arteries, known as atherosclerosis.
maining Time -21

 

Separate research found that the molecule binds to the proteins responsible for stabilising our circadian rhythm and regulating our metabolism, a process that helped rodents that were given a high-calorie diet over 10 weeks to stay lean, even as members of the control group gained nearly twice their bodyweight. Nobiletin has also been linked to reversals in age-related ailments, such as declines in exercise endurance and poor sleep, which can lead to feelings of anxiety and depression.

So, drop those high-priced superfoods with names you can never quite remember and unpeel a 30p orange – or at least do as Fields and Snoop Dogg did and sip on gin and juice.