- Washington Grown is made possible by funding from the Washington State Department of Agriculture and the USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

And by The Potato Farmers of Washington.

Learn why Washington is home to the world's most productive potato fields and farmers by visiting potatoes.com.

- On this special season of Washington Grown, we're following Washington Produce around the world.

- Here we go.

- I mean, there's just stuff happening everywhere.

- Breakfast, lunch or dinner.

- I'm doing all, all the work over here.

- That's a Tomás deluxe.

All good things are better shared, right?

- Cheers, my friend.

- Cheers.

- I can't even walk.

- We got a lot to explore and a lot to do.

So let's get to it.

- To Washington.

- To Washington.

- Hi everyone, I'm Kristi Gorenson.

And welcome to Washington Grown, from Mexico City.

Mexico is one of our largest trading partners and it takes a lot of logistics to get our fruit from Seattle to Mexico City.

So in this episode, we're gonna see how our fruit gets here.

Val's helping out at Lopez Orchards.

- So my hands come out?

- No, no.

- No?

[Val chuckles] - Try again.

No, that didn't work out either.

- And I'm making apple fritters at Francisco's Bakery in Kennewick.

So this is where you get your aggressions out?

- Oh yeah.

- You have to have some muscles for this, don't you?

Then I'm exploring Mexico City's largest wholesale market.

- This actually come from Washington, straight here.

- They are fresh!

- They are just fresh.

- All this and more today on Washington Grown.

[bright gentle music] Looking to satiate your sweet tooth?

Come on down to Francisco's Bakery in Kennewick.

Mexican baked goods wait next to familiar, American style treats in the shop, allowing customers to have whatever treats they're in the mood for.

Here at Francisco's, you can have your cake and eat it too.

- They have very delicious donuts.

They have so many different pastries.

- There's a good bakers around here, but there's something about these donuts.

They're just unique.

- [speaking Spanish] - If you're looking for something delicious, something sweet, you're at the right place.

- We have a lot of different choices for people to come in and taste, yeah.

- Owner and baker Francisco Mejia makes sure his array of treats never runs low.

That way, no customer leaves empty handed.

- We cater to the Hispanic community, and we cater to the Anglo community, and everything in between.

Our community here is a lot of ethnicities, you know?

- Yeah.

- People from different countries,- - It's a melting pot.

- Yeah, a melting, exactly.

It's an opportunity for everybody to, Hey, look what you have, you know?

And they taste, ya know?

And, that's how everything is done here.

- Every day before work, we just stop by, get a donut, get a piece of bread, get coffee, and head out to work.

- My coworkers love the donuts.

So, anytime we need donuts, we come here.

- I love what I do.

And you know, when you hear people that really pleased with the stuff you do, that kind of like fills your cup, you know?

That you just feel happy about doing what you're doing.

And that's what it's all about, you know?

I love baking, I've been baking for that long.

And, you know it's just fun.

You know?

To me, it's fun.

- Lots of love.

- Yeah, lots of love.

- Lots of love, yeah.

- Of course.

- Stay tuned because later in the show, Francisco and I will make some special, homemade apple fritters.

- And here we go.

- Those- - This is the finished product.

- look decadent.

- The delicious apple fritters, from Francisco's bakery.

- I love it.

[bright upbeat music] - If there's one fruit that Washington is famous for, it's apples.

That's because Washington apples are juicy, crisp.

And I speak from experience when I say that they are delicious.

Today we're outside of Yakima at Lopez Orchards.

Here, Carlos Lopez is putting in the work to grow amazing apples.

So tell me what makes your apples so special?

- First 'cause we're in Washington.

That helps a lot.

I think the region out here and the soil and the temperature, all that, where we're at, it grows it, the quality is better, the storage and all that.

And then we put a lot of love into it, so that's what makes it great.

- That's what makes it really special.

- I came from the city, I came from California.

And I thought you just watered the tree and you grow apples and you came and picked.

But that's not the case.

It takes a lot.

This white stuff is what we spray for sunblock, so it doesn't burn it.

- Okay, so there's a little sunscreen that you- - You could say, yeah.

- goes over the apples.

- Right now, you'll see it like this.

But when it comes outta the warehouse, they'll throw some little bit of wax, and make it look really nice and pretty- - Oh sure.

- for you guys, in the market out there.

- In the market.

- When you purchase.

- Out there in the city.

- Yeah.

- Time for me to try an apple.

Get the sunscreen off.

Ooh, it shines up so prettily.

And now what is this again?

Which?

- That's a honey crisp.

- Honey crisp.

[apple crunches] I swear I taste the sunshine.

That was so good.

Oh, it makes me happy!

[Val laughs] And I want you to know, I dressed for you.

- Yeah.

- Here we are, right here.

- That's your honey crisp, right here.

- Honey crisp.

Thank you.

- I love the shirt, yes.

- Thank you.

[apple crunches] [bright music] As they say in life, everything good comes with a price.

Now Carlos is putting me to work.

- So this will be yours.

- All right.

- This will be your bag.

- This will be my bag, okay.

- This is your bag.

And then it goes over this way.

- Oh my gosh.

- Wait, what did I do wrong?

I did something wrong.

Hold on.

- So my hands come out?

- Oh, no.

- No?

- I'll try it again.

Lemme see.

No, no, no, no.

Right there.

No, that didn't work out either.

- All right, there we go.

Ta-da!

So I'm gonna lift it up.

- Up, like this.

- Like that.

And I'm gonna go in and I'm gonna... - Yep.

- How'd I do?

- So the whole purpose of clipping these is because if they're long, they're harder, harder than the other varieties.

So they'll do this and they'll puncture 'em.

- Puncture 'em, yeah.

- And they puncture them that are considered no good.

You're getting good at this.

- I got a good teacher.

- We're gonna have to finish the bin if we start it, so... - All right.

[Carlos chuckles] Uh-oh.

- Oh over here.

- I got a special touch.

I think I might come back.

- So we'll go on this side, for the apples over here.

- Okay.

- So what you'll do, you're gonna have to lift up, you're not- - Okay wait a minute, this is, I can't even walk.

- Yeah.

[Val laughs] Yeah, that's how they walk.

So go in first.

- Go, okay.

Go over.

- All the way down.

Like this.

- He's laughin' at me.

- Take these out.

- Take these out?

- Yeah.

Put it down.

- Take this out.

- And then go slowly back.

So they won't roll at much, so they don't go everywhere.

- Yeah yeah, yeah.

All right, little apples.

This is amazing.

- Uh-huh, you did pretty good, I think you can do it.

- You think I could do it?

- I think you can do it.

- I'm so proud of myself.

But the work's not over.

Now the bin of apples needs to be driven out of the orchard.

Okay.

[engine rumbles] - Okay, we gotta look back 'cause you're going backwards.

- Okay.

[Carlos laughs] - Okay, you go right there, a little more.

You're in neutral right now.

- Okay.

Is that good or bad?

- That's good.

Now go forward, put it on forward.

There you go.

There you go.

[engine rumbling] You're taking them home.

- Oop, ope.

- Whoa, whoa.

- Neutral?

- Yeah, now you can turn it off.

- Okay.

- Good job, girl.

That was awesome.

- That was.

- Nice.

[Val laughing] - I absolutely love fresh Washington grown fruit.

But when you combine that with some delicious Mexican desserts, órale!

Here in the Spokane Valley, La Nueva Michoacana has got the right idea.

Owners Monica and Marco are hand making special sweet treats for customers of all ages.

What makes an ice cream shop from Mexico different than the States?

- We made all the ice cream with fresh fruits.

- Okay.

- And you know, we use apples, strawberries, fresh fruits and local fruit from here.

And also, we mix fruit with tajin and chamoy and lime.

And that was make us different, you know?

- Sometimes I ask Hey, you want today something sweet or something spicy?

We have all, you know.

- Right.

The special dish of the day is bionico, a colorful, Washington fresh fruit bowl with a special cream.

- When you take the flavor, you can transport to Mexico.

- I'm dying to try this.

This thing is melting.

- All right.

- Yeah, you have to try it.

- So, let's try it together.

[bright music continues] - It's so sweet, and cold and refreshing.

- Yeah?

- I mean, come on.

That's so good.

All right, let's try my hand at making a bionico.

All right, let's make it.

Oh, they're gonna like this.

[knife clicking] I'm gonna go with some spikes.

Ah man, look at that.

This is a secret recipe right here.

- Yes.

- Ladies and gentlemen, we cannot, shh.

I think I put too much fruit in mine.

- Yeah, you did.

Quite a bit there.

You know for a customer, no one complains for more.

- Right, exactly.

I'm gonna hurt his margins with that much fruit.

I think I even put too much cream.

That's a Tomás deluxe so, - when you come here, ask for the Tomás deluxe, and you'll get one of these guys.

Well look what we have here, ladies.

[bright upbeat music] - Oh wow, this is really good.

The fruit, the cream, the nuts, the coconut, everything that's put together.

It's a really good combination.

- And, as for the fresh fruit?

- There is a difference from other apples to these apples.

'Cause when I moved here, I'm like, these are good apples.

[Tomás laughs] - Come get a little taste of Mexico, right here, La Nueva Michoacana.

It's awesome guys.

- Thanks.

Thank you.

- Thank you guys.

- Coming up, I'm making apple fritters at Francisco's Bakery.

- And here we go.

- Those- - This is the finished product.

- Look decadent.

- The delicious apple fritters, from Francisco's Bakery.

- I love it.

And we're in The Kitchen at Second Harvest trying chef Laurent's simple Apple Tart.

[bright adventurous music] We're back at Francisco's Bakery in Kennewick.

Every morning, familiar faces walk through the door to get their daily treats and coffee before work.

With all the rave reviews, it's obvious that Francisco's is special, and that it's a staple of the community here in Kennewick.

- Every time I come here in the morning, I get my coffee, I get my bread, I get to take a break for like 10 minutes and go back to work.

- [speaking Spanish] - Just friendly atmosphere, happy vibes, and just delicious treats.

- We see people from banks, factories.

I have towing companies, I have rental companies.

I have all these guys stop by.

I have- - Yeah.

- You know, they all stop here.

This morning we have eight police cars parking on the front and you know, they were all here eating our stuff.

People come here, and they love what they buy here, yeah.

- Time to see some of these goodies for myself, - We have our traditional conches.

- Okay.

- They come with a variety of different colors.

- Yeah.

- You know white, chocolate, pink, and yellow.

We have the cortadillo.

It's like a cake.

And we put the butter cream, and royal icing frosting on it.

It kind of goes in every tray, you know?

- Yeah, I love it.

- Kind of type thing.

- Nice.

- We have pumpkin empanadas, a little bit darker this morning, because... [both laugh] - Forgot about 'em.

- Yeah, forgot about 'em in the oven.

[both continue laughing] You know, a lot of varieties.

For all the tastes.

You know, we enjoy everything that the community produces.

We use blueberries from our local farms, we use apples, you know?

That we put in our delicious apple fritters.

- Yeah.

- We love to be here.

You know?

- Yeah.

- And enjoy everything.

- So what are you and I gonna make today?

- Well, we're gonna make some apple fritters.

- Apple fritters.

- Yep.

- With Washington apples.

- Washington apples.

- Okay.

- Granny Smith apples.

- I can't wait.

- Grown in Washington.

- Good.

I have heard that your apple fritters are the best around.

- They are the best.

We use fresh apples because we like how they taste when we cook 'em, ya know?

And, people love them, yeah.

- Well people are missing out, if they're not using fresh apples, right?

- Yeah, that's right.

- Why do you like granny smith, for this type of thing?

- The granny smith has a little sour taste.

It's a good apple when you cook it on the dough, because you put the glaze on it, and it's a perfect combination with everything.

[knife chops] - This is a very big knife.

- Yeah.

[both laughing] We need a big knife to do all day.

We make 'em every morning, so they gotta be fresh.

- And you're so lucky to live where you live, to have these apples- - Oh yeah.

- just like down the street.

- Yep.

- We put the apple slices onto the dough and add cinnamon.

Then fold the dough over and chop it up.

[knife chopping] So this is where you get your aggressions out?

- Oh yeah.

- So just like this?

- Yes, just chop.

[knife clacks] Chop, chop, chop chop.

Mm-hmm.

- You have to have some muscles for this, - Yeah.

- don't you?

Yeah.

- You'll see the dough will start getting a little sticky.

Because the juice of the apple start getting in it.

And that gives them not just flavor, it makes the apple fritter crusty.

- Ooh oh oh.

- Yeah, when you fry it.

- That sounds like my kind of apple fritter.

- Yeah, so... - We let them proof.

Then, put them in the fryer.

Finally, we glaze them.

[bright upbeat music] - And here we go.

- Those- - This is the finished product.

- look decadent.

- The delicious apple fritters, from Francisco's Bakery.

- I love it!

[bright music continues] - Wow.

- Oh my word.

Oh yeah.

- You can't get 'em any better than that.

Nice and warm and- - Crispy on the outside.

- Crispy on the outside.

- And those apples are amazing.

Delicious.

Thank you so much.

- No, thank you.

- It's almost too good.

[Kristi continues laughing] To get the recipe for Francisco's apple fritters, visit us at wagrown.com.

Coming up, Tomás and I are visiting Mexico's largest wholesale market.

Do we just push this button?

Nope.

[Kristi laughing] [bright music] [upbeat music resumes] - I've had the pleasure of visiting Mexico before, but this was my first time in Mexico City.

And although I have never been here before, there was a familiarity everywhere I went.

Growing up in Central Washington didn't mean I was secluded from Mexican culture.

On the contrary, as a young boy, my family surrounded me with the vibrancy of its people, the flavors of its food, and cultural traditions that I hope to pass on to my daughter.

Being here, now, in the heart of the country felt more like home, than I could have ever imagined.

I'm a Mexican American, you know through and through.

And, it's one of those things where growing up in, you know, Goldendale Washington, you don't really feel different.

You don't really feel like there's something unique about you.

I mean, I just grew up with Spanish around the house.

- Yeah.

- And you know, certain foods, you just thought that that's how everybody ate.

I have, you know, lived in Washington state my entire life.

So it's a cultural heritage, you know, of you know, Mexicanos in Washington.

And, you know, Toppenish and Yakima.

It's something I've been surrounded with, - Right.

- all my life.

So to be here to kind of feel like okay, this is where a lot of my roots came from.

- Right.

- My grandparents, Tomás and Maria Guzman, they were migrant workers.

But also Juan and Febiana Perales, so that was my mother's family.

And yeah, they were all migrant workers.

And they came up to Washington because a lot of migrant workers do.

And all the agricultural is there.

- Right.

- You know, picking strawberries and asparagus and apples and cherries and the whole gamut.

And it's one of those things that my daughter, she's 13, and AnnaLucia asks me a lot about it.

It's a responsibility,- - Yeah, you have to- - for me to try- - share that with her.

- to carry on that heritage.

- Right.

- And to embrace it and to really show how important it can be.

You get to someplace like this, you know in the heart of Mexico, and you see the presidential palace, and the cathedrals.

And there's a lot of heritage and culture there that you just kind of, you get this little tickle inside, going boy,- - It's called pride.

- Yeah.

We all come from all over the world and we need to celebrate that.

- Yeah.

- And cherish that, and let people know that there's something good in having these differences- - Absolutely.

- amongst all of us.

- I wanna hug you.

Thanks man, love you.

[both laughing] [bright music resumes] Once a piece of fruit leaves Washington, to be exported to another country, there are just a few stops it has to make before being picked up by a lucky shopper.

Here in Mexico City, one of those stops is Central de Abasto, or the central market.

[indistinct chatter] [bright music continues] Today, Tomás and I are visiting MLA group, here in the market.

Their warehouses are stacked high with boxes of fruit, just waiting to be taken to a market where a Mexican consumer can buy fruit fresh from the evergreen state.

- We are able to storage close to 2,000 pallets of fruit.

- Leonel Lopez started MLA group many years ago.

Although they offer many different products for resellers he makes sure everything they sell is high quality.

- What makes Washington fruit so special to the people here in Mexico?

- First of all, I think that the consistence of the fruit is what it makes it interesting for the consumers.

Traditional customers look to the traditional way, to do the buying, you know the flea markets or even the traditional markets.

- Right, okay.

And that's where a lot of this fruit goes to.

Is that correct?

- That is correct.

- My Dad, he started the business.

He started in Guadalajara.

- Mayra Lopez works in the business with her father.

Since the MLA group started before she was born, the business has grown in a big way.

- When this market opened, he bought just one warehouse.

He started from there with Cantaloupes.

And when the imports started in Mexico, we were one of the first ones who started importing out of Chile, California, and Washington.

This is the trucks that we get at the fruit from.

- Okay.

- This actually come from Washington, straight here.

- Straight here.

- Well they do a stop in the border and they transfer to a new truck- - They are fresh!

- They're just fresh.

Our customer have to sell to their customers, so they start buying from us, from 3:00 to 8:00 in the morning, so they can go to the final market and sell it.

- Yeah, so during the day, on a normal day, about how many customers come through?

- I can't imagine.

But we sell around 30,000 boxes a day.

- Wow.

[bright music continues] So do you ever feel like a super star?

- My dad- - It's your name!

- My Dad, who started the business, bought his first warehouse a week after I was born.

- Really?

- So he named it after me.

I don't know if it was the other way around.

- Sure.

Before we continued our tour, we met up with Washington Director of Agriculture, Derek Sandison, so he could see all his hard work in action.

- It's kinda humbling.

It's very impressive.

You know, to see our boxes of Washington fruit, apples, pears.

Later in the year, there'll be cherries.

To see, you know, our towns like Yakima and Wenatchee, and Brewster on the box.

- Yeah, we try to represent your growers the best way that we can.

- One of the most important pieces of transporting produce is keeping it at the right temperature all the way to the consumer.

For this, MLA uses cold storage.

- We keep it 32 degrees.

- Wow.

- Depending the food, what it needs.

- Yeah.

And it's very cold, woo!

- It's cold, chilly.

[Kristi laughing] It's Washington cold.

- Yeah, this is Washington cold.

In order to save space, the cold storage has two stories.

So this elevator here takes us down?

- Down to the other cooler that we have.

- Okay, just like this?

- To maximize the space, we have it, yeah we have the same surface downstairs.

- Yeah.

Do we just push this button?

Nope.

To end the day, we gathered the Lopez family together, to send a special goodbye to all the Washington farmers back home.

Adiós!

[bright music resumes] - We're in The Kitchen at Second Harvest Food Bank in Spokane.

Ready to taste some food.

Yes, and I'm joined by Chef Laurent Zirotti.

Thank you so much, - You're very welcome, Kristi.

- for contributing.

We love it every year.

- We love it, to be with you.

- And my co-host, Tomás.

- Here we are again.

- Yes.

I know.

And we love Second Harvest.

It's great.

We're in The Kitchen where they teach classes.

- Yes, the demonstration kitchen.

- Right.

- The demo kitchen, where we- - And you've taught some classes before?

- Yeah.

I've done it in the past.

A lot of cooking class here, you know, to try to provide easy cookery, for cooks that don't know too much how to use perishable.

- Right.

- Right.

- As simple as a potato, how to cook a potato, or a carrot.

You know, so simple food, for good people.

And that's what makes the- - I know, I love it here.

I mean it feels like home.

- It is, it is yeah.

- I mean really and they're so generous, to let us hang out here.

- For sure.

- And we have been able to hang out with some awesome people.

- Awesome people.

- In some awesome places.

And was it fun for you, to kind of get in touch with- - My roots?

- Your roots.

- Your roots, yeah.

- It was, it's always a pleasure going to Mexico.

But there's something different about Mexico City.

For me, there definitely was a sense of pride going well oh okay, - Sure.

- I know a lot of my family is from Mexico, and from these places.

But it is fun to be able to go back and to hear and smell the stuff that I actually grew up with.

- Absolutely.

- Yeah, that your great grandparents and grandma, grandpas.

- Yeah, exactly.

- And Mexico City is so full of history, that historic culture, which we saw.

- A lot of.

- Yeah, it was really, that was really fun.

So you developed a recipe for today.

What are we gonna make?

- We decided to make a very fast, quick way to make a tart, right?

- Okay.

- Okay.

- It's a thin apple tart.

You buy the puff pastry, you buy the purée of apple, the apple sauce.

- Applesauce, yeah.

- You call that an apple sauce.

- Yeah.

- Which, for me, doesn't make sense.

It's not a sauce, it's a purée, a compote, right?

[Tomás laughs] But, you call that an apple sauce.

- Right.

- Okay.

- This sauce, and the apple and that's it.

A little butter, a little sugar.

- What?

Okay.

- That's it.

- Fantastic.

- And it's made in 15, 20 minutes, and done.

Very easy dessert to make at home.

Perfect.

- I love it.

- And another way to celebrate Washington apples.

- Absolutely.

- Perfect, exactly.

- Okay, we're gonna see how easy it is to make.

- Yeah, our cooks in the kitchen here are gonna make it for us.

[bright music] - All right, this looks so beautiful.

- It's tart time.

I like that.

- Yes, it is!

It's tart time.

- It smells fantastic.

- So he, I'm gonna follow his lead and just pick it up, right?

- Just yeah, like a piece of flatbread pizza, right there.

This is so good.

- Right?

- That applesauce- - So delicious.

- is so moist.

- Yes, it is.

- Wow.

- I like the tartness.

It's really good.

- And if you wanted to add more, I could see sprinkling some dried cranberries on this.

- That'd be good.

- Really getting a little punch in there.

- If you wanna make it American, some cinnamon.

- Yes, there you go, that's true.

- Cinnamon.

Like I said, you don't have to make anything, you just assemble.

- Yeah.

- Right.

- You know, you have your applesauce, you have your sliced apple and your puff pastry, and it's- - You can call it apple purée.

- Okay, thank you.

- Yeah, we won't, we know what you're talkin' about.

- We won't hold it against you.

It's fantastic.

- A scoop of ice cream of top.

- There you go.

- Some whip cream.

- Well I'm glad we have a whole sheet- - A caramel sauce.

- Okay.

- We got a whole sheet of this back there, so let's try all the different ways.

- Yeah, we can try all of the different ways.

It's delicious.

Yes.

- Yeah.

- You can tell, Tomás finished his plate.

- I know it's, he's done.

To get the recipe for Chef Laurent Zirotti's simple apple tart, visit us at wagrown.com.

There are a lot of people who make sure that our fruit keeps its quality, as it travels from Washington state, to customers around the world.

That's it for this episode of Washington Grown, we'll see ya next time.