- 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.

[light music] - On this special season of "Washington Grown", we're following Washington produce around the world.

Here we go.

- I mean there is just stuff happening everywhere.

- Breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

- Breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

[Kristi laughs] I'm doing all the work over here.

- That's a Tomás deluxe.

All good things are better shared right?

- Cheers my friend.

- Cheers.

[Val laughs] - I can't even walk.

Hot diggety dog!

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

So let's get to it.

- To Washington.

- To Washington.

- Washington.

- Hi, everyone.

I'm Kristi Gorenson, and welcome to "Washington Grown."

Every step of the way, our farmers are taking great care to make sure our produce is grown safely and sustainably.

In this episode, we're gonna learn how Washington's high-quality standards make our food the best in the world.

Val's helping out at Hi-Up Pear Growers.

- There's so much pressure!

How do they go so fast?

- And I'm making a special Indian dish called Dal Makhani at Mango Tree in Spokane.

And that's the best smell in the world, butter and garlic.

Plus, we're learning how Washington products are being sold overseas.

- We're feeding the world in the United States from Washington state.

- All this and more today on "Washington Grown."

[pleasant upbeat music] Looking to try some great Indian cuisine but not sure where to start?

Then Mango Tree is the perfect place for you.

This Spokane restaurant is serving up traditional Indian flavors in a delicious and approachable way.

- The food is delicious.

It's fresh.

- It has a lot of flavor.

- Highly recommend.

It was delicious.

- What is it, do you think, that people love about The Mango Tree?

- I think it's a combination of a lot of things.

We twisted a little bit on the traditional style dishes.

- Hillary Yardo is an operating partner with Mango Tree.

She wants to make sure every guest loves the menu, whether they're experienced with Indian cuisine or they've never tried anything like it.

- At first, some people are kind of scared, thinking like they've never had it.

The food is phenomenal.

We're lucky enough to have amazing chefs from India, and the way we do some of the things is a little bit different, but it works really well for this area and the clientele basis that we have here.

- It's just so good.

- You know, eventually, we'll probably end up trying them all.

- You don't wanna miss later in the show when Mango Tree's chef Rahul and I make a special dish called Dal Makhani.

What was this again?

- It's a kitchen king.

It's a Indian spice we use all in the kitchens.

That's why its name - It's the kitchen king.

- is the kitchen king.

Yes.

- [laughs] I love it!

[bright upbeat music] - When you think of Washington-grown produce, you're probably thinking about our famous potatoes, berries, or apples, but there's a special and delicious fruit that Washington grows that you may be forgetting.

- Pears often get overlooked.

It's been a staple in households for a long time.

- Shawn Cox is the general manager of Peshastin Hi-Up Growers here in the Wenatchee area, all the right conditions combined to grow this sweet and juicy fruit.

At Hi-Up, they believe that Washington pears are worth all the hype.

- The younger generations that are coming in, they are excited about pears, you know?

Pears are something new, even though it's been around for hundreds of years, it's something new, and they're excited to try pears.

I think that there's enough of varieties out there from the beginning till the end that you can find a pear that you like.

There's a lot of different tastes and flavors and textures, so try a pear.

[forklift beeps] So right here we have Golden Russet Bosc, a green Anjou, and a red Anjou.

The red and green are very similar.

This one is a little bit more, I would say, - Tart?

- Aromatic, and this one's more sweet.

- Okay.

- But the Bosc is really uniquely different.

This one has kind of a spicy, crunchy flavor.

- That's amazing.

Once the pears are brought in from the field, they're sent to the packing shed.

- So today's actually the first day that we are packing Anjous.

So right after the pears are sorted, they get weighed, and then they get a sticker put on them.

You see what we call a PLU, but it is actually a sticker on the pear.

That tells what size the pear is, and also, it's a scannable at the supermarkets.

- Okay.

So my big question, are these stickers edible?

- They are food safe, but I wouldn't eat 'em.

- Okay, okay.

[laughs] After the pears have been given a sticker, they're separated by size and sent to be hand packed.

Shawn even let me try packing a box.

So I wanna make sure that the pears are facing all the same ways.

Is that correct?

- Correct, yeah.

You can kind of see how the shape is pear shaped.

- Oh my gosh, I'm so slow!

How do they go so fast?

- Many, many years of experience.

- Oh my goodness.

All right, so this goes here?

- And one more tray.

- And then one more tray.

- Man, you're good.

- There's so much pressure!

- Put put one more pad on top.

- One more pad on.

Okay.

- And you fold this in.

- Oh my gosh.

- Pack it up like a nice little present so consumers will enjoy.

- Okay.

- All right.

You did it great, thank you.

- Thank you.

[laughs] That actually got my heart rate up.

I cannot believe how fast these women are, and it's really incredible.

Now over here they're wrapping the pears.

Tell me about that.

- So this wrap pack is our standard export pack.

This fruit will actually be opened up in March.

We'll be putting all these fruit into CA storage, basically putting those pears to sleep, and then we'll be bringing 'em out and selling them all year round.

So another unique thing about Anjou is it stores really well in storage.

So Bartletts, you know, that the season is basically August through February, but an Anjou we can actually keep in storage if we wrap it, and it tastes really good the whole year.

[forklift rumbles and honks] - Oh my goodness!

[laughs] It's a little chilly in here.

- It is chilly in here.

So this is segregation and shipping, and so it's 30 degrees in here right now because we wanna treat the fruit right.

- So 30 degrees.

That's the temperature - 30 degrees.

It's little cold.

- that a pear needs, right?

- It is, it is.

That's the perfect temperature.

So when they leave from here, they'll get on a truck, and if they're going on export to Mexico, they'll just stay on a truck all the way into Mexico.

If they're going overseas to Vietnam or Israel or the Middle East, anywhere, they'll actually go on a container over in the Port of Seattle, and then they'll get put on a boat.

It's amazing really to think of all of the labor and everything that goes into both in the orchard and then at the packing house.

Every pear is picked by one person's hand, every pear is packed by one person's hand, and there's so many hands that are involved, and to know that that high quality Peshastin Hi-Up pear is enjoyed around the world makes you happy that you're doing business.

[upbeat music] More than 3,000 pear varieties are grown around the world.

How many are grown in Washington state?

I'll have the answer after the break.

- Coming up, I'm making a special Indian dish called Dal Makhani at Mango Tree in Spokane.

And that's the best smell in the world.

Butter and garlic.

And we're in The Kitchen at Second Harvest, trying Chef Laurent's mom's lentil salad.

[bright upbeat music] - We grow around 10 different varieties of pears in Washington state.

This is a Bosc, and this is Anjou, a couple of those varieties.

[upbeat Indian woodwind music] - We're back at Mango Tree in Spokane.

With over five locations in the Northwest, there's no excuse for anyone to miss out on the amazing Indian flavors this place is creating.

- It's good for people to experience different cultures.

- You can tell it's spicy, but it's a flavor hot, not a, "Well, now I can't taste my food" hot.

- Highly recommend.

It was delicious.

- Most people either come in and they know exactly what they want, they have no questions, they know, or they come in kind of clueless, and then we get to kind of help guide them through their experience here.

- Yeah.

It's like, "What is good here?"

- Yes.

- Everything.

- It is.

It's a hard one.

- Operating partner Hillary Yardo knows that the secret to Mango Tree success lies in fresh local ingredients, and with Indian food relying so heavily on lentils and other legumes, the Northwest is the perfect spot for everything they need to make a delicious meal.

- We use so much onion.

We use onions in everything.

- Everything.

- Yes, and potatoes, we use a ton of that, cilantro.

Kind of the majority of our bases come from that.

- The food is delicious.

It's fresh.

- It has a lot of flavor.

- It's just so good.

- So I get to cook with one of your chefs today, right?

- Yes.

- What are we gonna make?

- You're gonna be making Dal Makhani, which is a cream-based curry, super good, rich, flavorful, and you'll be working with my chef Rahul, who's amazing.

- Awesome.

- Today we are going to make a Dal Makhani.

It's a traditional Indian dish, came from the Punjab province.

It's rich and tasty and creamy.

- Ooh, I like that.

- So yeah.

- And this is all beautiful and colorful.

- Yes.

- What was this again?

- It's a kitchen king.

It's a Indian spice we use all in the kitchens.

That's why its name - It's the kitchen king.

- is the kitchen king.

Yes.

- [laughs] I love it!

So we have our awesome legumes from the Palouse, which is our backyard, which I love.

All of those get cooked down into this, with some spices.

- That will be there.

- This?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Ooh, that smells good.

But that takes a long time, right?

How long?

- Yeah, it'll take at least one to two hours for the boiling and at least 10 minutes with the simmering.

- I see.

- Just slowly, slowly, slowly.

- Slowly.

So lots of patience and love goes into this.

- Yes, you have to wait and watch, and you have to take care of your dal.

- Those are very important.

- Yes.

- These are the base.

- [laughs] The base.

We start by heating up some butter with garlic and ginger.

- In Hindi, we call the butter makkhan.

- Okay.

- Yeah?

That's why the name came from the Dal Makhani.

So it's the combined of the dal and butter, yeah?

- Perfect, and that's the best smell in the world, butter and garlic.

[laughs] - And ginger as well.

- Next, we add the lentils that have been cooked down into dal.

Then we add some tomato paste, salt, our kitchen king spice, some coriander, cumin seed powder, fenugreek, a special chili paste for color, and finish it all off with some cream.

- Then we can put more butter.

As I told you, it's combination- - More butter.

- Yes, it's a combination of butter and dal.

- Yeah, and that's why we like it.

That looks great.

- Now it's bubbling now.

It means it's cooked already.

Yeah, you did it great, yeah?

- [laughs] Thank you.

- So final product is ready.

- Ta-da.

- Yeah.

[upbeat music] - So we have some garlic naan, and it's time to taste.

- Yes, of course.

- All right, okay.

It's rich and hearty.

It's like comfort food.

- Yeah, because I told you the combination of the dal and the butter, yeah?

- Lots of layers of spices that I like.

- Yes, yes.

We use Indian spices warm from the inside.

You'll not feel spicy in the mouth.

You will feel from the inside.

It's hot like right that.

Yes.

- It's like warm here but not in my mouth.

- Not- - The lentils and the chickpeas, so delicious.

I'm gonna have some more.

- Yes, of course.

It's all yours now.

- It's all mine.

[laughs] Thank you.

[laughs] To get the recipe for Mango Tree's Dal Makhani, visit us at wagrown.com.

[bright soft music] We grow so much amazing food here in Washington that we need to figure out what to do with it all.

That's why today Tomás and I are learning about international exports.

Rianne Ham manages the international marketing department at the Washington State Department of Agriculture.

She works with Washington companies to export their goods into other countries.

- Buying local is very important, and we definitely support that at the Department of Agriculture, but we also realize and recognize that exports are also critical to Washington's economy.

We figure about 30% of our agricultural products are exported.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture, we have an international marketing program, and the sole focus is on helping Washington agriculture companies export their products overseas.

We provide education on exporting, training.

We give a lot of guidance and handholding to help companies sort of get started.

We employ foreign trade representatives in numerous countries.

- My name is Marco Albarran.

I'm the in-country representative for Washington State Department of Agriculture.

- Here in Mexico City, Marco works closely with Washington to make sure our products like apples, potatoes, and cherries get into the hands of Mexican consumers.

As it turns out, Marco's connection with Washington State goes back a long time.

- Washington State is very personal for me because I was an exchange student in eastern Washington.

- You were!

- So that's how I got to learn English, and that's how I've been going back and forth, Mexico and Washington, for more than 35 years.

The relationship between Mexico and the US is very close.

You know, trade, culture.

We've been 200 years living together, you know, with our ups and downs, but we are neighbors, we're good friends.

And I know that there's a lot of people in Washington state that actually grow these products that are very fond of Mexico or they even have their origins in Mexico.

So to them we say, you know, thank you because you're doing a great job, and we're taking good care of your products here.

We see more combination of products going from the traditional Mexican dishes to more international and also mixing this, so you can have a fish with fruit, or you can have a dessert that has salty items.

We have more of our identity, but also, we are looking for new things.

- You're experimenting, yeah.

- Exactly.

So it's not only the US or the Mexican, so it's all, you know, modern food and modern lifestyle.

We always treat Washington as a guest to the country.

We want to be partners, you know, longterm.

I want people to live what I live when I was a kid.

- Across the world in Asia, one market looks a little different than Mexico, but it's just as big of a fan of Washington products.

- I love Vietnam because I came here when this country have nothing.

- Francis Li is the WSDA representative here in Ho Chi Minh City.

He's seen firsthand how the country has grown, allowing its people to buy more products from places like Washington.

- This is the future for Washington state agriculture product, coming into growing middle class country where people looking for premium, where people looking for food safety, and Washington state can do it all.

Every time I go back to Washington state, I always tell all the companies, all the grower, "Come and see for yourself how dynamic this market is that you can sell what you grow in the ground or what you pack in the factory to bring it to Vietnam and show it to the Vietnamese consumer."

- We're feeding the world in the United States and from Washington state.

Not every country has the food security that we have, and so we're providing a lot of the food that's going to these international customers.

So it's very important.

- And it's something that we're all proud of.

- Yes, absolutely.

We are.

- Coming up, Tomás is trying out a special Thai food truck called Thai-U-Up.

- We gotta learn more, right?

- Right, right.

- It can't just be burgers and fries all the time.

- Exactly.

You get really bored of the same food.

[upbeat music] [upbeat music] - Hey, let's go!

Here in Seattle, there's no shortage of different foods to try from all sorts of cultures.

Today I'm checking out a highly recommended food truck called Thai-U-Up.

Owner Teddy Susanto and his wife have worked tirelessly to create some amazing Thai dishes, but there's just one thing that confuses me.

I understand you're Indonesian, and this is a Thai truck.

- Thai truck, yes.

- So what gives?

- My wife is Thai.

[men laugh] - Now that makes sense!

- All the recipes from her.

That makes sense!

- Every time we have catering, people call back to her.

"Thank you, is wonderful.

The food was delicious."

She's really happy.

I can tell.

[men laugh] She work harder than me.

I can tell she got that satisfaction from the feedback.

- You've got these incredible dishes that we're holding here.

Why don't you tell me what we got?

This is one of our customer favorite.

This is a Holy Basil chicken over rice with fried egg.

- Okay.

Very nice.

Now this has got a couple of Washington vegetables in there, right?

- Yes.

This is bell pepper, - Bell peppers.

- Basil, - Basil.

- some green bean.

- Okay.

Well, let's try it out here.

Okay.

I wanna get some peppers, some basil.

One bite.

I'm gonna need like a couple bites.

This is great.

One thing already that I really like about this dish is it's pretty simple.

- Comfort food for Thai.

- Right.

Well, as long as you guys are roaming around in this truck, there's gonna be a great Thai place to go and eat, man.

- Nice.

Thank you.

- This is delicious.

- Thank you.

Enjoy.

[laughs] - Let's see what people think about the Holy Basil Thai bowl.

- You can definitely taste the basil.

I love basil.

Fresh basil is the best.

- The bell pepper is really fresh and has a nice crunch to it.

- It's good.

It's not too sweet, not too salty.

- It's a good balance of flavor.

- That fresh taste of basil kind of reminds me of summertime.

- It really has a unique flavor.

- Are you a heat person?

Do you like heat?

- I like a little heat, yeah.

- Like a little.

Okay, so that's good.

- Not too much.

- I heard you order back there, and you were like, "Give me five out of five."

- Five, yep.

- You want it to burn.

- I like it, yeah.

I wanna feel it.

- This is a nice dish for, you know, an evening out, sitting on the patio, maybe with a little glass of wine.

- Fresh, earthy, and a little spice to it.

Perfect.

- We gotta learn more, right?

- Right, right.

- It can't just be burgers and fries all the time.

- Exactly.

You get really bored of the same food.

- Fresh vegetables make a huge difference, I think.

- So eat your vegetables.

[Tomás and patron laugh] Down here in Orlando, Florida, the Global Produce & Floral Trade Show is bringing together all sorts of incredible products from around the country.

Everyone is bringing their A game to the table, but can they really compete with the amazing produce grown in Washington state?

Let's find out.

- My name's Brandy Tucker.

I am the director of marketing for the Washington State Potato Commission.

- Brandy and her team work day in and day out to make sure that Washington potatoes are not only perfect for customers here, but across the ocean as well.

- We have the best soil.

We've got great temperatures in Washington.

So we've got nice growing seasons in Washington state.

We actually have some of the best potatoes in Washington, and again, those specialty potatoes.

Folks are looking for those reds, those yellows.

- Right, the purples.

- Yeah, the purples and the french fries.

We export more French fries than any other state in the nation.

- But how do other countries know that our products are safe and ready for their consumers?

That's where Rianne Ham and her team at the Washington State Department of Agriculture come in.

How do our international customers know that they're getting a top-notch product?

- We have a very robust inspection process.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture is a neutral third party providing these inspections on behalf of companies, on behalf of industry, and that's very important for foreign customers and governments to know that they can trust that the products are free from pests, diseases, meeting other requirements.

Every foreign country has, you know, their own requirements that have to be met, and so these inspectors are vouching for that.

They're certifying that the products meet those standards.

- All the way on the other side of the world in Vietnam, Kristi ran into a familiar face.

Derek Sandison is the director of the WSDA, so he knows firsthand how important food safety is to nations all over the world.

- We do everything from managing pests to doing the phytosanitary inspections on fruit in particular but other products that come out of Washington and are bound for export.

Phytosanitary, It's looking at ensuring safety and good quality of the product.

We're naturally competitive because a lot of our products are viewed here as being high quality and also safe.

- Washington has a reputation.

People know Washington.

But then when they get to see the product, they get to taste the product, they know that it's legitimate.

Washington products are high quality, and there's a reason they have that reputation.

- Like I said, we grow 'em best here in Washington.

They love to see our products coming in.

- We're feeding the world in the United States and in from Washington state.

Not every country has the food security that we have, and so we're providing a lot of the food that's going to these international customers, so it's very important.

- And it's something that we're all proud of.

- Yes, absolutely.

We are.

[pleasant upbeat music] - We're in the kitchen at Second Harvest Food Bank in Spokane where we get to taste some wonderful food, and my tasters, superstars, Chef Laurent Zirotti over here and my co-host Tomás Guzmán over here.

- Here we are again.

- Thank you for being here, and yeah, this is one of our favorite things that we get to do - Yeah, for sure.

- is taste, and this time, we get to taste some recipes that are developed by Chef Laurent, so thank you.

- Yes, yes, definitely, yes.

- Was that fun?

- It was great to have all those recipes, all those 14 episode and to try to find the right recipe for the show, so that was very fun.

- And you have some great Washington-grown food to work with, right?

- Exactly.

Yes, exactly.

- But now we have to be careful because the person who developed the recipes is sitting right here.

- Yes, so if you don't like it, be polite, you know?

- [laughs] Be polite.

One of the things I love about the food that is grown here in Washington is that there is a lot of love put in, not only to growing our food but also once, you know, it's harvested and it ends up going out to the consumer, you can be sure that that is the best of that product, you know, that you're gonna get.

- Especially this episode with legumes, the lentils.

Big grower right here in the south of Spokane, the Palouse.

- The Palouse.

Yeah.

- The lentils.

- Beautiful.

Oh, the quality of lentils is unbelievable.

- The chickpeas and everything that we have- - And so your recipe today- - So yes, yes.

I'm gonna maybe shed a tear because it's my mom recipe.

- Aww.

I love that.

- and she passed not long ago, and, you know, it's all those memories.

You have those flavor, those smell that reminds you the past, things you cherish, people you love, and and this is a recipe of my mom.

She did only one vinaigrette.

We didn't have ranch.

We didn't have Caesar.

We didn't have that array of variety that you have when you open an American fridge, right?

Only one vinaigrette, and you can use it for any salad you want.

- I like the simplicity of that.

- Yeah, exactly.

Very, very simple.

- I can't wait to try this.

- Okay, well- - So let's first see how we make Chef Laurent's mother's lentils here.

- All right.

[upbeat acoustic music] - Look at that.

- All right.

Yes.

It looks beautiful, and it smells amazing.

- Like with any lentil recipe, it's hearty.

Very filling.

I mean, look.

There's not very much on our plate, but that's gonna do it for ya.

- It's a meal, and it's a great source of protein, which is good for you, you know?

I like more dressing because we used to have over-dressed salad, so I like a lot of dressing.

She used a lot of shallots.

As you can tell, there's a lot of shallots in that recipe that are raw.

So a little crunchy.

- Yeah, I like that.

- You have a strength.

Oh, it's delicious.

Lots of- - This is so good.

I love the nutty flavor of the lentils.

- My parents really didn't introduce a lot of lentils in my life when I was growing up.

- Beans.

They're so good.

- But they're so tasty.

- And again, they're good for you.

- Well, thank you for sharing - You're welcome.

- this very this special recipe.

- I'm back to my childhood right now.

- Yes, and thank you to your mother - I know, yes, yep.

- for making this.

We love it, and you can give it a try.

This is only available on wagrown.com, so it's a special recipe.

Yeah, we'd love it if you tried it.

To get the recipe for Chef Laurent Zirotti's mom's lentil salad, visit us at wagrown.com.

From the fields right here in the Evergreen State to your plate, our Washington farmers are making sure our food is the best.

That's it for this episode of "Washington Grown."

We'll see you next time.