- 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."

Here in Washington we grow amazing food and people all over the world rely on us for their food security.

In today's episode, we're talking about Washington's trade partnerships.

Tomás is visiting a trade show in Orlando, Florida.

- You could get lost in here.

- And I'm making a geoduck dish at d'bali Asian Bistro in Airway Heights.

This is the strangest looking thing I've ever seen.

- It's called a geoduck.

- It's just so ugly, but delicious.

Then, I'm learning how Vietnamese importers are bringing high-quality, Washington-grown fruit into the country.

Have do you say pear in Vietnamese?

[all speaking in Vietnamese] - Yes, that's it.

[all laughing] - All this and more, today on "Washington Grown."

A few years ago, we visited a special little restaurant in Airway Heights that had a huge heart.

Go get it, Mama Jeannie.

- Try my best.

[Kristi laughing] We're almost there.

- Here at d'bali Asian Bistro, owner Jeannie Choi works hard to make sure her customers are satisfied day in and day out.

- There's nothing bad on the menu, it's delicious.

- There's nothing really like it in Spokane or the Airway Heights area.

- And the smells just make you hungry.

- Today we are back and hungry for more, eager to learn about Mama Jeannie's experiences traveling and cooking around Southeast Asia, we're preparing a special bowl of soup to sit and chat over.

- Hi, Kristi, nice to see you.

Long time no see.

You still looks gorgeous.

- As do you, I'm so excited to cook with you again.

- Aw, thank you, it's my honor, all the time.

- We're gonna make a dish with geoduck, right?

- Yes, we're gonna be having for the Washington veggie with the geoduck soup.

And we're gonna be prepare for the fourth cup of the broth, whatever your favorite.

And we're gonna be have add for the ginger for the little bit of tartness.

- That was a lot of ginger, wasn't it?

- I think over-cutting, I'm sorry.

[Kristi laughing] - We add some lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, sugar, fish sauce, and lime juice and bring it to a boil.

- Food doesn't have to put in a lot of ingredient, but it must be delicious.

- Yes.

- Cooking with the love, it's always best way for.

You put in your heart and people feel it.

- We add some Washington-grown onion, carrots, mushrooms, and pre-blanched Washington geoduck, and then let it boil for two minutes.

- Then have it waiting another one minute for voila, it's done.

- Voila.

- It's easy, very simple.

[upbeat music] - Shall we?

- Yes, I want to try it.

- It's delightful.

- Ooh, yeah.

It's zippy, it's tangy, I love it.

- Yeah, it is.

- That's very good.

So tell me about your experiences in the food industry in Southeast Asia.

- When I was traveling, working in Southeast Asia.

I'm always been the welcoming through my friends and their families.

They are so welcoming.

They are so loving and tender and a care heart.

So I want everybody coming into the d'bali store, they feel like a same experience of what I did before.

I wanna share those kind of experience with our community.

I've been having the travels and working at all of the Southeast Asia, so it was kind of like a road map for about what I've been through and how I've been having to take care.

This is kind of like sharing the love to our guest and our community.

- Sharing your experiences through food.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

Stay tuned because later in the show, Mama Jeannie is going to show me how to make a special Washington geoduck stir fry.

- Good job, Kristi.

- Oh, thank you.

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

- You're expert.

No, you are amazing.

[gentle upbeat music] - Hey, everyone, I'm here in Orlando, Florida, at the Global Produce and Floral Show where many of our local farmers and food reps are sharing the beauty and the bounty of our state with the rest of the world.

Here at the trade show, companies you might recognize from the grocery store gathered to celebrate produce and network with their customers.

And let me tell you, this place was absolutely massive, so you know I had to go explore.

They have everything you could find here.

[gentle upbeat music] Avocados from Mexico.

Now check it out, a little taste of home, Mariachi band right here.

[lively Mariachi music] You could get lost in here.

I spoke with a few of the attendees to find out why an event like this is so important.

- It's just a great place for everybody to come and see what's new in one big show.

- Is it fun to come to something like this?

- Oh, you meet so many fun people, and the fact that everyone is excited about potatoes makes me excited about what I do.

- There's nothing like face-to-face interaction with these people.

Some of these customers I've been doing business with for 10 years.

- A lot of trade is really dependent on relationships.

Tasting the products, touching the products, seeing it is important, but also just that one-on-one building a relationship is really critical - To meet face-to-face, you can't really fake that.

You can't really substitute that with Zoom.

- It's just a way to kind of showcase everything that our growers have been working hard for at home, and yeah, just show them the awesome fruit that we can grow.

[gentle upbeat music] - Don't wanna get it out of bounds.

And then I'm gonna... and look, look what I get for my efforts, a famous Idaho potato squishy.

Idaho, what?

Although many states showed up to represent their products, Washington's booth had a very special theme, not to mention a handsome face on it as well.

Hey, I know this guy.

- Washington produces over 300 crops and we've gotta find buyers for 'em and places to go with 'em, so I think it's important just to get out and talk about Washington-grown crops.

- It makes me really proud, honestly, coming from Washington and seeing all of these companies here that were willing to make the trek across the country and just seeing the representation, being able to show off what we have, our products.

Yeah, it makes me really proud to be from Washington and to represent agriculture.

- We hear the term eat local a lot, but it seems that we still need to eat globally as well.

Would you agree on that?

- 100%, I mean, you can't get Washington apples in Florida if you eat local.

- That message of eat local, there's more to it.

It's about knowing your producer and knowing where your food is coming from, and at a show like this, we're able to make that connection.

- Booths across the aisle from us have fruits that I've never seen before and it's fascinating to me.

And then there's countries that don't have access to the fruits and vegetables that we have and so it is very important that we do feed the world.

- The world of agriculture and food is amazing.

Most of the general public, I don't think appreciates or has an idea of what it entails from the moment things are planted until they're harvested and consumed and all the different components that go into that.

- The global floral produce and trade show is quite a convention.

With so many products on display, I think the best booth was the Washington Grown booth.

Potatoes, sour cherries, asparagus and more traveled here to show off the bounty of our state.

And of course, you can't talk about Washington produce without talking about one of my personal favorites, blueberries.

- So my name's Mikala Staples Hughes and I'm with Sakuma Brothers.

We're a grower and we're here representing the Washington Blueberry Commission.

- Why is it important for you guys to be here at a show like this?

- I've been able to talk with potential customers from all over the world, from Japan to Korea, Taiwan, in addition to seeing some of our existing domestic customers and potential domestic customers.

- Why should we continue to work with international partners?

- As we see blueberry markets emerging and acres increasing, it's really important for us to be competitive on a larger scale and having those international markets is allowing us great market access to be able to remain viable and competitive in this industry.

- Months later, we met up with Mikala again on the farm to see where the berries were at and where they were headed.

- You're on Sakuma Brothers Farms here in Skagit Valley.

We're right outside of Burlington, Washington.

These are Aurora blueberries, which is the late season variety for us.

As you can see, there's still a little bit of red here on the bush, so we'll be picking these probably beginning next week.

- Although many of these blueberries will end up fresh or frozen in grocery stores here in America, some of them will hop on a plane and head all over the world.

- Historically, we focused our exporting efforts on Southeast Asia.

So when you're considering these blueberries are going to go either by sea or by air all the way across the world, we have to be really selective in the quality that we choose.

So weeks in advance, even months in advance, we're planning out by the week and by the day what field, what variety, what packs we'll be sending.

We're really focused on how do we get the best quality, the best shelf life, the best taste, and the best experience for our consumer, really from the very beginning.

So we begin by kind of going through, identifying what fruit we'd like to allocate to those export orders.

And then of course the fruit has to be harvested.

The feeling that you have when you see that truck drive away and you know it's headed to the airport is a pretty great feeling and really exciting for all of us at Sakuma.

I think there's a real sense of pride as a Washingtonian knowing the rest of the world seeks our products and that the soils here are so incredible and the communities that agriculture creates are so valuable.

There's so much pride in that to think of the products that you might pass on the road or the farmer that you know down the street that their products are going to other consumers outside of our country.

There's so much pride that we can have as citizens of the state in knowing these products are desired because of the quality, because of the safety, because of the care that the farmer takes in growing these crops.

- Coming up, I'm making a special Washington geoduck stir fry at d'bali Asian Bistro.

- Good job, Kristi.

- Oh, thank you.

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

- You're expert.

No, you are amazing.

[gentle upbeat music] - We're back at d'bali Asian Bistro with owner Jeannie Choi in Airway Heights.

Growing up in South Korea, she grew to love cooking, and during her travels throughout Southeast Asia, she learned so many new techniques and dishes from the people she met.

Today her menu here at d'bali serves as a love letter to the many people and places she fell in love with during her travels.

- I'm very happy for everybody feels like welcoming to the d'bali and that they feel like what I had been experience at the Southeast Asia, I want everybody having to walking into d'bali door, they feel like the same experience.

I really wanna share those kind of experience with our community.

- Although we didn't travel around all of Southeast Asia like Mama Jeannie, we did get a small taste of it during our trip to Vietnam.

Our experience of visiting Vietnam- - Oh, that's wonderful.

- Really incredible and it just blew my mind how many Washington-grown ingredients get exported there.

- Yeah, in there.

- Yeah.

They also had a grown, so some of them what we haven't, but like we having wonderful four seasons, so which is like apples and a pears and a seasonal fruits and a veggies.

It's hard to get it in there, so it's really we appreciated Washington state had grown those kind of veggies and fruits so a lot of people having the same experience of what we eat here though.

- Today, mama Jeannie and I are going to make another dish with geoduck.

A geoduck is a kind of a large clam that grows in the waters of Washington state.

Washington exports geoduck to Southeast Asia where people use it in their dishes as a delicacy and special treat.

This is the strangest looking thing I've ever seen.

- It's called a geoduck and it's a very expensive ingredient in Southeast Asia and the all Asian region.

I gonna show how to we're gonna prepare to clean.

So this one is you can open very easily like that way.

So you're gonna be having to clean this out and also you can have take off the skin.

- So you just pull the outer layer off.

- Yes, and we're gonna be having the clean this area.

So you're gonna be had to cut like this way and we're gonna be how a blanch the hot water, 15 to the 20 seconds, then it gonna be lock the juice and tender meat what's inside.

And now you're gonna be had to cut as like this small pieces and your desire so you can able to cook right away.

It's easy to clean, so don't be afraid.

Everybody can do it.

- It was easy, I mean- - It is.

- You did it, but it's just so ugly, but delicious, right?

- It is very juicy and it is very tender and the sweet flavor.

I guarantee you will like it.

- What are we doing today?

- So we're gonna be having the make for about the stir fry, but we're gonna be using for the all the Washington-grown veggie with a geoduck stir fry.

It's easy.

- We start by adding some chopped green onions, Walla Walla sweet onions, Yakima carrots, broccoli, and stir fry sauce.

Next comes the soft veggies, some mushrooms, peas and zucchinis, red bell peppers and beans sprouts.

Last comes our Washington-grown geoduck.

And then how long does this- - We are only gonna be cooking 30 second to one minute.

- Yeah, not very long.

- Yes, because those veggie is very tender, and also we already been blanched about the geoduck, so if you're gonna be cooking longer than a one minute or two minutes, usually the meat was tough.

Yes, good job, Kristi.

- Oh, thank you.

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

- You're expert.

No, you're amazing.

- Beautiful.

- Thank you so much.

- Yes, with geoduck and that was super simple.

[gentle upbeat music] - Not bad.

- That's really good.

A little bit of, you can taste the ocean in the geoduck, you know?

- Yeah, it is good.

- The vegetables are nice and crisp.

- It's very juicy and a tender too.

- Yeah, you're right.

- Got the right season.

- Happy.

- Aw, thank you.

- Thanks, Mama Jeannie.

- I'm so glad.

- To get the recipe for d'bali Asian Bistro's geoduck stir fry, visit wagrown.com.

Coming up, I'm learning how Vietnamese importers are bringing high-quality, Washington-grown fruit into the country.

How do you say pear in Vietnamese?

[all speaking in Vietnamese] - Yes, that's it.

[all laughing] - And we're in The Kitchen at Second Harvest trying Chef Laurent's lemon blueberry olive oil cake.

[gentle upbeat music] We've featured so many incredible chefs on this show, but every single one of them has one thing in common, they all had to start somewhere.

That's why today we're visiting Spokane Community College where the students of the culinary program are preparing an Asian food pop-up lunch under the watchful eye of someone you may recognize.

I'm here with Laurent Zirotti and we're at Spokane Community College.

Familiar face of course.

- Different environment.

- I know.

- I'm at the office today.

- You are.

So tell me what's going on here.

- Well, we do really concept driven by students and this concept is a food festival, so action station in front of customer and it's international week so we're focusing on a different part of the world, mostly Asia, made by the students.

- Made by the students and you are their instructor.

- Yes, I am one of the six instructor here at SCC.

We have a curriculum of two years with six quarter.

- In my household we don't really cook a lot and when we do it's really plain, so it was definitely something I wanted to get into.

It's definitely like being on one of those cooking shows.

Every test or anything, you just get anxious.

You feel like you're waiting for what the chef says and it's awesome.

- It's driven by students, so they have to be tolerant, patient.

They have to be understanding that, well, it's not like a restaurant where your expectations are very high.

- But come on down and like support the students.

- Completely.

- Now let's see what people think about the students' food.

- The flavor's good, extraordinary.

- The flavor's good.

- Just a little sweet and spicy just like how it's supposed to be.

- They always do amazing food.

It's really affordable and then you're helping students learn, so it's like a win-win.

- Are you even chewing?

- Mm-mm.

[Kristi laughing] I'm not.

It's so good.

It's so good.

- I would have these every day.

[Kristi laughing] - It's approved.

- You're the teacher.

What grade would you give 'em?

- 3.8, 3.9.

- Out of four.

- Yes, out of four.

- I like it.

- Yep.

- Yep, and look at the line of people behind us.

- I know.

- That's great.

- Busy day.

- Eat up.

[gentle upbeat music] - Getting Washington products all the way from the US to Asia isn't an easy process, and making sure they arrive fresh and in great condition takes a ton of work.

That's why Kristi and I split up to chat with some Vietnamese importers about what makes Washington produce worth the effort.

What's really cool is I come in here, I see all these products.

So you guys deal with a lot of things, but standing right here beside us, I see a box from my home state from Washington, so what do we got here?

- Correct, yeah, so this is product our company has imported, our company Trung Minh Thanh, distributed in Vietnam and totally our consumer love it.

Vietnam is a tropical climate so it's really difficult for us to grow the kind of berry, like the blueberry or blackberry is really difficult.

- Vietnam people think that and trust and believe that the products made in Washington is the best product and this means Vietnam people, they trust in the quality of the product.

So any product made in Washington, they're confident and excited to buy it.

- Me and my family are big fan of blueberries.

We have this product a lot.

It's contain a lot of antioxidants.

It's kind of a superfood.

- While Tomás checks out the warehouse, I'm getting a very warm welcome from Tony Fruit.

Here they import all sorts of fresh Washington produce from apples to pears and even colorful potatoes.

[owner speaking in Vietnamese] Tony Fruit's owner told us that it's well known that the Washington apple is the best and they also love the many colorful varieties of Washington potatoes.

A big part of keeping produce fresh is keeping it at the right temperature.

That's why they took me around Tony Fruit's facility to see how they're making sure consumers are getting only the best produce.

Ooh, cold.

The product only stays in the warehouse a day or two before being repackaged and shipped out to sellers.

Next, we went into their packing house where fruit is repacked into smaller containers for the consumer.

While here, they once again check for quality.

If they find any fruit that isn't great, they remove it to make sure consumers only get the best.

They also separate different colors of potatoes into packages.

How do you say apple in Vietnamese?

[all speaking in Vietnamese] - And potato?

[all speaking in Vietnamese] How do you say pear?

[all speaking in Vietnamese] - Yes, that's it.

[all laughing] - We are in The Kitchen at Second Harvest Food Bank where we get to taste some amazing dishes.

My tasters here.

As always, I love hanging out with Chef Laurent Zirotti.

Thank you.

- Me too.

- And my co-host, Tomás.

- Here we are again.

- I know, so fun, favorite thing to do.

- What a hard job we have, right?

- Right, it's so difficult.

- I know.

- I loved the fact that you got to go to Florida from Washington, right?

- Yeah, what was exciting was to go and to see a lot of brands and things that you see in the grocery store all the time and to just see the work and effort that people go into trying to let other people understand what we have, you know, even just promoting Washington products, like look at these blueberries we grow, look at these potatoes, look at our asparagus.

It's a massive undertaking to make sure that the world understands how great our produce is here in Washington.

- A lot of great people.

So we're blessed that you are developing some of the recipes.

- Exactly.

In the season, which is great.

- So what is it today?

- Well, we're talking about blueberries, so we decided to do a blueberry and lemon cake.

- Nice.

- It's a very different cake in the way that there is no butter in the cake.

We make that cake with olive oil.

- Ooh.

- So it has a little more different richness.

It's not as rich as the butter, but it's better for you also.

And I must say that this cake is really a base for multiple cake that you wanna use.

You don't want to add the lemon, skip the lemon.

No blueberries, put raspberries in there or something else.

Lots of different option with that recipe.

It's a great, great cake, nice recipe.

- Awesome.

- I can't wait to try it.

- Washington blueberries are the absolute best and they pair well with lemon and cake.

- And cake.

- So let's see how we make it, it's gonna be delicious.

Well, doesn't that look unbelievable, and those blueberries.

Here we go.

- Look at that.

There's nothing I love more than lemon and- - Blueberry and... - Oh, and look at the color, it's so pretty.

- Full of goodness.

- You might look at this as a traditional American and think that this is gonna be- - Like a muffin.

- A big muffin that's gonna have a lot of sugary punch.

- And it does not.

- Doesn't.

- No, it is more of a cake-like.

- Like a cake, yeah, exactly, and there is almond flour in the recipe, so it brings a little more subtleness to the mixture.

- And then they don't really dry out, you were saying.

- They are- - Wow.

- Because of the olive oil.

- Because of the olive oil, yeah.

It's a very good recipe.

- It's bright, it's light.

It's just- - How many of these can you have?

- Well, bring out the pan, let's find out.

- I don't know.

Two, three.

- No, I don't think we're- - It's so good.

- I think we're gonna all finish our plate right now.

- I think so too, yeah, the blueberries are- - Sink your teeth.

- They're tart.

- They're a little tart.

- Which I love.

- Gives a good balance, like you said, Tomás, that the tartness of the blueberries give good balance with the sweetness of the cake that is not overwhelming.

- That's delicious, Laurent, than you.

- Good, glad you enjoyed it.

We can find that recipe where?

In the website, on the website.

- wagrown.com.

- wagrown.com, recipes.

- All right, make 'em yourself.

Let us know what you think.

- Thanks, Laurent.

- You're gonna love 'em, you're gonna love 'em.

- Thanks to the farmers who grow our amazing food, Washington's trade partnerships are strong, productive, and they have a bright future.

That's it for this episode of Washington Grown.

We'll see you next time.