Fruit

Each week a nutritionist from the University of Maryland Medical Center provides a guest post to The Baltimore Sun's health blog Picture of Health (baltimoresun.com/pictureofhealth). This week, Karen Kolowski weighs in on pomegranates. The pomegranate has a long, rich history and has been considered a mystical fruit throughout the centuries. One of the earliest cultivated fruits, the pomegranate can be traced to 3,500 B.C. It is believed by some scholars to be what tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden rather than an apple.

A new nonprofit organization aims to turn the fruits of its labors into fresh food for the hungry. The Baltimore Orchard Project will glean gather otherwise unwanted fruit from trees on public and private land and donate the harvest to food banks, congregations and soup kitchens, says founder and director Nina Beth Cardin, a rabbi and community activist. The group's founding team has 25 members from such agencies as the Johns Hopkins University Center for a Livable Future, Tree Baltimore and Baltimore Green Space.

Just as they do every April, the fruit orchards at Larriland Farm have donned their spring finery. The plum trees at the pick-your-own place in western Howard County sport brilliant white blossoms, while the peach trees are decked out in bright pink. Thing is, it's still March. Spring came early to Maryland, thanks to a run of unusually warm weather that awakened flowers, trees, birds and bees weeks ahead of schedule across much of the eastern United States. Larriland's fruit trees are flowering about a month earlier than usual, according to Lynn Moore, president of the family-run fruit and produce farm in Woodbine.

Someone, years ago, planted an oak tree on a narrow, forlorn divider toward the edge of a barren parking lot by a large building near my home. Largely ignored, this lone tree staunchly persevered and sank its roots deep into its diminutive field. It was noticeable, not because of the tree itself, which was just a modest, slight thing, but because of its acorns. They were everywhere - a bumper crop heaped upon the ground, where one had to tread carefully to keep one's feet firmly planted.

Back in 1988, newlyweds and Harford County natives Paula and Tom Harman decided they wanted to grow two acres of sweet corn and about 50 tomato plants on their home farm in Churchville. The fruits of their labor were more than two people could eat, so they set up a little cart along the side of the road. “We sold corn and tomatoes. Unbelievably, people came to us,” says Paula. “Each year after that, we grew a little bit more and expanded the variety of what we grew.” Thus, Harman's Farm Market was born.

Our cherry tree was oozing sap all over and had dark dead patches on the trunk and branches. The tree service said it had a fungal root rot and we had to cut it down. Can we plant another fruit tree or a vegetable garden when that fungus is in the soil? Will it sicken us? Your tree's disease symptoms match leucostoma canker, also known as cytospora, which is not a soil fungus and doesn't affect humans. Replant with confidence. In the future, take precautions to prevent a stone fruit (cherry, peach, apricot)

Chik-fil-A is joining McDonalds and other restaurants in offering a healthier kids meals by cutting the calories in the meals by more than half Today the fast food chain began offering grilled-chicken nuggets instead of the typical fried. Applesauce in a a squeeze tube will also be offered as an alternative to waffle fries. Fruit has been an option in kids meals since 2004. Lastly, Chik-fil-A will also promote healthier drinks with its kids meals: one percent milk, 100 percent apple juice, freshly squeezed lemonade and water.

Julianne Dorr of Longview, Wash., was looking for a cake recipe from the 1970s. She said it was a very simple cake made using a can of fruit cocktail and a box of cake mix and some other ingredients she could no longer recall. Martha Booth from Marion, Iowa, sent in a recipe for Fruit Cocktail Cake that she thought was probably the recipe that Dorr was looking for. Several other readers sent in similar recipes for what they called a Dump Cake. When you make this cake, it is easy to see how it got that name.

Some may remember Republican U.S House candidate Andy Harris' fliers excoriating his Democratic opponent, Rep. Frank Kratovil, for voting to fund research into fruit fly and ant life processes. Well, the other day the Nobel Prize for medicine was awarded to two doctors for discovering we have two immune systems - a basic system that reacts immediately and another one that learns to protect us against new viruses. And it all came out of research using fruit flies and ants. Yet Congressman Harris is a physician who claims to support life.

This time of year school and work lunchboxes can provide a plethora of healthy local fruit that will please even the most meticulous food Nazi. Apples come to mind, but so do pears, which are readily available at the supermarket. There are almost as many varieties of pears as there are of apples, but we usually see only a few of them around here: Bosc, Bartletts, d'anjou, seckel, maybe Asian (aka Nashi) pears. Boscs generally appear later in the season, are tall, lean and have a brownish skin.