UNITED STATES - If you read our recent recap of United Fresh LIVE!, you know my mind was a curious buzz of questions as to what to expect once the big secret was unveiled. And the first thing I noticed when hitting the virtual show floor was that United Fresh wasn’t the only one keeping innovations under wraps.

Now, the only tragedy is that I didn’t get to taste and touch these newest additions to fresh produce myself, giving me more to look forward to when they hit the shelves. So please help a girl out and make sure they do!

Ocean Mist^® Farms Purple Artichokes

If these flowery treats look half as beautiful in the department as they do on-screen, they will certainly be a shopping cart-stopper. Already artichokes bring a versatile prestige to any dish, so I can easily imagine the power of purple giving the vegetable an extra edge, whether that is to bring a special touch to a typical meal or engage children with a new fun color not usually associated with their vegetables. Add to that Ocean Mist’s marketing prowess, which promises the look and feel of a “Mediterranean old world variety,” and I have no doubt this newcomer will be a produce star.

Bay Baby Produce Direct to Consumer Boxes

New strategies connecting produce to the public are a hot topic on the newswires and were discussed more than once among United’s Coffee Talks. Bay Baby, I discovered, was ahead of the curve with its two latest packing additions: Organic Squash Mix and Ornamental direct-to-consumer boxes. Not only are they on point with the latest trend in bringing produce direct to consumers, but they are also ready to grab and go, create a closer-to-the-farm connection, and are right on time for buyers to start planning for the fall—whether consumers are baking with their gourds or decorating with them!

Windset Cameo^® Cherry Tomatoes On-the-Vine

The Windset team’s popular Cameo Cherry Tomatoes just got a little more aesthetically pleasing (if that was possible) and even fresher as they come to market. After all, what declares the freshness of a tomato more than it resting on the vine alongside its siblings? Teased with the company’s promise of “a little taste of summer,” I was forced to shop with only my eyes and was still drawn into the bright colors promising the fresh-picked flavor we all seek. Since this is how we all must shop, it was a great preview of how this product can draw in anyone who sets eyes on it in the produce aisle.

Bolthouse Farms Plant-Based Immunity Products

COVID-19 certainly has consumers reading labels more for immunity benefits rather than flavors these days. Long before this, though, Bolthouse Farms had declared it’d done some soul searching in what sort of innovations it wanted to bring our industry. So, its new plant-based products designed to help support immune health seems almost prophetic. Bolthouse Farms’ BOLTS, Family-Sized C-Boost, and Green Goodness tell shoppers all they need to know as they seek to fortify the bodies of themselves and those they love. Could you be more aligned with the times and the trajectory in which they are headed?

Is your mouth watering yet? Mine certainly is, and I can’t promise I won’t be returning to the archives of United Fresh LIVE! just to make sure I didn’t miss any other possibilities to make the summer hotter than ever.