Hazelnut Recall & Popular Plants

Hazelnut Recall & Popular Plants plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Harry and David has voluntarily recalled raw, shelled hazelnut kernels due to concerns of potential Salmonella contamination. The hazelnuts were sold only at the Harry & David Country Village store in Medford, Oregon. The hazelnuts affected by this recall were sold as Filbert kernels in bulk bin #10077 and again only at the Harry & David Country Village store, Medford, Oregon, prior to December 18, 2009. No known illnesses have been reported to date in connection with the hazelnuts.

This being Christmas Eve, one of the most popular last minute “extra” holiday gifts are poinsettia plants and if you look into the history of giving the plants at holiday times, you’ll find that it really only began in recent history according to USDA Historian, Anne Effland.

EFFLAND: The first U.S. Ambassador to Mexico was named Joel Poinsett and he brought this plant to the U.S. in 1820 and it was named after him, the poinsettia.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

Christmas has been around officially for only a little over 100 years. Most states did not actually celebrate Christmas until the late 19th century. Back then Christmas was celebrated on a much simpler scale than we do today. Families enjoyed the holiday, but there were still cows to milk, livestock to feed, and firewood to chop. Small gifts were occasionally exchanged and often were domestically inclined; fabric for making clothing, churns, crockery, brooms or tools. Ornaments were displayed but usually reflected an agricultural theme consisting of painted pinecones, nuts and clove studded fruit. Trees were often small tabletop size with strands of cranberries and dried apples. Children were thrilled to find their stockings filled with raisins, nuts or hopefully an orange, an exotic and rare treat for 1870. One thing that remains constant though is the gathering of friends and family, if not in body than in heart. And isn't that truly what the Christmas spirit is all about. Merry Christmas to you and your family as you celebrate this year and may God bless.

Thanks Lacy. And to all our listeners across the Pacific Northwest I want to wish you all the Happiest of Holidays, a blessed Yule and a very Merry Christmas. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.