The "Truly Seasonal Picks" Story

It was an ordinary day. Friday, grocery shopping day for me. I am just about done and have a few items left on my list when I approach the eggs and milk aisle. Looking for Chobani Greek Yogurt. My wife's favorite. She takes a container to work every day for lunch. The yogurt comes in many flavors which she has tried, but her favorite is Mango. Today they are out of Mango. What to do! I study the rest and decide I will try another store rather than have to tell her they had none, or worse yet, buy a flavor she doesn't like. As I continued with my shopping I found another entire section of the Chobani yogurt near the meat counter. Seems it is on sale and they anticipate selling a large amount of the stuff. I search for the Mango and again I can't find any. They do have a flavor that I have never seen before, Blood Orange. I questioned a clerk nearby about the Mango and he said that is the most popular and they have none left. I then asked him what Blood Orange yogurt is. He said they can only get this variety at a specific time of the year. He told me to go to the produce section and I can see what the blood orange looks like. After I finish my shopping I am passing the produce section to check out the blood oranges. Sure enough, there they are. And they have samples for those willing to try them. I can't tell the difference from a regular orange so I ask the guy stocking the counter what is a blood orange. Seems that they have the Moro variety that is cultivated in Sicily and is only available from January through April. He told me they also have clementines that are like baby oranges and they start to sell them in early December and they will have trouble getting them much past the middle of February. They also sell a special type of lemon that they only stock from December through April called the Meyer Lemon. It is a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange. They have a sweeter, less acidic flavor than the regular lemon. They import them from China. I know that for this area there are certain fruits and vegetables that have specific seasons such as sweet corn, peaches, etc. but didn't realize there are some fruits and vegetables that are only imported specific times of the year. I'll have to add this information into my memory vault so I can plan ahead if I want any of the blood oranges or Meyer lemons. But then, my memory vault is already overloaded with unnecessary facts. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.