Avolele - the avocado ukulele

The ukulele is $400. No papaya uke is available yet.

West coast papaya sitings

On a recent trip to Southern California, Felix Vicente our director of IT had a couple of 'papaya' spottings. 


In Irvine, there's the upscale Papaya restaurant.

At Capital Seafood, they're making shrimp with papaya sauce.

Avocado Season Reaps Bountiful Harvest

Our President and owner, Pal Brooks was interviewed for Channel 6 which is the NBC affiliate in Miami. The segment was aired 7/22/11. To view the segment, click here.

Florida bringing bumper avocado crop

Except from a 07/25/2011 The Packer article by Doug Ohlemeier

Courtesy Brooks Tropicals

Workers grade green-skinned avocados at Brooks Tropicals Inc., Homestead, Fla., in late July. Shippers say retailers should expect larger fruit volume and a bigger peak promotion window which could run through September.

A larger crop has retailers running longer and bigger promotions of Florida avocados.

Grower-shippers say retailers should expect strong volume through August and into September.


Bill Brindle, vice president of sales management for Brooks Tropicals Inc., Homestead, Fla., estimates late July volume is 30% higher than normal.


“The high prices and shortage of hass avocados have really stimulated our retailers to sell more of the Florida fruit,” he said in late July. “We are having really good retail support this season. The whole season has been going great.”


Brindle said Brooks, which typically packs about half of the south Florida green-skinned avocado deal, plans to ship promotable volume through the end of August. While the season’s peak is expected to hit is normal time, Brindle said volume is stronger this year.


For the week of July 18, Brooks packed 57,000 bushels and expects to pack 60,000 bushels the last week of July. That compares to the last big crop south Florida experienced in 2008 when Brooks’ biggest week had it packing 53,000 bushels, Mary Ostlund, director of marketing, said on July 22.

That compares to last season when 8-9s sold for $6 with 10-12s fetching $6.50-7.
Florida growers expect to pack 1.2 million bushels, 40% larger than last season’s 855,528 bushels, Brindle said. The growing region shipped 914,140 bushels in 2009-2010.
While Florida’s production usually starts in light volume in late May and early June, volume picks up and hits peak in late summer. Shipments usually run through January.

Relish, it's not just about pickles

Sweet Heat - Caribbean Red papayas bring summertime relief

New Tropical Nutrition Corner article by Donna Shields. Recipe links below.

• Papaya Coconut-Rum Cocktail
• Curried Chicken and Papaya Salad
• Summer Spring Rolls
• Chilled Papaya-Watermelon Soup

For information about the chilies and peppers used in these recipes.

Excellent results on food safety audits!

Brooks Tropicals' facilities in Belize C.A. and Homestead, FL obtain near perfect scores on food safety audits done by independent third party auditors.

Audit scores indicate that the procedures and practices utilized by these facilities have been verified as not only meeting but exceeding USDA/FDA food safety standards. 

Food safety for Brooks is not a static but a continuous program that receives top priority by all employees.