From the UC Blogosphere...

A Honey of a Day

It's Valentine's Day and it's a honey of a day.Valentine cards proclaim "Bee Mine" and "Bee My Valentine."Invariably,...

Honey Bee

HONEY BEE on a comb of honey at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at the University of California, Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Susan Cobey

BEE BREEDER-GENETICIST Susan Cobey with a frame at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

UCCE's Maxwell Norton loves agriculture

The Merced Sun-Star today ran a front-page feature about UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Maxwell Norton and his passion for the agricultural industry in Merced County.

The article is part of a weekly Sun-Star series, Merced Matters, which features "ordinary people doing extraordinary things, extraordinary people doing ordinary things, and a lot in between."

Perhaps because Norton's profile appears on Valentine's Day, writer Carol Reiter made the article something of a love story. It says that Norton:

• Loves agriculture
• Loves science
• Loves growers who farm the land in Merced
• Wants others to love the Valley as much as he does

And one of the experts asked to comment on the farm advisor said, "I love working with him."

In addition to traditional farm advisor duties, Norton has taken on a number of tasks designed to support and promote the agricultural industry in Merced County.

He was the founding director of Central Valley Farmland Trust, which as of June 2010 completed 15 agricultural conservation easements and protected 2,745 acres of working farm and ranch land in the northern San Joaquin Valley.

Norton planned a Merced County "blossom trail," which allows residents to tour country roads and enjoy the orchards when they are in bloom.

In 2010 he joined with a group of local agriculturalists to prepare a series of recordings that visitors can listen to in their cars while driving the historic roadway that connects the valley floor to Yosemite National Park. MP3 files can be downloaded from the Country Ventures website.

The recordings including information on points of historical interest, types of agricultural crops being grown, signs of early Native American residents, wildlife and geological features.

Maxwell Norton.

Oh, Hap-Bee Day!

It happened. Remember when Chicken Little ran around yelling "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" For almond growers,...

Almond Blossoms

ALMOND BLOSSUMS at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis, burst into bloom today. Honey bees came in twos and threes. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Sip of Nectar

HONEY BEE forages in the almond blossoms at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Circus Antics

MOVING like a circus performer, this honey bee scoots up and down an almond blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Upsy Daisy

UPSY DAISY--A honey bee savors an almond blossom. Bottoms up! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Consumers like rancid olive oil

A study conducted by UC Davis sensory scientists Claudia Delgado and Jean-Xavier Guinard found that consumers prefer rancid olive oil to the bitter and pungent olive oil favored by experts, said an article in Olive Oil Times. The findings suggest a need for consumer education to keep California olive oil in position for growth.

For the study, 110 consumers rated 22 commercial olive oils. Key findings:

• 74 percent said they disliked the oils identified as high-quality by expert tasters
• Consumers preferred oils with fruity attributes identified as nutty, ripe fruit, green tea, butter, green fruit and grassy
• 44 percent of the consumers liked sensory defects like rancidity, fustiness, mustiness and winey flavor

The story offered a few possible explanations. A large amount of defective olive oil labeled as extra virgin is available to consumers, and the bitter and pungent flavors typical of high-quality oils are an acquired taste.

Director of the UC Davis Olive Center Dan Flynn told reporter Lori Zanteson that California consumers have much to learn about olive oil flavor profiles

"A bitter profile is not necessarily bad," Flynn was quoted. “All these discussions and the availability of quality oils are contributing to this slowly growing knowledge that the consumer has.”

The research report, “How do consumer hedonic ratings for extra virgin olive oil relate to the quality ratings by experts and descriptive analysis ratings?” appears in the March 2011 issue of Food Quality and Preference journal.

In their article, Delgado and Guinard predict the California olive industry will be poised for exponential growth "as consumers learn about the many nutritional benefits and sensory qualities of extra-virgin olive oil."

Good olive oil is an acquired taste.

The Beetle With Racing Stripes

Didn't you just love that commercial for the Volkswagen Beetle during the Super Bowl? While the Green Bay Packers were...

Madagascar Hissing Cockroach

NAME CARS after insects? How about "The Hisser," the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach? This photo was taken in the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis where visitors love to hold them. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Honey Bee

THE AUTOMOTIVE WORLD brought out a car named the Honey Bee, manufactured by Datsun in 1973-1978. Dodge also got into the act with a Rumble Bee and a Super Bee. Here "the real honey bee" nectars a cape mallow at the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Flame Skimmer

ANOTHER IDEA for the name of a car: The Flame Skimmer, a colorful dragonfly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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