Spotlight: Manuel

Greetings fellow tomato lovers! My name is Manuel, V.P. of Operations at Santa Sweets. Before joining the Santa Sweets team, I grew tomatoes, lettuces and herbs in my native Puerto Rico, and melons, watermelons, peppers, and tomatoes in Israel’s Dead Sea Valley.
It was real desert farming!

I joined the company in 2000, and now it is my job to ensure that UGLYRIPE tomatoes make a safe and comfortable journey from my field to your plate. I also wrote the development plan that eventually led the USDA to approve UGLYRIPES for sale during the winter. So when you’re enjoying those tasty summer treats during the dead of winter, you know who to thank!

My typical day begins bright and early at 6:30 a.m. Most of my morning is spent preparing inventories, checking orders, and meeting with the production and sales employees. Then I spend some time working with the sales team finding new and exciting ways to get our products to new restaurants and grocers who want to taste the fruits of our labor, literally!

After putting in some time at the office, I visit the packing house and help my coworkers prepare to ship the UGLYRIPES to your local grocery store.

When someone asks about the best part of my job I tell them it is developing special projects and managing the creation of new accounts. I get to act as a consultant to the sales team and I really enjoy that.

Right now, there are a few special projects I am working on, but I have been sworn to secrecy. Keep checking back for new updates.

One secret I’d be happy to share with you however, is my UGLYRIPE Bruschetta recipe:

Ingredients

One French Baguette

4 large UGLYRIPEs cubed at ½ - ¾” chunks

3 oz green olives, chopped

3 oz black olives, chopped

½ tbsp, minced garlic

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil, reserve 2 tbsp.

¼ bunch Cilantro, finely minced

¼ bunch green onion chopped

Salt & Pepper to taste

Crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

Directions

Combine all ingredients except bread and cheese into a bowl and allow it to marinate for about an hour. Cut French Baguette in ¾” rounds. Spread remaining olive oil over bread. Sprinkle Gorgonzola cheese over bread. Warm the bread in oven until brown and cheese begins to melt. Pull from oven and spoon some bruschetta over bread.

Enjoy warm!

Repeat until all the bruschetta is gone and go buy more UGLYRIPES to start the process all over again!