Strawberries are one of the most popular chocolate dipped fruits in America.

Cherry Moon Farms reports that it has sold more than 20 millions dipped strawberries.

Irvine California is home to Orange County’s public golf course, dubbed the Strawberry Farm Golf Club.

Edible Arrangements, Harry & David, Cherry Moon Farms and the Chocolate Covered Company all sell strawberries covered in fruit.

Twenty-dollars is the average price for half a dozen chocolate dipped strawberries.

The roots of a strawberry reside within the top three inches of the soil bed.

Strawberries Around the World

Strawberries are not indigenous in New Zealand, Africa or Australia.

In Belgium, there is a museum dedicated to strawberries.

California leads and Florida follows in the top list of states with the greatest strawberry production.

Strawberry Nutritional Information
One cup of strawberries has a caloric value of 50 to 55 five calories, 3.8 grams of fiber and 94 grams of Vitamin C.
According to food. com strawberries are the only fruit with seeds on the outside.

The University of Illinois at Chicago reports that eating eight strawberries provides the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of Vitamin C for children. That’s 140 percent of the RDA.

Places and Festivals for the Strawberry

Twice a year, a fair takes place in Yosemite, called the Strawberry Music Festival. The event happens in the spring and fall, featuring all types of music including rock, blues and jazz.

Step 1

Choose an edible gift basket for Mother’s Day with a one to two week shelf life. Harry & David, Cherry Moon Farms and the Chocolate Covered Company -all sell edible gifts with full pieces of fruit and chocolate covered dried fruit. At each fruit bouquet company: Harry & David, Cherry Moon Farms and the Chocolate Covered Company, an assortment of prepackaged edible gift baskets range in price, starting from $20 and up.

Mother’s Day is May 12.

Edible gift Basket Buying guide: If Mom loves pears, Harry & David’s organic Royal Riviera pears offer the best choice. For oranges and apples, Cherry Moon Farms fulfills. And if Mom is a chocoholic, then The Chocolate Covered company is the best option (Choose between Belgium dark, milk and white chocolate dipped fruit).

At the Chocolate Covered Company, Mother’s Day gift customers have the option of picking and choosing wrapping paper, a special note and other special options.

Step 2

When ordering the bouquet of fruit, have the gift basket delivered to your home.

Step 3

Shop for personal items to embellish the Mother’s Day gift basket. Jewelry, gift certificates and tickets to a special event add the wow factor.

Step 4

Once the Mother’s day edible gift basket arrives, check its contents for freshness and quality. Then, slip the personalized elements into the edible gift basket.

Step 5

Deliver your Mother’s Day gift basket in person or by special delivery.

Mother’s Day Edible Gift Basket Survey: What is more important a personalized gift basket or a prepackaged one?

Read more tips on Mother’s Day Edible Gift Basket http://www.fruitbouquet.org/index.php/2013/03/mothers-day-how-to-send-an-unspoiled-bouquet-of-fruit/

41
U.S Labor projections forecast that medical administrative assistant opportunities will improve by 41 percent by 2020.

1952
Dating back to 1952, the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) recognized office workers with a designated week.

4.1 million
In the United States, the BLS reports more than some 4.1 million professionals comprise administrative assistants, secretaries and other support staff.

12
Financial forecasts predict that the field of administrative assistants will grow by 12 percent by the year 2020.

2 million
Over the last five years, the labor force shed more than 2 million administrative assistant positions.  Due to the economic downturn in the United States along with advancements in technology, corporations have been phasing out administrative assistants for the past five years.

60
The IAAP’s 2011 Administrative Professional Skills Benchmarking Survey found that 60 percent of all administrative assistants work for companies with 1,000 or more employees.

Originally, Administrative Professional Week and Day were called Professional Secretaries Week® and Professional Secretaries Day®.

24
Edible Arrangements is offering 24 differing edible gift ideas for administrative assistants and secretary’s weeks. (Fresh fruit bouquets range in price from $33 – $109).

2
Two dollars is the value of the coupon available at Edible Arrangements, redeemable on certain Secretary’s Day fruit baskets.

50
From all the fruit bouquet companies, $50 is the median price of a fresh fruit bask for secretaries and administrative professionals.

32
Among the companies selling fruit bouquets and miscellaneous gift baskets fit to give for Administrative Professional’s Week, Harry and David presents 32 great gift ideas, ranging from $29.95 to $99.95. From a box of chocolate or floral bouquets to fresh fruit baskets, several of these gifts include free express delivery.

Bouquet of fruit
Among the leading fruit bouquet companies, these gifts are available in four distinct options: carved fruit, full pieces of mixed fruit, dipped fruit or a bouquet of one type of fruit.

Edible Arrangements, Fruit Flower.com and the Fresh Fruit Bouquet Company (FFBC) sell Mother’s Day fresh fruit baskets comprised of carved fruit, fashioned to resemble a flower bouquet.

A spokesperson from Edible Arrangements warns, “Don’t wait until the last minute to put your order in. Although we have in-store pick up, during our busiest holidays (Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day) people often wait until the last minute to place Mother’s Day orders. Due to a lack of inventory, some brick and mortar stores are unable to fulfill all last minute requests.

Cost
Among the leading fresh fruit bouquet companies, Edible Arrangements dominates the marketplace. But with a little more than 1000 stores scattered across the globe, it is not inconceivable that the fruit bouquet company tops the list. As for sending an unspoiled bouquet of fruit from Edible Arrangements, there are a number of missteps to sending a spoiled fruit basket.

Confirm mother’s address
Make sure mother’s address is within the service area of Edible Arrangements. Fresh fruit bouquet orders beyond the regular service area rely on UPS for delivery. In other words, these mother’s day arrangements are shipped on ice and don’t always guarantee the freshest delivery.

Beware of terms of service.
Because Edible Arrangements’ terms of service and other popular fresh fruit bouquet business’ terms of service will leave the bouquet of fruit with a neighbor, a shipment area, our outside of the recipient’s residence, depending on the circumstances, the bouquet of fruit may be rotten.

Tell mom to be on the look out for a special delivery.

Order in season.
May is National strawberry season, thus a timely month to send mother a box of chocolate dipped strawberries or another seasonal bouquet of fruit for Mother’s Day.

For first priority orders and to assure the freshest bouquet of fruit delivery, place Mother’s Day deliveries before the rest of the crowd. Most reputable fruit bouquet companies fulfill orders on a first come first served basis.

Powered by Yahoo.com, GoodSearch.com is a search engine that enables online shoppers to get the most mileage out of gift giving. By subscribing to the search engine, shoppers secure a deal and contribute to their favorite charity — in a single purchase.

So, instead of fruit basket bearers just sending a charming edible gift basket, the sender has the opportunity to secure a discount and donate a percent of the proceeds to his or her preferred charity.

Among the fruit basket companies featured at GoodSearch.com, Personal Creations presents the ultimate gift basket idea.

At PersonalCreations.com, shoppers select from featured gift basket ideas. For instance, the gift company shows five different gift and Easter basket coupons at GoodSearch.com. The gift company enables consumers to choose a color and select a personalized message, based on the number of specified character spaces.

Among the deals available with purchases, discounts range from free shipping on orders to 15% – 60% off coupons on specific products.

Some 109,274 charities are actively participating in GoodSearch.com. When consumers shop on the site for a deal they have the option of adding or choosing from the tens of thousands of participating foundations.

Although Goodsearch.com features a list of companies and charities participating in the philanthropic initiative, the search engine does not provide consumers with any extra fees such as shipping, taxes, and any additional fresh fruit basket surcharges.

In addition to PersonalCreations.com, GoodSearch.com presents other recognized names in fruit basket gifts and floral arrangements. These include: Cherry Moon Farms, 1800-Baskets, 1800Flowers. Harry & David, FTD and other popular brands.

Edible Arrangements
The Edible Arrangement’s franchised stores in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire are donating $5 from the sales of its Orange Blossom® collection during the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s MS Awareness Month. In 2011, Edible Arrangements raised $10,000 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

What are the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis (MS)? Note that Multiple Sclerosis affects patients differently. However, some of the most common medical events associated with MS include numbness in the face arms, lower extremities, fatigue, vision problems, dizziness and difficulty balancing when walking and other episodes. Please visit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) at http://www.nationalmssociety.org/about-multiple-sclerosis/what-we-know-about-ms/symptoms/index.aspx to learn more about MS.

About the Orange Blossom
Edible Arrangements designated the Orange Blossom® fresh fruit basket as the fundraising product to match the official color of the MS Society, which is orange.

The contents of the Orange Blossom fresh fruit basket collection include juicy strawberries,cantaloupe, thick orange wedges, honeydew and grapes.  The arrangement also includes chocolate dipped strawberries, and banana bites dipped in white and semisweet chocolate.

Note that the fruit basket can be delivered on any date in 2013.

On Twitter, the hash tag for the National MS society #NationalMSAwareness #doFrui should bring up any news or tweets about the fruit basket company’s National MS Awareness initiative.

Harry & David

The International Women’s Day site says this about the event: “International Women’s Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. In some places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, International Women’s Day is a national holiday.” And further explains, “Suffragettes campaigned for women’s right to vote. The word ‘Suffragette’ is derived from the word “suffrage” meaning the right to vote. International Women’s Day honours the work of the Suffragettes, celebrates women’s success, and reminds of inequities still to be redressed.”

By International Women’s Day 2013 accounts, there were 1466 events worldwide commemorating the day. Among the companies and events that recognized International Women’s Day, Harry & David, the fruit basket company, recognized the day by reaching out to its 309K friends on Facebook.

The company hosted a quasi social event on its Facebook page and posted the question, “Who inspires you?”  Harry and David received hundreds of responses, including the names of matriarchs such as Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Gabby Gifford, Maya Angelou, Mother Teresa and Tina Fey just to name a few of the most notables.

Here are a few tips if you prefer to create your own Easter basket instead of purchasing a pre-packaged one:

Start with the basics:

• Many retailers sell the baskets, filling and cellophane. Shop for baskets at Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby, World Market, or check out craft stores. Most local stores selling Easter paraphernalia will carry baskets and filling within your budget.  Remember that Easter baskets take on a variety of shapes and sizes.  Even an Easter bucket can be fun for little ones.

Select a theme:

• The secret to Easter basket inspiration is to pick a theme or story.  Consider the child’s favorite television heroes, cartoon characters, or book series.  If, for example, the Easter basket is being made for a boy who collects Transformers, shop for a new Transformer toy to add to his collection.  You might also find stickers, a book or coloring pages that can be added to the basket as well.  Also consider looking for theme based candies and other treats to add to the basket.

Make one item the main event:

• Instead of lots of little trinkets, distinguish the homemade Easter basket from the pre-made basket by including an item that really wows your little one.

• For the older child with discerning taste, gift cards are another option that will make the Easter basket fun and easy.

Fill in with the sweet and savory:

• When it comes to filling the basket with edible goodies, we like to start with nutritional fruits such as oranges, apples and pears. Caramel dipped apples are a good addition for the child with a sweet tooth.  Adding fruit allows you to keep candies and super sugary treats to a minimum.  However, a chocolate Easter bunny is always fun and special.

Among the fruit company’s 14 St. Patrick gift basket ideas, FruitBouquet.org found a number of fruit gifts under $40 including a St Patricks Day Gift Basket of golden pears and dark chocolate mini mints and their Roxy Ann Gift Basket Delight with pears, apples, cheese, nuts and crackers.  For an assortment of fruit as well as sweet and savory treats, Harry and David’s newest St. Patrick’s Day gift box includes gold foil wrapped, Royal Riviera® Pears, Moose Munch® Popcorn, and fine chocolate.

St. Patrick’s Day trivia:

• March 17, the anniversary of the death of Saint Patrick, is a day traditionally set aside to commemorate one of the most well known patron saints of Ireland and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. Today it is also a day to celebrate Irish culture.
• Saint Patrick was born in the fourth century in Roman Britain and was kidnapped and brought to Ireland as a slave at the age of 16.
• While historians do not have any concrete evidence pertaining to Saint Patrick’s accomplishments in Ireland, one legend has been found to be a myth. The tale that St. Patrick ran serpents and snakes out of Ireland is unfounded since there is no evidence that snakes were thriving in Ireland between 432 and 460 A.D.

Did you know? Literary accounts suggest that Saint Patrick used the shamrock to demonstrate the Christian teaching of the Trinity.  The three leaves embody the triune deity.

There are not any written rules pertaining to shopping for an edible gift basket for St. Patrick’s Day. In fact, if a pre-made fruit gift isn’t in the budget, then thrifty consumers can create their own gift basket filled with edible green fruit.  Or consider creating some other fun fruit creation like these:

St. Patrick’s Day Fruit Rainbow Recipe

St. Patrick’s Day Fruit Tray

Green Fruit Salad

Four-Minute Green Fruit Salad

Spring Green Fruit Salad

Rainbow Fruit Skewers

To go with your fruit, you might consider trying this St. Patty’s Day Fruit Dip.

> Before the cantaloupe is cut, carved and shaped for the fresh edible bouquet, its oval shape measures between five and seven inches.

> A relative of the gourd family, cantaloupe also goes by kharbooja, in India.  In New Zealand and Australia, cantaloupe go by the moniker “rock cantaloupe.”  Cantaloupe also goes by the alias muskmelon, mush-melon, cantaloup, rock melon, sweet melon, and Persian melon.

> Among the gourd’s long list of family members, including cucumber, squash, casaba, pumpkin and crenshaw, cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon are the only fruit used in a fresh carved fruit basket.

>Cantaloupe range in size from 1 to 10 pounds.

> One medium-sized cantaloupe contains 4 grams of fiber.  The soluble fiber found in cantaloupe can help to lower cholesterol and is heart healthy.  The fiber in the outer layer helps eliminate harmful toxins from the body with its antioxidants.

> Sources at the University of California state that the cantaloupe came to America in the 16th century, when it was imported from Africa.

> As seen in edible fruit bouquets and in U.S. grocery stores, the cantaloupe is not a “true” cantaloupe. Sources at University of California (Davis), state that true cantaloupes have a rind that is rough, scaly and hard, they do not have netting and they have orange or green flesh.

>Here at FruitBouquet.org we know that cantaloupes make a great addition to any edible bouquet of fruit. Because of its extensive harvest season from May though November, the light coral fruit works well in fresh fruit basket arrangements.

> In the nutrition department, cantaloupe abound in vitamins A and C as well as beta carotenes.  These help to keep your eyesight healthy, maintain skin health and slow the signs of aging, as well as help to boost your immune system.

> One cup of cut cantaloupe equals about 60 calories.

> In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) reported that a salmonella outbreak was linked to cantaloupe, affecting some 257 Americans.

> California accounts for 60 percent of the cantaloupe production in the United States.  Cantaloupe imported to the US typically come from Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala.

Looking for some great recipes to try using cantaloupe?

Try one of these:

Cantaloupe Apple Spinach Energy Juice

White Gazpacho with Cantaloupe

Cantaloupe with Chicken Salad

Pear-Cantaloupe Green Smooth Recipe with Strawberry and Escarole

3 Ingredient High Protein Cantaloupe Smoothie

Cantaloupe Agua Fresca

Cinnamon Cantaloupe Shake

Yogurt Filled Cantaloupe

Do you have a favorite cantaloupe recipe?  If so, please share it with us.

A serious commitment.
In addition to the minimum $153 K investment, franchise workers clock long days. Owning an edible fruit franchise, specifically an Edible Arrangements calls for a long workday. Running a fruit bouquet business, which entails fashioning fruit in the appearance of a seasonal icon, is not the least demanding business model it appears to be.
Monday through Friday, stores operate from 8 am. to 7 p.m.

The oldest edible bouquet company.
Among the leading edible flower companies, Edible Arrangements, Cherry Moon Farms and Harry and David, the latter is the oldest company of them all. In 1948, co-founders Harry and David Rosenberg started the first fruit basket of the month club.

Edible bouquet companies support job creation.
According to an insider, who attends the Edible Arrangements conference, Store managers run an estimated 80 percent of the fruit bouquet companies.

Kim, E. a store manager at a franchise in Chicago stated in a phone interview said, “I was surprised how many franchises are operated by store managers. I would estimate 80 percent of the Edible Arrangements in Chicago are run by store manager”

Bad Edible Gift Ideas.

Why last minute edible fresh fruit orders on Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day are a bad idea? Although Edible Arrangements touts its in store or last minute service, fruit bouquet customers should not wait until the last minute to place an order on Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. A representative from one of the Edible Arrangement stores said that the company fulfill gifts on a first come first serve basis, (especially during peak holidays such as Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day.

Perennial discounts.
Among all the major edible bouquet companies, coupons and discount codes represent a constant. Harry and David, Pro Flowers and Cherry Moon Farms abound on affiliate and coupon sites. Meanwhile, Edible Arrangements houses its own coupon website at EdibleArrangementsCoupons.com.

Related brands.
Edible Arrangements parents two other fruit bouquet companies: Dipped Fruit and Edible Arrangements Weddings. ProFlowers, Shari’s Berries and Cherry Moon Farms share the same business DNA: Liberty Media brands.