May 16th, 2024 | Culinary Produce

Market Notes May 16th, 2024

TWO DOWN, FOUR TO GO Now that our Oregon season is coming to an end we can accurately report it was a great success. Quality remained excellent throughout the entire season, pricing did not go crazy, and ALL orders were filled. But all good harvests do get consumed and we are now at the tail end of this program. As of last week, we had six loads left, going forward we have four loads remaining. We will most likely be wiped out in Oregon by Memorial Day. While this timing sounds almost too good to be true we are supposed to start out central California program at the beginning of June, so to say the timing is perfect is too scary to admit, but it looks really good. This will give us a Bakersfield FOB point, and hopefully uninterrupted service to our forward distribution centers in Los Angeles, California and Ephrata, Pennsylvania. Prices are expected to go up on the east coast a few bucks a case due to increased FOB and trucking, but those deals are not finalized. FOB is a more reasonable option being more centrally located and with this program we can off rounds in red, yellow, and purple with sizing from A to C. Might even be some organic Russets. Once started, this program will hopefully extend through September when we transition to Colorado through the first of the year, and then back to Oregon. Remember, man plans, God laughs! RAMP OFF Blinker on, ease carefully to the right and take the ramp. No, wait, you can’t take the ramp because there aren’t any more. Other than the few pounds here and there, the plants are showing their bum bulbs as the fronds wilt from the heat. Such a tricky game, this ramp thing is, concluding what appears to have been an average to good season. We might get super lucky and find a patch that could bring in up to 100 pounds, but it is not likely. Soon, the pickers will be retired, and we close the books on ramps 2024. That brings us to the bulbs. For the next few weeks, we will be selling fresh ramp bulbs in deli cups. The fresh packing will last for about a month and then we offer frozen ramp bulbs until they run out. We would like to thank our customers for making this season of ramp foraging successful for along with our packers and pickers. We’ll do it again next year. Forage on! JUST SAY BURGER Brothers Charles and Frank Menches were sold out of sausage at their stand at a fair in Hamburg, New York, so they swapped in cooked ground beef mixed with coffee and brown sugar to add flavor and served it as a sandwich. They called it a hamburger after Frank spotted the town’s name on a banner at the fair. Since that time, the “burger” was commonly associated with ground beef. There were pork burgers, chicken burgers, but is was primarily beef. Then came veggie burgers. They tasted nothing like a hamburger, but they were vegetarian and could be placed on a roll. Then came plant based burgers, which short of replacing a standing rib roast, are trying to replace the entire processed meat category. Now meet the cantaloupe burger. Enter Will Horowitz, the creator of the cantaloupe burger. Chef Horowitz who has developed a series of interesting meatless options using fresh produce like prosciutto made from radishes, hot dogs from carrots, and even a watermelon ham. Under ripe melons are cured and smoked, then placed on a roll with pickles and lettuce. Can’t make this stuff up. NEW PRODUCE QUIZ – WHO AM I ??? I am a native to the Alps, but along with my 50 relatives have been grown throughout Europe and in the USA as well. We are all sweet members of the parsley family. I am totally consumable. From roots to seeds and stems to leaves there is always a use for us. I have both medicinal and culinary properties. Before dinner I am used to flavor the Vermouth in your perfect martini. During dinner my young shoots will be blanched and added to your salad, or perhaps the bread you are eating is made with dough from my ground roots. In Greenland my foliage is eaten as a vegetable. For dessert, you’ll find my crystallized stems on the cake or used as a sweetener in stewed rhubarb or custards. After dinner it’s my seeds that flavor your apéritif if you are drinking Chartreuse or Benedictine. Medicinally I am used as an anti-inflammatory, and I our sell Alka-Seltzer in China. Though my name may imply it, I still haven’t earned my wings.

The answer to last weeks quiz is…STAR ANISE….Congrats to all winners Call 908-789-4700 –Lisa, Matty, or Richard– Fax 908-789-4702 Visit us at www.culinaryproduce.com “like” us @ Culinary Specialty Produce on Facebook