Market Notes
April 11th, 2024
RAMPAGE UP AN AWAY
We are ramping and all ramp lanes remain open. With a single buying station remaining in Ohio, we are processing the remaining ramps in the northern end of the State. The southern Michigan fields are flourishing with bulbs and fronds, and the pickers have finally arrived to gather. Northern Michigan has just begun, and pickers will be there by weeks end. If we had to call it, we should go into the first weeks of May. Look at next week as pre-prime, the week after as prime-prime, and the following week post-prime. A week or so after that, we are into bulbs. This is just a prediction of the best of all possible situations. Excessive heat or rain for more than two days can change the out look quickly. In other spring forage news, eastern fiddlehead ferns are expected in two weeks.
FINGERLING FIGURES AND FACTS
The fingerling market is going to go through a transition in the next few weeks, and it is going to be compelling. Unlike last year, fingerlings are not going to gap, nor will product be tight. In fact, we expect there might actually be excess. This season the issue will not be volume, it will be quality. As the fall harvest winds down, growers and packers that have older (weaker) potatoes that they will sprout nip for a second time, have a greater percentage of culls, and possibly lower price in order to move the last of their lots quickly. Past years did not require this as there was often a gap so customers will take what they can get. None of the above is accurate for Culinary. In late March we opened a deep storage container in Oregon that will cover us with beautiful product into May. By mid-May we begin a new crop program from the southern tip of San Joaquin Valley. If they are anything like last year, the potatoes are museum picture perfect in color and size. For us, price and quality will remain the same as we have now through the middle of May, then they will jump up a few bucks when we shift to new the crop. We might be fighting the current market trend with quality versus cost, hopefully there is room for everyone.
NEW PRODUCE QUIZ – WHO AM I ???
I’m the best plant since sliced bread. I am the “The Supermarket of the swamps” according to Guru of nuts and twigs, Euell Gibbons, “the cat’s meow, and the ducks feather.” You’ll go wild over my ability to soothe your sore gums and cure your sweet tooth. I feature prime nesting grounds for red-winged black birds and marsh wrens. I also offer material for human shelter and warmth in the form of lean-tos and garments. I was used during WW I as an artificial silk, a substitute for cotton, and as a down for gloves and coats. You too can create wondrous and unique garments that will wow and dazzle your friends. I’m a versatile plant, because not only can I be used for shelter and garments, I can also be used for weaving baskets to hold your favorite cakes and pastries made from the flour-like pollen of my flowers. Did you know that the pollen from just one acre of mine can yield as much as three tons? My roots can also be made into flour or a thickener for cooking when you separate the fibers from my roots. When boiled I taste like a mashed potato and when macerated I make a sweet syrup for the pancakes you’ve made with the flour from my pollen. Eaten raw, my shoots or stalks are like celery sticks and can be used in salads, roasted, or sautéed. When steamed I taste much like asparagus and my flower spikes can be boiled and eaten like corn on the cob. I am a plant ahead of my time, high in protein available year round. Roots in the winter, shoots in the spring and flowers in summer. Who can beat that?
The answer to last weeks quiz is…ACHIOTE….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
© Culinary Specialty Produce, Inc., 2023