Market Notes
August 12, 2016
FINGERLING FOLLOW UP
Reality is that it is going to be another tough week for yellow fingerling potatoes. The good news is that it will be the last week of the gap or shortage. Over a decade ago, Culinary, along with the other members of SPA, worked together to be able to provide fingerling potatoes on a year round basis. We accomplished that goes within two years and this two week gap is the first gap since that time. Next week there are several different areas that are scheduled to begin or resume harvest late in the week. By the following Tuesday we should be able to fill all orders as fast as we can pack. We also have beautiful reds and purples. Please note we said should because rain has been following every field from Oregon to Colorado and New Mexico to Wisconsin. Mother Nature seems to be in synch with our harvest schedules and is not cooperating. Something will come through by next week. We really appreciate your support and patience during this transition and look forward to providing you with excellent product after next week.
IT’S TOMATO TIME
You already know about the Early Girl dry farmed tomato from the LA update, and they are a week away from perfection. In the cherry tomato we are at peak of season. The mix is at its sweetest and the variety is at its greatest. Yellow tomatoes are available out of San Diego and can be combined with straight pack cherry varietals or the mix. Heirloom slicing tomatoes are also abundant. Available both organically and conventionally, we can load in San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, or San Diego. We also have single pack available on Green Zebra, Brandywine, Rainbow, and Black Crimson. In most cases we are at the beginning of peak season meaning there are four to six weeks left before we begin to wind down. Hopefully we will still have time product after your local deal runs out. It’s also a perfect time to discuss ads. Please contact your Culinary Rep for details.
NEW PRODUCE QUIZ – – WHO AM I???
I’m not so much exotic looking as exotic in origin. A native of India, I give my thanks to Missionary Brewster for bringing me with other family to North America. You’ll find me growing in Thailand, China, Hawaii, Southern Florida, Southeast Asia, Mexico and other tropics. Don’t be fooled by my appearance. I may look plain and dull, a bit rough on my smooth shaped outside, but inside, you’ll be awed by my aril. Explore my aura. Split my shell at the stem end and peel back my thin shell to find transparent to translucent white flesh enclosing a large smooth inedible seed. I’ll feel like a soft fibrous grape to the tongue and taste juicy, sweet, delicate, tropical, pineapple, grape . . . . my taste and texture challenge description — mellower in taste than my better-known close relatives and more modest in appearance (no warts, spines, hairs, or bumps), I’m equally good in their recipes. Chinese make shampoo from my seeds which they call “eye of the dragon” because of a white eye-shaped spot on the dark brown seed. I grow in clusters high in an august ornamental evergreen shade tree whose family is called soapberry because of our high saponin content. I’m most delightful eaten out of hand or served mixed with other tropicals, rice, vegetables, salads, or lightly cooked in sauces, poached or added to stir fry. I’m also preserved in syrup or dried to look like a large raisin. Or just freeze me in the shell. I bring you Vitamin C and potassium, magnesium and copper. If the birds and bats don’t eat us all, you can most easily find me in Asian markets in July and August or imported throughout the year with other tropical fruits. And, that’s the —– –d short of it.
Answer To Last Week’s Quiz…CAROB…Congrats To All Winners
Call 908-789-4700 –Lisa or Richard– Fax 908-789-4702
Visit us at www.culinaryproduce.com
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Culinary Specialty Produce, Inc., 2015