Market Notes
August 3, 2018
POTATO MARKET UPDATE
All is good in the land of spud! As predicted, next week we start shipping colors out of our Colorado facility. There has been a slight bump in the harvest of yellows. The new field we just started to dig is not ready. The skin on the potatoes has not firmed up enough and the skins are falling off. We have to wait two to three days before the fingerlings can be dug up with solid skins. So for our east coast distribution there might be one or two days missed. We are also bringing in product from Wisconsin and Idaho so we are well covered. California harvest is done so we will be working out of storage product for the next few months. While it’s never too early to talk about ads for Labor Day, we do have a small flush of new crop Harvest Moon potatoes that would be perfect stuffed, grilled or in potato salads. Let’s talk.
GREEN GAGE STAYS IN CAGE
Let’s get this straight from the beginning. Everything at Andy’s Orchards is exquisite. That being said some products are more in demand than others. One of the items Andy’s has become famous for are his Green Gage Plums. Aside from the fact that when they are flush with fruit it’s only a three week season, these trees produce on alternate years and this is not an on year. It has something to do with the timing of the pollen of the male trees being ready before the female trees are ready to catch said pollen. The possibility of capturing the male pollen for later fertilization or buying pollen for application is being studied but for this year there are no Green Gage Plums. Overall production of the best stone fruit on the planet has not been peak. Weather and field management have slowed availability but what does make it through is sublime.
OFF-SHORE BUT NOT MUCH MORE
Asparagus are a great buy. Demand is down, all sizes except jumbo are abundant and quality is great. Baby suash is running strong which is luck for this time of year. No burn and no storms put the baby squash at peak. Peeled carrots, orange and rainbow are in good supply. French beans are beautiful, no rain damage and perfectly sized. Peru has the quality snow peas and snap peas but Guatemalan product is also available. The one on-shore item is new crop starfruit. Florida production is in full swing and quality is great.
NEW PRODUCE QUIZ – – WHAT AM I??
They call the tree upon which I am born “The Wall Tree”. Depending on who you ask I have between 200 and 400 varieties. I was first documented in Chinese literature by the great philosopher Confucius around 479 BCE. It wasn’t until 140 BCE that I, the Chinese Fruit, was brought to Rome by the great Chinese emissary Jan Qian. The Chinese consider me the fruit of life, and my blossoms are worn around a young bride’s neck to symbolize virginity and fertility. Before arriving in Europe and later America (in the year 1515) I spent quite a bit of time in Persia where I acquired several new qualities. I added another possible color for my flesh, and developed the ability to grow larger. When I arrived in Rome I was called the “Persian Apple”. Pliny complained that I had more juice than flavor and he had to keep changing his toga. But some claim I am the ambrosia for the gods. With a firm but delicately juicy flesh, I used to be quite a delicacy, and very difficult to come by. Today I am one of the most popular fruits on the planet. In the month of July we are singularly responsible for one-third of all fruit consumption in the USA. Best eaten fresh, I can also be canned, dried, pureed or juiced. My sweetness tends to keep me in the dessert category but I am great alone as a snack, spread as a jam on your favorite breakfast bread, or used in chutneys. I have the highest vitamin count of all fruit especially high in vitamin A and C.
Answer To Last Week’s Quiz:…SCALLION…Congrats To All Winners
Call 908-789-4700 –Lisa or Richard– Fax 908-789-4702
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Culinary Specialty Produce, Inc., 2015