Market Notes
September 24, 2015
COLORADO FINGERLING POTATO HARVEST BEGINS
The digging is just about complete. Harvest of Fingerlings has been ongoing since late August and the first cured potatoes are ready to be run and packed. As we reported earlier, product is running on the small side which seems to be better than oversized. We are still in the two inch to four inch range, just fewer four inch. From our certified packinghouse in Mosca, Colorado we can load FOB or set up delivery to the west coast or east coast for forward distribution. A quick note on these potatoes: We have been writing about bioorganic growing whose motto is “take care of the soil and the soil will take care of the plant.” These potatoes are a result of that philosophy. They required almost no pesticides, less water and no fertilizers other than the compost used to create the soil food web rich in microbes. Pricing is aggressive and seasonal ads are available. Please check with your Culinary Rep for details. For those that need the marketing, yes we have certified organic as well.
MASQUERADE POTATOES RIDE AGAIN
So, begins our second season of marketing the Masquerade Potatoes. With a heavy russet profile, these potatoes have a familiar taste that won’t let you down with a purple skin swirled with yellow or a yellow skin swirled with purple. You decide. Best suited for baking to show off their beautiful skin, the mini-bakers will amaze at the dinner table, Sunday brunch, with a dab of butter or stuffed with veggies. Admittedly last year we had some issues with fading and sprouting. This year we have resolved those issues noting and eliminating specific fields that did not perform as well. Also as we are in new crop, the sprout issue isn’t yet upon us. The Masquerade are grown organically and will remain that way until we sprout nip them, sometime in late January. Then they will be conventional.
WHAT’S HER NAME??? NOW WE’LL TELL YA
Midnight Moon is a new potato variety that we will begin marketing at the New York Produce Show in early December. We are using the tag line “Purple Is The New Yellow” to promote this amazing potato. The flavor profile is well beyond any yellow potato we have ever tasted and as an all-purpose potato the Midnight Moon simply makes any potato dish better. Developed by Colorado State University, The Midnight Moon has been available in limited quantity seed through Burpee for the past three years. The seed was bought by a private management group who has been developing it for the past five years. Seed is no longer publically available and we can now offer this brilliant potato to the fresh market for the first time. Brilliant is not due to SAT scores, rather this is simply the brightest yellow fleshed potato we have ever seen. We recommend sunglasses for those who fear bright light. Purple, skinned, sunlight fleshed, amazing flavor, indeed purple is the new yellow, and Midnight Moon is the future. Come visit us and this great new potato in New York this December for continued enlightenment.
THE THREE PRODUCTS MENTIONED ABOVE CAN ALL LOAD TOGETHER AT THE SAME DOCK IN COLORADO (WHOO-HOO)
NEW PRODUCE QUIZ – – WHO AM I
Famous English sea captains, like Cook, were my early proponents. My seedlings survived two documented sea voyages before being transplanted from Tahiti to the West Indies. Today, my massive tree offers shade and subsistence to many in the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean, and Brazil. Although most parts of my plant have value, my fruit is quite unusual in appearance, texture, and taste. The slaves I was sent to sustain, fed me to animals for decades before accepting me. You could say I’m thin-skinned about my appearance, and my rind is rough with hard, bumpy protrusions. I’m rounded and green, turning brown to yellow as I ripen, averaging 8 inches in diameter and weighing 4-10 pounds. When green, I am hard like a raw potato; slightly ripe, I resemble eggplant and partly baked bread; fully ripened, my flesh is rather sweet and tacky, creamy, runny, or tender. I’m 20% starch, so cook me like a white or sweet potato; my cooked texture is like a sticky potato mixed with plantain. I have a bland, slightly musky, fruity flavor. Despite my seedlings’ early sea voyage, I do not transport well. I’m primarily used as a vegetable, not a fruit or a baked good, despite my name. If I could talk, I’d also tell a famous tale of mutiny.
Answer To Last Quiz….Indian Corn……Congrats To All Winners
Call 908-789-4700 –Lisa, Mark or Richard– Fax 908-789-4702
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Culinary Specialty Produce, Inc., 2015