Market Notes
April 23, 2020
IT’S A BOX AND A BAG THING
So the box thing, though a good idea, is going to take a little bit longer to market, but these days everything seems to take a little bit longer. Basic patterns are changing but things are still getting done. We have identified three specific areas where we can make a consumer box for family use. Foraged, baby greens and baby vegetables are feasible for specialty items with reasonable shipping. We are looking at five, eight, and ten pound boxes to ship direct to wholesalers or home chefs or caterers. We are in development with three of our suppliers to get the program going. We are looking central locations where the different boxes could consolidate but this will mostly be farm to fork via Fed Ex. Each box would have individual packages of one to three pounds of product. From Morel mushrooms to baby carrots and specialty radishes we can offer the higher end unusual items that are simple to prepare, stunning in appearance and take flavor to a new level. Advantages are limited handling, grab and go, to the doorstep or in the larger box. We hope to start testing next week. Any suggestions would help the development. We also have three new potato packages that should be available by the first of the month. One is a 5 pound potato assortment with some great new varieties. The second is a 5 pound Russian Banana fingerling and the third is a 1.5 pound stitched paper bag for retail or “drop in box”. Please call for details.
FOWL FINGERLINGS (teaser one)
Imagine you are a chicken on a rotisserie. You have been washed prepped and smothered with luscious herbs. As you heat up and get dizzy from the constant turning, your skin becomes golden brown and crispy. Then you start to perspire or, in chicken speak, drip. Now imagine you are a jumbo fingerling potato that has been cleaned, cut, and on a shelf that is just underneath the chickens that drip. Let that image cook for a few hours and consider what you might taste like. Now imagine you can get the same exact flavor with the crisp ends by putting fingerling potatoes on a tray in a 450 degree oven for ten minutes. Now imagine biting into a perfectly cooked fingerling with its rich flavor infused with rotisserie chicken drippings. Imagine no more, it’s here! More to follow.
NEW PRODUCE QUIZ – WHO AM I ???
I am the bud of a flower plant that developed from cardoon. During the Middle Ages I acquired a reputation for being an aphrodisiac that immediately made me popular with the Greeks & Romans. As a native of the Mediterranean region I was introduced to America by French and Spanish explorers. I grow three to five feet high and can be eaten prior to flowering. We just adore fog, so the micro-climates in California are what we love best even though we are more prolific in Italy, Spain, France and Greece. We have over a dozen varieties, most of which are round, many of which have thorns. We are usually green but some wild ones arrive in purple just to be different. Our babies are often robbed from the cradle and eaten uncooked as can only be done at that age. Humans eat my vital organs, my, bottoms, my leaves and my bud, but if you wish to remain breathing avoid our midsection. We, in turn, nibble on their fingers when we can. We are, steamed, baked, boiled, stuffed, used as dips, marinated or added to salads. I am a good source of potassium, magnesium, folic acid, and vitamin C. As a pharmafood stimulate the secretion of bile, act as a cleanser for blood, as well as being an antitoxin and a diuretic.
THE ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S QUIZ WAS … DURIAN.…CONGRATS TO ALL WINNERS
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