Market Notes
April 21, 2016
CALIFORNIA POTATOES ARE IN
Experience is everything when it comes to harvest a top quality crop. Knowing when to plant and how to deal with the varying issues that nature throws at us create harvests of exceptional quality. It takes years to know the land and how to be its proper steward of it. The symbiotic relationship is threefold. The saying is “take care of the soil and the soil will take care of the plant.” So when growers take exceptional care of the soil, the soil produces an exceptional crop and both man and the environment thrive. We are pleased to say that is what has happened with the fingerling crop this year. The product is outstanding and we are getting used to this awesome spring harvest. We know that sending pictures slows down transmission and not everyone can receive photos well. So please give us a call and we would be more than happy to send you photos of this exceptional crop. Of course we would rather you buy the product instead of looking at it, but the photo is a start. We are also shipping red, yellow, purple and white round potatoes. Purple fingerlings and organic varieties are about three weeks away. FOB loading is in Edison and from there we can deliver throughout the state.
SPRING THINGS REALLY RING
At this point foraging gets really weird. All sorts of non-cultivated goodies come to market and each year brings newer items we never actually though about consuming. Let’s start with the basics. Black morels are getting more abundant every day. Blonds are a bit scarcer. Both Western and Eastern Fiddlehead Ferns are available. Porcini mushrooms are now available from the Pacific Northwest and South Africa. Ramps are abundant and their price keeps dropping. The second level of foraging includes Claytonia, Nettles, wild Watercress and Cattail Shoots. Then we get into the Gibbons survival edibles. These include spruce tips and a host of flowers and tips including Grape Flower, Onion Flower, Maple Blossoms, Elderberry Flower, Horsetail Shoots and Chickweed. Imported black truffles have begun and we are told that their stink factor is high. So stay inside and let us bring the woods to you.
HOLIDAY OUTLOOK
The specialty and commodity deals look good for the busiest restaurant day of the year. Asparagus supply looks good and along with the green there are purple and white as well. Haricot Vert no longer have rust and baby squashes are looking good from both coasts. Heirloom tomatoes both slicer size and cherry size are in good supply with very reasonable prices. Greens from new fields in the Salinas Valley are top quality and there are deals to be made. Fingerlimes are available but very expensive due to limited availability and some good winter citrus remains. Snow peas and snap peas are clean and cheap. Striped peppers are everywhere and marble potatoes are back. It all looks good and mom should be pleased.
NEW PRODUCE QUIZ – – WHO AM I???
While a rose by any other name, would smell the same, my color is the only thing the queen of our family and I share. Perhaps not. Like her thorn, I can be sour yet like her scented petals I can be sweet. We sweeties prevail, with about 900 varieties as compared to the 300 sour types. First described by Theophrastus in 300 BC, I was blossoming in all the hot spots along the Mediterranean well before that. How well I remember those early days when the beauty of my spring blossoms would awe the town’s folk into a wide-eyed drooling silence. Now they’ve just come to expect it every year with picnics, my pies, and festivities. That’s just the first act, after the blossom comes the fruit. Like Jacob’s coat I am the fruit of many colors. While predominantly dark red, I vary in shade from pale to black but also look great in yellow or white. Technically I am a stone fruit and I‘ve often thought we got that name from the effect we have on birds. When our feathered friends get their beaks on our fermented seniors, the result was drunken birds falling to the ground. That definitely rattled our pits. Anyway, you use our different varieties for different reasons. From meat sauces to pies, from drink garnishes to liqueurs, even candied in your fruitcake. I am a good source of potassium, vitamin A, as well as providing fiber. Just try eating me out of hand and see if you can stop. Bet ya can’t eat just 100.
PRINCE ROGERS NELSON 1958-2016 THIS IS WHEN THE DOVES CRY
Answer To Last Week’s Quiz…CARROT…Congrats To All Winners
Call 908-789-4700 –Lisa or Richard– Fax 908-789-4702
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Culinary Specialty Produce, Inc., 2015