Market Notes August 26th, 2021

As the summer season comes to an end and the dog days prevail, we thought a little summer levity would lighten up the remaining days. What a better way to do that than with a little Gershwin.  Enjoy!  

SUMMERTIME

(Gershwin/Heyward)

Summertime, and the west coast in burning

The trees are all falling, and the flames rising high

The electric is out, all the generators are churning

So hush, little baby, don’t you ask why

One of these days, the rivers’ gonna stop flooding

The rain will stop pounding, from a thunderous sky

But until then, we will have to keep running

So hush, little baby, don’t you ask why

Summertime, and the truck costs keep rising

They go up every week, they are getting too high

The unloading is long, and the brokers are crying

So hush, little baby, don’t you ask why

One of these days, Covid will end up dying

The masks will come off, relief with a sigh

But until then, we just have to keep trying

To take care of ourselves, ignore those who are lying

So hush, little baby, we’ll all get by

   

 NEW PRODUCE QUIZ – WHO AM I ???

   A native of southeastern China, I am also very common in Vietnam and central Asia.  My Chinese name means eight points.  Late in the sixteenth century, Europeans actually used me widely as bait in mousetraps, leading to my Latin name “Illicium,” meaning lure or bait.  I grow on an evergreen tree of the magnolia family and my pretty reddish-brown woody fruit is picked prior to ripening, then sun-dried.  Each of my fruits’ points contains an oval seed with longitudinal ridges. Chewing my seeds freshens your breath with a licorice-like taste. In addition to being used in oriental cuisine, I flavor liqueurs, chewing gum, and confections.  I’m very familiar in a famous spice mixture — ground-up with four other spices, specifically foggara, cinnamon or cassia, fennel seeds and cloves, along with cardamom, dried ginger or licorice root  — where my pungent, sweet flavor dominates the powder.  I am said to be diuretic, carminative, stomachic, antispasmodic, digestive, and expectorant, and a stimulant, so use me to tone up the heart, stimulate digestion, combat flatulence, and soothe coughs and asthma.  My essential oil contains anethole, a substance also found in fennel (whose seeds taste similar to mine).  Thousands of years old, I am, perhaps best recognized for my shape, but there’s never been a sidewalk ceremony for me  

Answer to last weeks quiz….PEAS…Congrats to all winners!

Call 908-789-4700 –Lisa or Richard– Fax 908-789-4702 Visit us at www.culinaryproduce.com “like” us @ Culinary Specialty Produce on Facebook© Culinary Specialty Produce, Inc., 2020