Market Notes
January 31, 2018
Roses and endive and young beets with tops. Orchids and apples are some of our crops. Radicchio, lollo, red oak and mustard. So many red things it must seem absurd. Tomatoes, potatoes, Swiss chard and confetti. Watercress, currants, let’s not forget cherry. Raspberries, carrots, romaine lettuce and plum. For Valentine’s day make sure to get some. Strawberries, apples, onions and cabbage. Corn and sweet peppers and rhubarb to package. Radishes, grapes, and some chili peppers to, give us a call and we’ll load it for you. For the red day, cook the red way, don’t let your lover down. Just buy all the red fruits and veggies instead and the heart of your love will be found.
While we are all stocked up with fingerlings, and rounds of all colors and sizes there are two very special varieties that we have left out. Due to their novelty they are kind of their own category. These are, of course the Masquerade and the Harvest Moon varieties. The Masquerade is food art in the raw. Swirling dark blue skin artistically wrapped around a yellow skin masking the creamy yellow flesh inside. The Harvest moon is a sleeper potato that is hard to market and one of the best tasting rounds we have ever sampled. Tough sell because the blinding yellow flesh is covered in beautiful blue skin. A better mashed potato we have not found and they bake beautifully as well. Both varieties are available in a wide variety of packaging for both retail and foodservice. Please call for details and samples.
The chill is gone, and for the most part so is a lot of snow. If it’s not the government it’s the weather that keeps the airlines shut down. Air embargo’s will hopefully be lifted this weekend so we can fly into Chicago once again. As the temperature warms and precipitations causes additional ice it is going to be slick for days from the midwest through the northeast. Temperatures too silly to mention require trucks to run warmer than they otherwise would. Freezing loads are abundant in such negative conditions as business comes to a crawl and need for firewood replaces need for potatoes, onions, oranges etc. Fortunately by the middle of next week the right side should be experiencing some early spring temperatures while the left side gets wet. Either way with the stifling cold blown past, regular shipping will resume. Climate change indeed!
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.
Answer to last weeks quiz…LEMON CUCUMBER…Congratulations to all winners!
Call 908-789-4700 –Lisa or Richard– Fax 908-789-4702
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Culinary Specialty Produce, Inc., 2015