Market Notes June 23th, 2022

   

THE HEAT IS HARD TO DEFEAT

   When the soil temperatures rise and the soil gets really hot, root vegetables and tubers heat up and begin to cook.  Call it natures oven. Watering to cool down the soil can help prevent this if it is cooler than the soil and if it is available. In the Bakersfield area of central California, where many root vegetables are grown, water has to be requested. You can’t just open the canals when it suits the crop. Water is both requested and allocated. In other words water is often not available to cool down the roasting vegetables. The situation is made worse by the defects do not show up for days after cooling, packing, and shipping. Our current supplier is suffering from this very situation. After working product several the best we can offer is very odd shapes (which is cool if you are into it) and a lot of blackened ends.  Awesome for processing where you can cut the blackened ends off, but big trouble for food service unless you intend to work them often.  This has affected some of our new crop as well.  New fields, harvested weekly, are quickly being used for future seed as they will not work for the fresh market. This will slow down recovery even more so we won’t be back on track until late September instead of early September.  We do have new crop yellows being dug next week that we have been  bragging about.  Now, we will have to wait until harvest to see. Stay tuned.

NEW MIX

Our premier baby green grower has introduced a new salad mix.  This one is a hardy blend and could well be used for braising as well. They are calling it a Super Energy Mix,  and it consists of four basic greens.  Green chard, red, chard, green kale, and spinach kind of hit all the “superfood” marks and a different look on the plate.  Combine with just a sprinkle of edible confetti  for a stunning, plate base, side dish or salad. This would give drinking wheat grass a run for the money and it certainly tastes better.  The Super Energy Mix is available both conventionally and organically and packed in three pound cases.  If this proves successful, clamshell and retail product won’t be far behind.  If you would If you would like a few sample cases,  we would be happy to oblige, but you are going to have to stop your truck in Hollister, we won’t take a change on shipping in this oppressive heat.  

 STONE FRUIT UPDATE

Andy’s is way north of the San Joaquin Valley and we have not gotten reports from those areas yet. As far as the Morgan Hill area, Andy’s Orchards was hit by the heat and a lot of product is lost.  The Blenheim apricots we preach about have been completely lost, and we are told that many of the specialty and heirloom varieties are hanging on.  At this point it looks like there may be a lot of damage and a very limited amount of available product.  This program usually runs through late August so there are several fruits yet to ripen, but current harvest is going to be extremely limited. First the rains pit the cherries, now the heat takes out the apricots and early peach and nectarine varieties.

                                                     NEW PRODUCE QUIZ – WHO AM I ???

Originally from Malaysia, I grow in clusters on a small evergreen tree.  While several of my relatives have smooth or moderately bumpy skin I am wild, out of control.  Maybe that way you’ll leave me alone.  But no such luck for me. Though I try to portray a hedgehog to discourage you I am plucked from my family. My yellowish-brown shell is split open to reveal a white translucent pulp.  I even grow a seed in my center in hopes of being passed by but to no avail.  You just cannot seem to get enough of my super sweet flesh.  Some of my relatives have developed the ability to be sour or acidic but you still just pluck, pluck, pluck.  Only two inches in diameter you had think they would leave us alone.  Some folks get fancy.  They cut off only my top half and serve me like an egg in a cup.  Usually eaten out of hand, I am also a great component of a fruit salad.  Other uses include canned in syrup, used in stuffing’s, or cooked alongside of vegetables or meat.  I am rich in vitamin C and am a good source of iron and potassium.  In my feeling, we are best left alone to multiply, but you don’t seem to agree so there are not many of us around.  I am a popular treat  every New Year.  

Answer to last quiz….CARROT…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