THANKSGIVING SCHEDULE

     Delivery schedules are complicated this year. Everybody is closed on Thursday 11-25. Culinary’s  inter-planetary and global  offices remain accessible for tracking and dock instructions and all you have to do is dial, but our access to other operations may be severely curtailed due to football and turkey.  For the east coast just in time potato delivery is available on a limited basis for Friday delivery but arrangement must be made by Tuesday.  For yams and carrots, we need orders by Friday 11-19 for delivery Wednesday 11-24.  No Friday delivery. Tuesday is the only shot for next week. For the west coast LA delivery is Tuesday for Wednesday and Friday for Saturday.  No FOB pick up on Thursday.  As there will be no quiz on this we will reach out to everyone tomorrow for personalized scheduling. At least, now, maybe you’re thinking about it and we can accommodate all your needs. Finally, both Market Notes and the weekly Produce Quiz will be off next week for note and quiz conferences on Planet 3.  

POTATO NOTES – COLORADO & CALIFORNIA

    Colorado is on! Everything is in full swing.  On the organic side we have russets, yellows, reds, and fingerlings in three colors.  We have Masquerade and Harvest Moon and three varieties of conventional fingerlings. No marbles, but lots of creamers.  We are loading trucks weekly (not next week) going both east and west. Not only can we load and deliver LTL quantities, but we can also customize pallets to meet your exact needs. We can even store product for just-in-time delivery.   From fingerlings assortments  to purple creamers, we have a very wide variety and they are all available now!   California is about two weeks away from harvest.  Product has been killed and harvest will begin shortly after the first of the month. A full line of colors both conventional and organic will be available here as well.  Until then, our Bakersfield hub operations continue with other local growers and trucks from Colorado. From here we cover Los Angeles to Oakland along with a west coast FOB hub. Colorado + California + Culinary = good potatoes when and where you need them.

 NEW PRODUCE QUIZ – WHO AM I ???

One of my earliest appearances is estimated to have been around 3400 BC.  My first sighting was in Tehuacan that is south of Mexico.  Almost immediately someone spotted me in Peru.  Today I am primarily cultivated in South America and Europe.  For the most part I am a long trailing or climbing plant, but a few of my relatives do the bushy thing.  Yellow flowers and large shallowly lobed leaves protect me from the elements and snoopy passers-by.  As a member of the cushaw family I have a smooth, nutty taste that is well complimented by cinnamon or nutmeg.  By category, winter is in my name, but I am harvested during two other seasons.  When harvested in summer I am tender and best suited for stewing, boiling, or baking in a pie.  When I am harvested in autumn it is often fashionable to split me in half, parboil me (yooouch!), then stuff and bake me.  My second harvest yields good meat for jams, preserves, or pickles.  I am best when 10 to 12 inches long and about 5 inches in diameter.  With a body shaped like a pear, my pale, tan, smooth skin peels easily to reveal my beautiful, finely textured, sweet, orange flesh (stay away if my skin is tinted green; it means I’m not yet ready).  I am a great source of beta-carotene I am also a good source of Iron Riboflavin along with vitamins A & C. Most likely you will enjoy me in one form or another on your turkey table next week.