Market report
18th November 2011
Hi Everyone,I've learnt something new this week and I can't believe I've lived to the ripe old age of 47 without knowing this little gem of information, so now I feel I have to share it with you. Okay, here goes, can you name our five taste sensations? Bear with me because there is a fruit and veg connection. Bitter, Sweet, Salty, Sour...yup I got all those but what the flippin eck is the fifth? When I tell you, you will be no wiser. It's Umami. I'm sure they never taught me that at school. If they did, I think I must have been off that day. I think I need to write and complain to someone in authority because I'm sure I'm not the only one. Everyone I've mentioned this to looks at me like I'm talking gibberish.
So what is Umami and why am I discussing it with you good people? Put simply, it is a meaty/savory taste, brought about by the presence of glutamate in food and our umami taste buds respond to glutamate the same way that our sweet taste buds respond to sugar. The true magic of foods rich in umami is that when they are combined with other foods the resulting taste explosion is greater than the sum of the original two products. Let me give you an example. Tomatoes are rich in Umami and adding salt really brings out the umami taste sensation so adding another salty food also rich in Umami like Parmesan cheese creates the explosion of taste we talked about earlier. Umami is also present in a particular mushroom and potato but more about them later. That's the end of today's food lesson so now a look at the week in detail.
Vegetables
I have been talking to the local growers and they are all finishing with cauliflowers this week. Not great timing after the The Great British Food Revival ran a program promoting their use. This year the local lads are finishing sooner than ever with cauliflowers as it's been so mild this year. Some weeks they have been harvesting at twice the normal rate. We are unable to grow Lancashire cauliflowers through the winter due to the regular hard frosts we usually experience. It's a different story in Lincolnshire and Cornwall where they have better weather and can grow caul'is virtually all year round. As we all switch to supplies from warmer climes I'm afraid we can expect prices to rise. The show also pushed the use of Romanesque and unfortunately next week is the last week for Peter Ascrofts lovely Romanesque, the joy of TV.
I never thought pickling onions could give us so much grief but this year they have been beset with quality problems. Many of these miniature alliums were soft and some waste evident. We've now managed to find a reliable source of "cocktail" grade but we have had to pay twice the price for the privilege. Twice the price but worth it.
Spanish broccoli arrived in the UK just in time as the local supplies dried up. One or two folk have mentioned that the heads are a little on the large size. This is true and is typical of the first cut of new season broccoli. The product throws up a large crown initially but further into the season the plant throws off lots of side shoots and this is when we start to get smaller heads appearing in the boxes. You may find some of the big heads have been cut in two to achieve box weight. New season Span broc - bit of a big head.
English cabbage is still plentiful in the form of spring and savoy and tundra but it's getting a touch long in the tooth. If you want some lovely sweet new season cabbage I have found some Portuguese pointed cabbage and its sold really well this week.
Our friend, farmer John, sent in some nice cavolo nero this week. Also known as black kale this is a very old vegetable of Italian decent. I've not eaten it so I can't comment on eating quality but it certainly looks nice and it's local too. They tell me its very versatile and wonderful in soups and stews so any feed back or recipes would be greatly appreciated.
Next week we will have some lovely home grown Shitake mushrooms. They will be packed in 500g packs and an ideal size for catering. Now these little babies are bursting with umami which is the core topic of this weeks newsletter. Lots of mushrooms contain the umami taste but the Shitake is the king of them all. Use them as you would do white button mushrooms and you will be impressed by the flavour and this is the umami taste sensation at work. Grown in Scarisbrick (Near Ormskirk) I'm taking one home, cant wait to try!
Next week we should see the first of the new season Mayan Gold potatoes. Now, these look like normal potatoes but truth be know they are more closely related to the sweet potato than they are the everyday potato we use for chips. Now grown in the UK they originated from the indigenous "Phureja" potatoes of Peru which have been grown for thousands of years. It is prized for its deep golden yellow flesh and buttery/nutty taste. It's ideal for steaming, roasting and mashing and guess what? It is high in "umami" so it combines wonderfully with other products to help expand and develop their taste sensations. My favourite recipe for them is mashed. Bake them first then scoop out the middles and mash in the normal way with a blob of butter - fabbo
Fruit
Just little bits of South African oranges left on the markets but most importers have now moved over to the wonderful Spanish navels. These are without doubt the best tasting oranges in the world. The variety is navel and you can see the distinctive belly button at one end of the orange. Navels will peel fairly easy with the fingers but if you really want your kids to eat them you need to cut them up. If you prepare them for the kids (or the grown-ups) they will be eaten instantly I can assure you. These will last right through to the New Year.
Satsumas are still a nightmare I'm afraid. Early frosts started the problems, then the unseasonably warm October weather prevented the fruit from ripening and then to top it all off, it chucked it down with rain when the harvest was due. What little fruit there is that is of exportable quality is going to supermarkets at huge prices. We are managing to find odd consignments but they are not cheap. Its looking increasingly like it will have to be Turkish satsumas for Christmas.
A different story for Clementines thankfully. The situation is more straight forward with growers reporting good quality and flavour. Early fruit was small but the rain is helping the clems bulk up in size. Small clems are super for kids lunch boxes and my kids have been taking them to school all week and loving them. The small ones are prepacked in 10 x 1kg punnets.
Grapefruit is eating slightly better than last we spoke and Brian tells me that there are whispers afoot that the first of the Florida pink may arrive next week. It won't be cheap but if you want a good heavy grapefruit with loads of juice and nice and sweet then this will be the one - more info when it finally arrives.
First of the new season South African apricots arrived at Heathrow this week and arrived with us this morning - I'm looking at a box as I type this and they are really pretty. Good colour, just a tad underipe but they look like they will ripen quite quickly but not cheap I'm afraid. However they will come down.
First decent samples of cherries arrived from Chile this week. Air freight so they are not cheap but they look nice and eat quite well.
The English rasps have finally finished, and I have to say we've had a great run with Adam Shorter's produce. We will have the cheaper Spanish product next week but as we all know the berries are usually dull looking and tend to be on the small side but fear not, we are expecting some Driscoll greenhouse raspberries from Holland. They wont be cheap but if it's a big juicy premium raspberry you need on the plate then this will be the one. More info when they arrive.
Strawberry prices went silly this week and this looks like continuing until the end of next week. The problem is, due to Dutch and Belgian greenhouse product coming to a close with volumes down 75% on previous weeks. Normally we would have Egyptian and Israeli fruit at this time of year but they are two weeks behind schedule due to inclement weather. We expect the first Egyptian by the end of next week and their arrival in the UK should immediately drop the price of the Dutch glasshouse product.
Salads
Sage is still short in supply due to the hard frost and snow in the early part of the year but we should be okay up to Christmas.
Lots of different tomatoes about this week and to steer you through the maze I shall give you my feedback on the eating quality by referring to their umami content (now you can see the reason for my little lecture at the beginning of this missive).
Without doubt the fruit with the highest umami content at the moment is the Spanish fruit packaged under the brands Cortez and BonnySA. I've tasted these extensively and they are the best. Trouble is supply is very intermittent. Second on the scale is the fruit from the Canary Islands, various brands here such as Continental and Teidi, still high umami so it makes your mouth water when you bite in but the fruit has a slightly more earthy taste than the Spanish fruit. Very distinctive if you are a bit of a tomato anorak like myself. The Dutch samples have good colour and size but the umami is very low.
Avocadoes back on stream and we are bringing them in from Spain, Israel and Mexico - prices are now very realistic. You know, there has been lots of rubbish talked about avocadoes and about how they are full of cholesterol and how if you eat one you will be as fat as a elephant. What a complete load of rubbish. Sure they contain fat but they are good fats, essential to our health and well being and they have actually been shown to reduce cholesterol levels. Unfortunately this wonderful fruit has a bad image now and it's undeserved. We need to see more of this fruit eaten and now is a good time to experiment because its cheap.
Well that's all folks for another week and see you all again soon
Cheers
Andy.
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