market report 25/11/11

Vegetables
If you haven't tried our King Edwards then quite simply you have missed a treat. This week the Farmer Tim came up from Lincolnshire to say "hi" and we had a very interesting chat. King Edwards are a very temperamental spud and only really flourish in the limestone soils of south Lincolnshire and in the words of farmer Tim , "this is a potato that would rather curl up and die than grow!" . They also want to grow small but Tim plants ours far apart so they have room to spread out and reach the size we require. I was also fascinated to learn that only London and the North-West of England take these potatoes, the rest of the country are simply not interested in them. I find this strange because it's a lovely spud to use, nice and fluffy and is excellent for roasting and baking. It is also fantastic in Lancashire hot pot so maybe that's why we have a fondness for them here.
I have to mention the arrival of the new season Italian scraping potatoes. These are dirty and have the loose flaky skins that scrape off easily under the tap. They boil well and will be available right through the Christmas. The variety is elvira and they come from the Puglia region of Italy , which if you are unfamiliar with the geography of Italy is the heel of the boot !
The mild weather means that local vegetables are still in abundance , the quality of the spring, savoy, primo and tundra cabbages are exceptional for the time of year. Local caulis have finished as we touched on last week but the Lincoln farmers are now running short too. When you look closely at the Lincoln product you can see they are almost "bolting". We think there will be quality and supply problems from here next week so we've asked our chums across the channel in Brittany to cut and they should be with us here in Preston for Monday. Obviously prices will be slightly more expensive than this week. Our chums in Jersey have sent us some organic cauliflowers today so if you are that way inclined we have them too.
The local spinach farmers have now finished for the year so we will now be switching over to imported product packed by Watts Farm to take us through to March next year when the the local chaps will fire back up again.

Right ... I need you help , we have some absolutely fantastic globe artichokes just arrived from Spain. They have been grown by our old friend Mr. Ole so the quality is a given. In Spain this vegetable is more popular than broccoli so we need all you chefs out there to get these on your menus. They are very inexpensive and we will have supply right through until spring.
This morning we have had some naga chilies delivered from India, now this is the true home of the world's hottest chili so these babies are hot . I've just cut the tiniest of slithers off and eaten it and I kid you not the heat is unbelievable. True chili fans will snap these up in an instant.
Not all cherry toms on vine are the same, we have the standard product from Spain but for the true flavour connoisseurs we have the French Le jardin de Rabelais. Now these are not cheap, they are grown in French greenhouses with vast amounts of heat applied so they cost an absolute fortune to grow. They grow the piccolo variety which is only found in M&S and is honey sweet and bursting with that umami flavour. If you want to try the taste test here just ask for premium cherry tomatoes or ask for them by name - Le Jardin de Rabelais. For more information please visit http://www.lejardinderabelais.french
Peter Eminson, our local Pack Choi grower wanted you all to know that his wonderful product will continue right the way through the autumn and winter months. Just to give you some idea of how tricky things are for him at this time of year , during the summer it takes 4 weeks to grow a fully mature plant ready for eating and during the winter this period extends to 14 weeks !!
Fruit
I have to mention the juicing oranges at this point, if you didn't know we sell a specific orange for juicing. Usually the skin quality is slightly marked but the fruit is selected for the amount of juice and the sweetness. Just this week we have switched over to the midknight variety and the resultant juice is sugar sweet and bursting with flavour. I hadn't been impressed by the valencias to date but these midknights are something else.
Forced rhubarb from Holland started off the week at £30 per box so we stayed out but by the end of the week we saw prices halve. We will now be keeping this on stock unless the price goes mental again.
Green grapes have been difficult to manage this week - the Brazilian Thompson grapes have looked very tired recently but this morning we switched over the Festival variety and the quality difference is immense. I've just tasted them and they eat lovely too.
Plums are going to be very expensive next week , the Italian angelino's are in very short supply and the new season South African are not expected into the UK until the end of next week.
The Florida "Pride" ruby grapefruit arrived UK as promised. They are absolutely full of juice and lovely and sweet, not full red colour but they have a nice subtle blush colour.
Quince apples are back in stock again and selling well. The fruit is large and yellow and coming from Turkey, I wont go through the uses again as we did all that when the English product hit the shelves. We are hoping to have this right through to Christmas.
Cherries from Chile will still be airfreight next week but we expect the price to come down about £10 per box. The sea-freight product is on the way and is expected to dock in the UK in about 10 days time. At this point we should see a further reduction in price.
And for all you chefs we have the wonderful chestnuts that are peeled and cooked so they are ready for use. These fly out in the run up to Christmas.
great with sprouts
That's all folks for another week
Andy.

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