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Volume 33, Week 43
Monday, October 26, 2015
SITTING PRETTY Almost any location in California offers interested individuals good reason to visit a working farm, ranch, orchard or dairy. Fall farm tours capture the very best of apple, nut pumpkin and mandarin harvests. A short day trip for most, wineries dot the landscape along the roads to get a taste of cheese, honey and olive oil. From the Skagit Valley in Washington to Burlington, Vermont, similar follow the food trails provide extraordinary agri-tourism experiences (farms stays and work days). No secret then that the newly-obsessed food– centric tribes long to milk a goat or snip clusters of grapes. Putting some community elbow grease into fall days is often richly rewarded by a farm lunch or dinner. In some cases, barn dances and local musicians complete these enchanted rural activities. To sit at a fully dressed table among row crops, vineyards and orchards casts a magical spell. A romantic image of a well set farm table is enough to make smitten young people plan for a rustic destination wedding. Given such easy rural access to most Californians, farm nuptials make for a fundamentally charming celebration.
Bunkhouses, farmhouses and barns go hand-in-hand with picturesque ranch style décor. Glass jars, linens and just picked produce and floral are farm tabletop essentials. Understated elegance makes for convivial and relaxed dining. Open and meaningful conversation flows around a good day’s work on the farm or sights around the grounds. Holding true to the promise of good farm eats is the serving of locally available and regionally produced foods and beverages. Grazing on starter plates of assembled cheeses, olives and other small bites, fresh and seasonal typify any farm meal. Scratch cooking is another hallmark of farm style meals. The occasional flush of harvest is a perfect excuse to have large gatherings take part in the natural abundance that occurs on a working property. The need and desire to assemble for both harvest and preservation as an ideal excuse to reconnect with our neighbors, friends and families. We get a chance to meet the actual people who are responsible for the robust food scape available in California and beyond. Accept your farm tour invite. Pick some apples, pumpkins or gourds. Pull up a chair. Sit awhile and reflect on an exceptionally good life.
P.O. Box 308, Sacramento, CA 95812 • Phone 916.441.6431 • Fax 916.441.2483 • www.generalproduce.com
FRUITS AMBROSIA APPLES~ A medium to large bi-colored variety, with butter-yellow skin that is blushed with red. Their creamy yellow flesh is crisp and juicy with a sweet flavor and low acidity. Ambrosia apples will compliment both sweet & savory preparations. Roast large spices with root vegetables or dice and add to polenta, couscous or rice. They add sweetness & moisture to cake, doughnuts and muffins. They also hold their shape and flavor when cooked making them perfect for pies, tarts and baked apples. Slow to brown when cut, they are perfect for use in raw preparations. Apples: New crop Red delicious remain steady and heavy to large fruit. Most suppliers are peaking on 72/80/88s and have very few 125’ and smaller. Golden delicious are steady and still producing mostly premium grade 100/113/88’s. Granny smiths are steady and peaking on 88/100/113’s. Most Granny packers don’t have much size larger than an 88’s. Galas are steady on the smaller sizes and are higher on the 88’s and larger. Most Gala shippers are still peaking on 100/113/125s and don’t much available larger than a 100-size. The price gap is notable. Fuji are heavier to large fruit but the market is steady to lower as inventories are starting to build. Honeycrisp are steady to lower and are peaking on 64/72s. Jonagolds, Pink Lady and Braeburns are available but supplies are light. Quality for all varieties has been good. Ambrosia are in house and up next are Jazz apples. Berries: Strawberries continue to be a challenge for growers/shippers. Delays are to be expected as fruit is limited and slow to come in from the fields each day. Daily harvests continue to be lower volumes than estimated. Labor is presenting another challenge as picking crews have transitioned into planting fields for the Spring crop, limiting the amount of pickers to harvest daily. Quality issues resulting from recent weeks high temperatures and rain last week are being reported in all areas. Salinas/Watsonville still showing soft and dry bruising, smaller sized fruit, some overripe and occasional mildew. Santa Maria and Oxnard fruit is stronger but still showing some occasional bruising and fruit has sized down over recent weeks. Santa Maria and Oxnard fruit are demanding a premium price as well. Blackberry demand exceeds supply. Blackberries remain very limited out of California and more Mexican fruit is crossing. Blueberry demand exceeds supply. Extremely short of product on the west coast. Raspberry quality and availability of California fruit has improved over recent weeks.
Citrus: As we transition into fall fruit, there are some predictable seasonal challenges. Valencia supplies are drying up fast and gapping in some preferred sizes. Early California navels started last week and as expected, demand is exceeding supply on all sizes and all grades. We hope to have more houses jump in this week which will allow us more product in the pipeline. Navel sizing is still tough with the first of the season fruits showing mostly 88’s and smaller with few 72’s and larger. This will change as always as we get into better picking cycles. Last week’s rains have affected shipments this week as there is less fruit in the sweat rooms for packing. Satsumas also started last week and the first arrivals were good. We hope to continue this trend as we go forward. Picking was affected last week on this item also. Pummelo will not be ready this week as a start/stop due to lack of maturity. We hope to get started back in the next week or so. Grapefruit from California is almost done. Last fruit should be picked this week and sold by next week. Texas grapefruit is available if you have already transitioned. Begin to promote and highlight Meyer lemons. New crop is here and is very nice. We have plenty of fruit to fill out ads in either bulk or bags. Pink Variegated lemons are available for those looking for new items to try. Regular lemons are also finally coming back in volume and we will have good supplies of 140’s larger for the foreseeable future. Look for Clementine mandarins to cue up very shortly. Seasonals: Cranberries, pomegranates, persimmons are taking on more focus. Italian chestnuts are also on the scene for early traction. Always pricey, but nothing compares to their high quality and versatile use. California dates are available with many pack and variety choices. Great for upcoming holiday baking needs. Keep fall grape varieties on the front burner to build sales and add interest to snacks and menus.
VEGETABLES Winter Squash~ Turn up the volume on hard squashes for drama and versatility on the plate. In stock and available now: Acorn, White Acorn, Gold Acorn, Banana, Butternut, Carnival, Hubbard, Kabocha, Red Kuri, Spaghetti and Turban. Round out the mix for tabletop with Cinderella Pumpkin, Knucklehead Pumpkin and Sugar Pie Pumpkins. Broccoli, Cauliflower & Celery: Continued high and tight markets for broccoli and cauliflower, particularly on crowns. Colored cauliflower is still high priced and limited in offerings. Celery quality is strong but so is pricing. Lettuces: Iceberg markets continue to gain strength. Twenty four counts are gapping and prices are still high. Huron has begun production. There continues to be quality issues associated with this commodity. The defects are directly related to past and current high temperatures. These defects are industry wide and will continue throughout the month. Romaine items struggle with similar issues; fringe burn, small and irregular sizing, insects, dehydration, seeder and internal burn. Green and red leaf markets are firm as well. Fringe burn, mildew damage, internal burn and insect pressure continue to be defects associated with these commodities. Expect moderate to light supplies for the entire week. Mixed Vegetables: Green bells are short again as transitions will begin soon. Heat related harvesting issues continue to burden California and decreased plantings in Baja California are making for light supplies. Red bell pepper production appears to be lightening up slightly and markets firm. Expect red and green bells to be short for the next few weeks or so due to weather, gapping and upcoming transitions. Kale is steady; no production issues to report. Pricing continues to be competitive. The Baja region as well as California continue to be the main growing regions at this time. The overall quality is good with most shippers. Cucumber markets are steady. Quality is generally good, but available lots do vary in quality and condition. Nogales supplies are increasing as new fields come online. Green onion supplies are lighter with production in Salinas and Mexico for this commodity. Temperatures in the Mexico region continue to be high. Demand continues to increase. Production out of Salinas will be very light all week. The main sizing continues to be in small and some medium packs.
Onions & Potatoes: Northwest onions- yellows and reds are steady on all sizes. The yellows are peaking on mediums and jumbos with only light supplies of Colossals and larger. The reds are producing more mediums than they typically do and some suppliers had substantially lower yields so the jumbo red market is stronger than it normally is this time of year. The quality for both colors has been fair to good. Washington grown colored potatoes are steady and all are peaking on A-size. The quality for all colors has been good. Idaho russet markets are higher on both varieties and all sizes with sheds trying to finish with harvest and storage sheds not packing.
CARROT, SQUASH & RUTABAGA SOUP Ingredients:
4-5 small or 2-3 large carrots, finely chopped 1 medium rutabaga, finely chopped 1 butternut squash, finely chopped 1 large onion (or leek) 2 T corn flour mixed well with 1 cup water A handful of finely chopped parsley A pinch of ground black pepper A pinch of sea salt to taste Method: Place the chopped carrots, squash and rutabaga in a medium size, deep saucepan. Fill it up with water until vegetables are covered. Bring contents to a boil then, reduce the heat to low and simmer until everything is soft. Use a masher and slowly mash the vegetables into puree form. Stir constantly until it is all mixed well and smooth. Add in the corn flour and water mixture. Keep simmering until the soup is thickened and pasty. Add in salt to taste. Sprinkle ground black pepper and parsley over soup and serve. SERVES 4
Recipe courtesy of Full Belly Farm
Here is your personal update
MARKET REPORT For updated prices and availability contact GENERAL PRODUCE 916.441.6431 E-Mail:
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