The Market Report - By Ken Klein

 

9/3/08

Greetings Food Lovers!

Did you know there are over 200 varieties of fruits and vegetables? That’s over 200 different flavors and textures to enjoy! And the variety doesn’t end there. You still have color, form and the many ways to prepare fruits and vegetables to take into consideration when mixing things up. Good for your family and fun for your kids, fruits and veggies can offer something new almost every day.

With thoughts of our children returning to school or us workers brown bagging it to save money and eat healthier, consider munchies for lunch. Baby carrots, celery sticks, grape tomatoes, and cucumber spears. Mid-afternoon munchies? Dried and canned fruits and veggies can be tossed easily into a backpack. And instead of soda? 100% juice. Getting the idea? Munch on this: Fresh, frozen, canned, dried and 100% juice… it all counts!

Did you know?

Peppers known as Capsicum are a genus of plant that comes from the nightshade family. Some members of the Capsicum family are used as spices, vegetables, and medicines. The misleading name of pepper (pimiento in Spanish) was first given by Christopher Columbus upon bringing the plant back to Europe . He was the first to introduce peppers to Spain . At that time, peppercorns were a highly prized condiment.

Red peppers contain eleven times more beta carotene than green peppers. Peppers consist mostly of water so the added bonus is they are low in calories. Sweet red peppers contain more vitamin C than an orange. Peppers were named by Columbus and Spanish explorers who were searching for peppercorn plants that produce black pepper.

Seriously though, we just enjoyed a nice three day Labor Day weekend. BBQ, last days down the shore, picnic with friends and family or maybe just hung out at home with a nice cold beer with neighbors. Whatever! We seem to forget the purpose of this existence. Labor. It is all about paying respect to all of us who work. Factory dudes, high tec thinkers, lawyers, doctors, police and firemen, teachers, municipal workers, farmers, truck drivers, day laborers, blue color or white color workers, grocers and everybody else.

Thank you so much for your work. The value we place in your efforts to create a better life for the good of all is countless.

Produce Talk

Tomatoes

The tomato market has gained some strength this week. Rain affected harvesting schedules in Alabama and Tennessee . This has caused an increase in demand from shippers all over the east coast from Virginia to Ohio , which in turn has raised the price. Roma tomatoes continue to be in good supply and have excellent quality. I have been buying fantastic Lancaster County tomatoes. They look like that old fashioned tomato that one used to get in the summers past. Hurry and get some before summer ends and with it that great taste.

Strawberries

The Labor Day demand has ended and we will begin to see prices drop over the next week. Some quality issues are expected on arrival, such as bruising.

Blueberries

The market is very tight right now due to rain in British Columbia . In addition, New Jersey has now finished.

Apples

East coast season has now arrived. Available now are Paula Red, Gala, Ginger Gold, McIntosh and Jonamac. Red Delicious and Honey Crisp will begin harvesting in the next two weeks.

Pears

Eastern Seckels are now available along with the new crop of Washington State Barletts.

Grapes

Flame seedless are coming to an end. Ruby seedless and Crimson have had a slow start. The white seedless is showing some flexibility in pricing with the exception of premium product. This time of year, the rule of thumb is to buy the best quality because the cheaper product has quality issues.

Stone Fruit

The peach market has not seen much change. There is plenty of product resulting in lower prices.

The nectarine market is slightly better. Color and quality are very good.

The plum market has moved up this week. Most growers have finished with Friars(black) and are packing Howard Suns. Angelino plums will begin in ten days and when that happens you can kiss your summer fruit goodbye.

California Citrus

The lemon market has continued to drop this week with the increasing of more imports becoming available.

The market on Valencia oranges moved up again this week due to a drop in supplies and growers finishing for the season. Navel oranges are expected to begin in the next two months. Grapefruit currently has a strong market with very light inventory. This will bring the prices higher than they already are now. The fruit is looking very nice.

Honeydew

Larger size honeydew are in good supply and are of very good quality. Small melons are in even better supply with steady pricing

Cantaloupe

Product from West Side Growers in California have become tight and prices have risen. Larger size melons are particularly hard to find. This is a sad time, for the past two months the product has just been fantastic.

Potatoes

The red potato market is starting to drop as more supplies become available. Overall the prices have been going up, not down as the availability of all potatoes has decreased.

Asparagus

Demand is light this week. Currently asparagus is available from Mexico and Peru .

Bell Peppers

Green bell peppers are in good supply locally. Georgia will be starting in late September to early October.

Broccoli

There is a steady supply of broccoli from both Maine and California .

Cucumbers

There is a limited supply this week from New Jersey due to heavy rains affecting quality. However, New York has excellent product available.

Iceberg Lettuce

There is currently a higher demand on iceberg lettuce due to lack of volume and pricing on Romaine which is now sky high. As a result, more retailers and restaurants are bringing in Iceberg with just might be $15 a case cheaper.

 

Have a fruitful week!

 

 

Previous Market Report-->