Market Report by Wellocks 30 Jan 2012

Kindly supplied by Wellocks

Wellocks of Lomeshaye, Lancashire, is a quality supplier of both fresh and dry ingredients that is sourced from all over the country and abroad, mainly from local producers and farms that take pride in what they produce.

Flavours of Europe

Let’s blow away the January cobwebs with a whirlwind tour of produce from Europe.  We have a  European extravaganza to get rid of the January  blues this year, with a a culmination of what’s best from all parts of Europe to get you guys buzzing!  Quality, freshness and flavour is what we have lined up for you.  Let’s start with Italy - we have teamed up with an importer who is pulling out of three markets and is buying direct from growers and the difference is there for you to see in the pictures and in the taste!

Fennel - never seen it this good. Roquet - exquisite attention to detail here, all bunched together on wooden trays you will just want to eat it, but beware, what a peppery flavour!

Sicilian Leafy unwaxed Lemons, if you want juice and flavour then boy, these knock the Spanish for 6! Plus the leaves have so much oil and flavour to extract, a real winner £2.57 x 1 kilo.  Now onto Spain - Escriggourmet must be the best orange grower bar none, from Valencia. We have the cream of Blood Oranges at £2.17 x 1 kilo flavour and colour is amazing! Over the border and into France and we start with the amazing Patte de Loupe apples these are what French chefs would use to cook with and yes you can eat them raw, you certainly won’t need to add sugar, flavour and colour blow the Bramley away!

The Jerusalem artichoke must be the star buy - fantastic quality and at only £5.85 x 5 kilo tray. Banana Shallots, again, they just don’t get any better £4.50 x 5 kilos and hard as iron. The choice of pears is yours with a firmer Comice at 41p each or juice heaven with the Passe Crassanne at 52p each. Back home now and England is showing the best Purple Sprouting Broccoli I have ever seen, £13.33 x 4.5 kilos. Yorkshires Gold - Tomlinson’s forced rhubarb is now at its best £20.00 x 6.3 kilos. More from Yorkshire with the micro button mushroom a great product you just cannot get from anywhere else, stunning £2.50 x 250g. Let’s move further up north now and over the wall to Scotland where we have the Anya (pink fir apple) Potatoes, a real nutty flavour that just look great on the plate. Amazing value at £10.30 x 10 kilos.

My pefect ingredients

Blood Oranges Very simply Escriggourmet do not harvest until the fruit is ready, they test for sugar content as well as colour. The result is every single  fruit is jam-packed with juice and sweetness but aesthetically the colour spread inside is very even, with sharp red blasts in every segment, this is often not the case in cheaper options, so this colouration will certainly not happen! It is the anthocyanins and flavonoids which pigments the blood oranges with their crimson colour. Blood oranges also contain vitamin C in more concentrated amounts than conventional oranges. These oranges typically provide 150-200 milligrams of vitamin C per cup of juice. The amount of vitamin C in a cup of juice from "regular" oranges is typically between 75-125 milligrams. Simply stunning oranges.

 Chef Adam to represent the UK

Head Chef Adam Bennett from Simpsons in Birmingham is to represent the UK at the prestigious Bocuse d'Or. Considered the greatest chef competition in the World, labelled the “The Chef Olympics”. We are all very proud to be sponsoring Adam through this two year process which  hopefully will end in success for him but also raising the profile of the industry in the UK. It is also a great tie up with the catering college in Birmingham who have invested in a new state of the art replica kitchen of what Adam will be using in Lyon for him to practise- Awesome! This I am sure will lead to them becoming the centre of excellence that they are striving to become. Adam beat off stiff competition to be chosen to head the UK team at next years event, held in Lyon France, competing against 23 other Countries and some of the World’s finest chefs. The first hurdle is to get through the European round which is taking place in March. We wish him good luck and I will keep you all up to speed with how everything proceeds. While we are on the subject of catering colleges we went to Kendal college for a dinner last Saturday and I was blown away with the students and how professional in every aspect they were, not to mention the food which would have embarrassed a lot of restaurants. These are the future of our industry and all I can say is if you are short of staff get in touch quickly before they are snapped up! Well done to all involved at Kendal college.

Authentic and fresh pasta

This pasta is completely different, first of all there is no heavy pasteurisation to increase the shelf life, the major positive this gives us is the maximum capacity of the pasta to absorb the sauce. Then the quality of flour, semolina and Italian eggs are completely different - the very best! Then we can modify shapes and add as many formats as we want. The packaging is a plastic tray which as well as protecting the pasta is loved by every chef since it can be washed in a dishwasher and fits perfectly into professional fridges. We will be stocking the Taglioni and Tagliatelle, plus fresh lasagne sheets to start with and I am sure more lines will be added to the stock very soon. Full list on the right. Emma our new pasta queen will be taking orders and this will work as follows: A day 1 order will be day 3 delivery to you. £1.75 x 250g

Pasta Menu

Short

• Conchiglie
• Coralli
• Creste di gallo
• Ditali
• Fusilli
• Gramigna
• Maccheroni
• Mezze maniche
• Mezze penne
• Open garganelli
• Orzi
• Penne
• Rigatoni
• Sedanini
• Strozzapreti
• Trofie

Long

• Bigoli
• Bucatini
• Linguine
• Spaghetti
• Tagliatelle
• Tagliolini
• Tonnarelli
• Spaghetti chitarra
• Scialatielli
• Zit
• Lasagne sheets