Market Report - UK seasonal update 12 May 2014

In association with

As we move firmly into May, Spring favourites hit gluts and become very affordable.

Spain in particular provides a flavour of peak summer with early fruits.

Wild Mushrooms: 

Morels-Turkey

St George-Bulgaria

Mousseron-Bulgaria (Now fantastic value)

Girolles-Bulgaria (Creeping down in price and shooting up in quality)

Truffles:

The Italian budget friendly tuber gets a stronger nose and marbling with each week.

Fruits:

Spanish cherries have hit entry level.

Other Spanish stone fruits need two weeks or so to get really good. We are starting to dip our toes in the market.

English strawberries are at a similar level. Starting to show, but we will be eating and pulling faces before we shout about them.

The Iberian peninsula is easing out another Wild Harvest favourite now. The fresh or wet almond. Green furry jackets protect the lush milky core. They normally crop until the end of July.

A fantastic spread of exotic tomatoes.

Vegetables:

Wild asparagus (cultivated in France & not a true asparagus in reality, but they look great).

Green, white and purple asparagus from the Wye Valley.

Jersey Royals are now super cheap.

Lovely neat poivrade A.K.A baby purple artichokes from Brittany have hit town.

Wild garlic is in it’s final weeks, & we have started to sell the green seed pods or bobbles as we call them.

Wild sweet cicely has started in Scotland. An amazing aniseed scented natural partner of rhubarb. Here’s a lovely looking recipe.

Ambient Corner:

Japanese chefs are as extreme about their tableware as they are about seasonality and training.

We cherry pick a range, and enjoy the bamboo musubi looped skewer in particular. Perfect for canapés.