Market Report - UK seasonal update 2 March 2015
This week's market report from Wild Harvest features white asparagus, wet garlic, fresh morels and baby figs as well as a whole host of other fruit and vegetables currently in season which you can see below:
Whilst I’ve enjoyed writing about rare root vegetables and cutting edge citrus for some months, it’s always refreshing to see the early signs of Spring.
March rings in the changes before it’s time to put away the puffer jackets and woolly hats.
Wild Mushrooms and Truffles
The mushroom hunting areas of Turkey have emerged from their covering of snow, and we have been offered new season fresh morels for the last two weeks.
The season is relatively late this year so abundance is yet to drive prices down.
You can only pass these beauties up for so long, and we have lined up our first meaningful shipment for Tuesday’s sales.
With their robust (relatively low moisture content for a mushroom), dimpled, sauce catching form the seasonal milestone that is the Turkish morel is likely to be with us until the end of May.
Portugal still dominates our fresh wild mushroom offering, with the season showing signs of winding down.
- Yellow and grey legged chanterelle - Portugal
- Pied de mouton – Portugal
- Trompette - USA
Winter truffles from the Perigord region and Italy are still good, with the French season threatening closure any week soon.
Spring white truffles showcased in our previous update continue to please.
Fruits
There’s lots of fun to be had with sweet baby figs from South Africa, and the season promises to last for another 2-3 weeks.
Here’s a staccato list of some other fruits in fine fettle:
- English apples
- Blood oranges
- Lemons from Nice
- Kiwiberries
- Williams and comice pears
- Clementines
- Finger limes
Vegetables
We are now enjoying excellent French white asparagus, whilst we sharpen our weapons for the fight for the first English green asparagus due in a couple of weeks.
Wild garlic is so close I can smell it. Three cornered wild garlic has proven a great early stand in this year.
Wet, new season garlic bulbs have started from Egypt. A more than passable option until the French season starts.
The first indoor crops of the mighty Jersey Royal potatoes have been lifted. Prices take a nose dive as it gets warmer and the main outdoor crop reaches our shores.
We live with these two lines until September. The origin shifts from Spain to France and then England as the sun moves around the globe. That’s an astronomically unsound statement, but I’m sure you get the gist of it.
As above, here are some bullet pointed bad boys gracing our fridges from the vegetable kingdom.
- Forced rhubarb from the Yorkshire Triangle
- A bevy of fancy adult beets
- A vast range of unusual roots which I have been detailing throughout the winter
- AOC sand carrots
- Foraged alexanders
- Romanesco
- Sea purslane
- Wild cabbage
As usual, this is just a small selection of what we have on offer. Call in on 020 7498 5397 to speak to the team about what other treats we have in store for you today. Visit the website here.
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