Greetings Food Lovers!

The Klein Family and our Staff, wish you the best of 2012. May you remain healthy, employed and enjoy what you do!

If you have any special desires, please let us know. We would love to help!

As the world turns, winter has been mild, but that is not without challenges for our growers and shipper. Let’s hope that our food sources remain frost free.

Produce Talk

Lettuce

The lettuce market remains soft as the combination of relatively weak demand and good weather growing conditions have kept pricing low. There are many New Year diet

resolutions out there, coupled with good pricing, which makes for an excellent time to

enjoy, especially iceberg lettuce.

Please keep in mind that overall quality is good, but you will see epidermal peel on some iceberg and romaine. This resulted from the frost over the past two weeks or so.

Romaine Hearts

Romaine heart supplies are steady. There will be some epidermal peel on product due to the frost over the past 2 weeks or so.

Brussels Sprouts

You can’t be neutral on these healthy gems. The Brussels sprouts market is a little

softer due to weak post-holiday demand. Pricing is still high, but will certainly be lower by next week

.

Broccoli and Cauliflower

The quality on Western broccoli crowns is very good and you can expect lower pricing next week. However, the quality on Eastern crowns is very good as well and the price cannot be beat. It’s a good time to enjoy Eastern broccoli crowns! The cauliflower market and pricing remains steady. Check out our supply of green and orange cauliflower, they have a sweeter taste.

Asparagus

The unusual cold weather in Mexico has really affected the asparagus crop. Supplies are extremely tight, with most shippers having little to no product available this week. With the dramatic shortage in supply, the market is unstable and prices are jumping very high. We hope to have better supplies available next week. Peruvian supplies also remain limited. Normally, Mexico has great supplies at this time of year, so Peru is

not planning on heavy pull to the U.S.

Green Beans

Green beans are in steady supply; however last week we experienced extremely cold weather in Florida. Temperatures were very cold as far South as Belle Glade. This may have an immediate impact on the green bean crop. Homestead, Florida areas should have escaped from this weather, but volumes are much lighter in the South. Look for the bean market to jump significantly if the crops in Belle Glade were affected by the cold.

Snow and Snap Peas

Mexican supplies remain very limited due to the cold weather. Guatemalan supplies are expected to remain steady. Prices will remain steady as well. Snow peas make

a great item to enjoy, even with higher prices.

Green Bell Peppers

Green peppers remain steady this week. Growers in Florida have picked significant

volumes prior to the potential freeze so that they do not lose their crops. It will be a couple of days until anyone knows the true effects of the cold, but it is most likely this pepper market will remain steady. Many growers are situated along the Gulf Coast, which has a tendency to allow warm air to settle in and help keep the field temperatures up. We hope this is the case through this cold weather.

Colored Bell Peppers

All colored bell peppers remain extremely tight. Cool weather in Florida and Mexico has slowed production. Growers in Mexico anticipate good volume to be available later this week.

Cucumbers

Most growers are now finished with the Florida crop of cucumbers, but Honduras has now started harvesting. Therefore, look for steady supplies to begin arriving from Honduras along with good volume of Mexican supplies still crossing. Quality from both areas has been very nice.

Tomatoes

Vine ripe tomatoes will be in good supply this week.  Pricing will be very reasonable and

quality is superb, considering that they grow the product for transport, so they hold up well.

Roma tomatoes seem to be in better supply than expected after the Christmas and New Years’ holiday. The market is very reasonable right now and volumes look to only increase out of Mexico as the winter season gets underway.

Grape and cherry tomatoes remain in excellent supply from Florida and quality has been excellent.

Hot House and on the vine tomatoes remain in short supply. Growers in Mexico are not expected to have increased volumes for another few weeks.

Blueberries

Prices are probably at their most promotable level of the winter season this week and into the next. January is the time to eat as large amounts of fruit have now arrived from Chile. Look for prices to slowly increase in the coming weeks as shippers move through inventories.

Strawberries

This week prices will be a few dollars higher per case for Florida strawberries due to the recent freeze. The extremely low prices we experienced over the past two weeks are over-for now. The freeze is not expected to have significant, long term effects as warmer weather will return to Florida by the weekend.

Grapes

We will make the transition from California red seedless grapes to Chilean grapes this week. The markets are beginning to settle and prices are decreasing. However, quality is a huge factor in pricing as some shippers are trying to move out the last of their lots of Californian fruit. Expect as much as $10 per case difference from medium-sized to extra large to jumbo.

Coloring is good on all varieties. The white grape market is similar to reds, but there is a wide range in pricing from grower to grower-due to color and size, which is causing a price difference of about $2 per case.

Stone Fruit

The supply on peaches and nectarines is good with pricing varying according to size and whether the fruit is conventional or tree ripe. This week plums are limited

with only a few red plums, Sapphire, available and prices are strong. The next vessel will have more plums and prices should come off by the end of the week. Cherries

have been a little bit of a challenge because of quality. Most of the fruit on the last vessel was showing some pitting and bruising. At this point, growers are waiting to

see the quality of next arrival.

Pears

The Bartlett pear market is on its way up. Some growers are finished and those with rooms have yet to be opened are starting to push the price up. Prices are rising as much as $4-5 per case. Anjou pears remained the same with a little flexibility in price on larger sizes.

Have a fruitful week

Eat This Now

Florida Strawberries, Cucumbers, Cameo Apples, Iceberg Lettuce, Organic Navel Oranges

Florida Strawberries

VALUE PRICED

Great news… affordable Strawberries are back! Top your cereal and yogurt. Color up your fruit salads and greens salads. Or simply snack away on this healthy red berry! Just about everybody loves fresh Strawberries, but folks really get excited when it doesn’t cost ‘em an arm and a leg to buy a pack or two. Hey, they’ll go great with all of the delicious Blueberries available right now!

So far, the weather in Florida berry growing areas has been very nice – creating a bumper crop of Strawberries. A bumper crop drives prices down quickly and this is the week to take advantage of that. The berries are running a little small in size and they aren’t exactly the best looking you’ll see all year either. But… for the money… they’ll do just fine! The fruit is fairly firm and tastes decent too. Enjoy the advertised prices and in-store specials you’re likely to find where you shop this week, because you never know this time of year – a cold spell or over-night freeze could raise prices and weaken quality in a matter of days.

2. Cucumbers:

PEAK SEASON | VALUE PRICED

Chill out with Cucumbers this week to help you get the new year off to a healthy start. Mild flavored, crisp and juicy Seedless Cucumbers – the wrapped, long ones that are grown in greenhouses – are value priced this month. I love this variety since the skin is tender and doesn’t need to be peeled, plus there are no tough seeds.

Regular field-grown Cucumbers from Florida, Mexico and Honduras are also in peak winter production and they are quite flavorful. Peeling some or all of the skin removes bitterness, leaving only true Cucumber flavor. What’s your favorite way to use Cucumbers?

Note: Organic Cucumbers, however, are quite expensive and in short supply this month due to limited production.

3. Cameo Apples:

PEAK SEASON | BEST FLAVOR

If you love the sweetness of Red Delicious Apples, but hate the tough skin and the often mushy flesh – you’ll love Cameo Apples. They can be recognized by their dark red skin with yellow streaks. The Cameo Apple variety is firm and crunchy with tender skin, sweet and flavorful. Washington State growers have lots of high quality Organic and Conventional Cameo Apples from this fall’s harvest to sell over the winter. If you find some in January or February – give ‘em a try!

4. Iceberg Lettuce:

VALUE PRICED

Plain ‘ol Iceberg Lettuce, aka Head Lettuce (or Cello Lettuce when it is wrapped), is quite polarizing for some. One camp is entrenched in the belief that Iceberg Lettuce lacks flavor and doesn’t offer the nutritional impact that other Lettuce varieties do. Another set of folks feel that Iceberg Lettuce is crisp, crunchy, juicy and the best way to start a salad or top a sandwich. If you’re on the fence on this issue, the next couple of weeks will be a great time to do your own research since Iceberg Lettuce grown in the irrigated deserts of Yuma, AZ is plentiful and priced lower than usual.

5. Navel Oranges:

PEAK SEASON | BEST FLAVOR

Yum! Peak season  Navel Oranges from California are tasting fantastic! Juicy, sweet, seedless, packed with Vitamin C,  Navels are a great choice for the next couple of months for a variety of reasons. Supermarkets will likely offer them in 4lb bags, while health food stores and organic markets will mostly promote a variety of sizes sold loose. Best for snacking on, Navels make tasty juice, but drink it right away since it will not stay good in your fridge like the juice from Valencias.

The above information comes to us from the Produce Geek

http://producegeek.com/

Buy Smart. Shop Healthy.

Greetings Fruit Lovers…

Eat This Now for the week of 12/1/11

…..Have a fruitful week!