freshPress News That Is As Fresh As Our Produce Top October 24th, 2014 Five BROCCOLI & ALERT! CAULIFLOWER ALERT! Supplies are tight and quality is fair. BUSH BERRIES ALERT! Quality is being affected by weather damage. GARLIC ALERT! Demand is very strong due to the lack of Chinese Garlic available in the market place for some suppliers. MELON–HONEYDEW & CANTALOUPE ALERT! Supplies are extremely tight for honeydew and cantaloupe. TOMATOES ALERT! Supplies will be tight for the next 4 to 6 weeks- impacting all round, roma, grape and cherry tomatoes. Brix Avg Brix: A percentage of soluble solids in fruits are almost 100% sugar, therefore refractometers are widely used to check maturity in fruits. The number will be % of solids as sucrose. HONEYDEW & CANTALOUPE 9-12% PINEAPPLE 14% Color: Gold Brix Scale Low: 8-10% | Avg: 11-13% | High: 14-17% asparagus Production is slowing down in Ica, Peru and we are seeing more seeding in the spears with lower yields. Several fields will be done in the coming weeks; new fields are coming on board as temps improve. Freight remains high. White asparagus remains very limited this week but expect some relief for the Thanksgiving pull. Production out West remains very poor and not getting better any time soon; the Baja and Obregon growing areas are experiencing quality issues and very poor yields. Some growers are reporting up to 50% reduction. avocado hass Mexico: New crop fruit will take longer to ripen with potential lenticel (spotting) damage; supplies are improving. CA is mostly done. Chile: Lower volume crop this season. bean, green Good quality with occasional bruising; no other quality issues reported. berries–black, blue & raspberry ALERT! Quality is being affected by weaker texture and occasional weather damage (where rains have occurred). Imported fruit is projected to start arriving soon. Information is subject to daily weather and market fluctuations and is meant to be used as a guide. berry–strawberry Recent early-fall heat continues to depress strawberry quality due to over ripeness, poor texture, and pin rot; continuing to transition south to Oxnard, CA. broccoli & ALERT! cauliflower Broccoli condition and quality is mostly fair with hollow core, loose bead, brown bead, and flowering. Supplies remain tight. Cauliflower quality is fair and impacted by mold, under sizing, brown spotting and discoloration. celery Good condition and quality remain overall (a southern transition is occurring); occasional dehydration and sizing issues; cooler weather will help. citrus–lemons Lemons district 3, quality is good with some occasional oil spotting and staining visible in some lots. District 1 should start up slowly within a week. citrus–limes Quality is good with some potential supply concerns due to tropical storms in Mexico. freshPress News That Is As Fresh As Our Produce October 24th, 2014 Supplies are increasing from the GA growing areas as favorable weather conditions continue this week, overall quality is good. Minimal quality issues are being reported from last week’s rains which caused some yellowing, pulled ends and scarring. The TN and GA growing areas are done. The northern FL growing area has just started up with very light supplies. Eggplant supplies and quality continue to be good from GA again this week; good volume on choice and fancy grade. grapes No major effects on quality; imported fruit should start to arrive next month. lettuce Iceberg quality fair in Salinas, mostly good in Huron with defects such as decay, bottom rot, heavy seeder, tip burn , discoloration, pinking, puffy, and mildew. White fly is very prevalent in early parts of Huron. Weights for liner avg. 44-47 lbs in Salinas and 40-41 lbs in Huron this week. Leaf quality is being affected by seeder and burn; and a transition to Huron, CA will occur over the next couple weeks. Romaine quality is being affected by ribbiness, seeder, fringe burn, and mildew; transition to Huron, CA will occur over the next couple weeks. onions The new crop for yellow onions is seeing occasional bruising, mechanical damage and misshape. Red new crop quality remains good. Please Distribute to: Executive Chef, General Manager, Kitchen Manager, Purchasing Manager, F&B Manager peppers Supplies are lighter this week, with fair to good quality being reported, GA is the main source on the East Coast as Canada is finished. Peppers will be mostly in the extra-large or choice range with other sizes mixed in until newer fields become available. The last planted pepper fields will be coming onboard within the next 5 to 7 days in GA with improved supplies and quality. squash Overall, supplies from GA continue to improve every day with favorable weather conditions. More zucchini are available than yellow squash, with more scarring issues in the yellow squash. Expect supplies and quality to improve in the next 3 to 7 days from GA. Crookneck squash continues to be limited again this week. North FL has started up, and supplies are expected to improve moving forward. potatoes Occasional bruising is reported on new crop russets. Florida Red/ white/Yukon potatoes start up around November. tomatoes ALERT! Tomato crops are transitioning from summer growing regions into fall crops in GA, FL and Mexico. There will be a 4-6 week gap in supply due to an early freeze in western NC and eastern TN, damage caused by 3 hurricanes crossing Baja and an earlier than normal finish to Central CA growing season. For the next 4 weeks, tomatoes supplies will be tight impacting all round, roma, grape and cherry tomatoes. Information is subject to daily weather and market fluctuations and is meant to be used as a guide. Supply Asparagus Broccoli Cabbage Carrots Cauliflower Celery Corn Cucumbers Eggplant Green Beans Herbs Lettuce – Iceberg Lettuce – Fresh-Cut Lettuce – Leaf (G/R) Lettuce – Romaine Lettuce – Spring Mix Mushrooms Onions - Yellow Onions - Red Onions – Green Peas – Snow ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● FRUIT Apples Avocado, Hass Bananas (CR/HN) Bananas (GU) Berries – Blackberries Berries - Blueberries Berries – Raspberries Berries – Strawberries Citrus - Grapefruit Citrus – Lemons Citrus – Limes Citrus – Oranges Grapes Kiwifruit Melon – (C/H) Melons Watermelon Pears Pineapple ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● LOW DECREASING AVG INCREASING HIGH ● Peppers – Chiles Peppers – (G/R/Y) Potatoes – Russet Potatoes (R/W/Yuk) Potatoes – Yams Spinach Squash – Yellow Squash – Zucchini Tomatoes Price LOW VEGETABLES DECREASING Cantaloupes are very tight, quality is fair and sugars are 9%. Honeydews are also tight with quality reported as good; sugars 12-14%. Both are coming from AZ and Mexico. Reality Check AVG cucumber & eggplant melon–honeydew & cantaloupe ALERT! INCREASING The remaining Valencia's quality is mostly fair to poor, with the CA crop just about done. Fukomoto Navels starting with minimal product packing this week but increasing. HIGH citrus–oranges
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