This week's market report from Wild Harvest features monk's beard, forced Yorkshire rhubarb and Seville oranges as well as a whole host of other fruit and vegetables currently in season which you can see below:
Wild Mushrooms and Truffles
Abundant crops of wild mushrooms in Portugal are keeping prices low and thankfully take air freight out of the picture.
Quality is high for:
- Yellow legged chanterelle
- Grey legged chanterelle
- Pied de mouton
- Trompette
There are still scraps of white truffles around, but rather than risk disappointment we take a grateful bow out of what was an incredibly long and stable season this year.
Winter truffle prices are falling from both Perigord and Italy, and the quality is good.
Fruits
The limited Seville orange season is up and running, this normally ends in February.
The natural bitter notes provided by this citrus fruit allow liberal use of sugar without “sweet” being the dominant taste sensation. In fact the mighty marmalades, ice creams and sorbets made from this little seasonal gem first scream fruit, then leave you with a refreshing savoury tang.
It is all about citrus now as apples and pears start to fade.
Here’s a simple list of other citrus fruit in fine form:
- Blood oranges
- Cranberries
- Bergamot oranges
- Buddhas hand
- Clementines
- Unwaxed leafy lemons
- Finger limes
- Kumquats
- Honey pomelos
- Keffir limes
And a wide variety of more cost conscious every day citrus.
Vegetables
Monks beard, aka agretti is flowing nicely. Originally a wild crop whose tolerance of salinity allowed growth by salt beds, these fine green strands give a crisp iodine addition to pasta and fish dishes.
Forced
Yorkshire rhubarb is another seasonal star now in good supply. I have stolen peoples time rambling on about it’s history and character in previous years. One year I was even brave enough to explain the term “Night Soil”. This year I won’t ruin your eyesight other than saying it is one of the crops we should be truly proud of in the UK, and Wild Harvest sell the real deal.
Here are just a few other vegetables you can enjoy in January:
- Yellow and candy beets
- Yellow and purple carrots
- Jerusalem artichokes and it’s milder mannered helianthes cousin
- Crosnes
- Punterella
- Cima di rapa
- Parsley & chervil roots
- Wild alexanders
- Mixed coloured kale
- Purple sprouting broccoli
Peruvian flavour
The recent video shoot from one of our precious customers has spurred me to detail some specialist lines we carry from Peruvian cuisine. This bear loved marmalade too, so we have a Seville orange tie-in to boot!
In my humble opinion if there was one fine dining food trend which dominated 2014, it was the presence of food once the exclusive domain of health food stores on the plates of the nations top tables. Many of the lines listed below borrowed from the food culture of Peru also have significant nutritional benefits.
- Red, black and white quinoa
- Oca tuber
- Capucine tuber
- Yacon tuber
- Dragon fruit
- Cactus lime puree
- Alto el sol chocolate
You will find the video mentioned above shot with head chef Robert Ortiz from Lima Floral below.
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.
