Market Report - UK Seasonal update 8 October 2013

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Hello chefs Here’s a quick run down of some seasonal lines in great shape this week. Wild Mushrooms We are more or less in peak season.

Cep - France and Romania are having stronger seasons and prices are lower, but we are seeing some infestation from these sources so we are currently paying a premium for Polish Boletus Edulis.
Giant Puffballs - Importing from Belgium. Quality is excellent.
Chanterelle Gris - Sweden
Chanterelle Jaune - Spain and Scotland
Trompette - Croatia
Girolles - Russia
Pied de Mouton - France and Scotland

We are being offered small amounts of Mousseron, Parasol, Cauliflower Fungus and Saffron Milk Cap, but not enough to set a menu by. Truffles Autumn and winter whites are both coming from Italy. The nose on the whites will improve, but are certainly risotto worthy now. Fruit

Comice pears are now good enough to sit alongside Abate, William, Nashi, Conference and Grand Champions in our offering.
Excellent UK apple varieties are also opening up with Russet and Cox in good supply, as are crab apples.
Grapes are at their best. Alongside our year round seedless lines we are proud to offer strawberry grapes from Italy, and Muscat and Chasselas Moissac from France.
We are now toying with clementines, but it needs to be thermal underwear time before we get incendiary around citrus.
Sloes are around, so go buy your bottle of gin. Unless you’re wise enough to be sitting on a constantly stocked supply.
Turkish black figs win 1st place for value. Good enough to be considered a luxury, yet abundant enough to keep prices keen.
Talking of Turkey, quince is also in excellent shape and provides a complex

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flavour born to romance a plate of autumnal treats.

Heaps more on offer, but to quote my better half “Where would you leave it?” Vegetables

Beets a-plenty. If you haven’t tried a crapaudine beet yet do yourself a favour and order one. As ugly as a toad (sorry amphibian fans) hence the French name. With less earthiness than a basic purple beet this ancient variety responds well to baking in a protective jacket.
We continue to increase our squash offering. From a basic courgette, to the highly-prized spaghetti squash and back again with a couple of diversions on the way home.
Even though the mighty iron bar pumpkin eats much better, we will be sorting out lantern friendly varieties for Halloween. Buy early to avoid the unpleasant scramble towards the end of the month.
For chefs looking for a point of difference, crosnes (aka Japanese artichokes) have now started, and we have some peculiar piquant radish pods from Scotland to play with.

Recent updates have waxed lyrical about our radish, foraged and brassica offering so I won’t flog a dead horse in this particular culinary cul-de-sac. (Nasty mixed metaphor. Sorry, early start this morning.)

Game I fully expect that we will be offering long-legged Scottish pheasant by the end of this week. As always we give the official start of the season a two week breathing space for the birds to plump up and volumes to get interesting. A fantastic value wild treat to add to our extensive and increasingly popular game offering. As usual, this is just a taster of what’s on offer. Call in on 020 7498 5397 to find out what other delights have come in overnight.

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