Market Report - UK seasonal update 20 June 2016
This week's market report from Wild Harvest features borlotti beans, purple cauliflowers, yellow beans as well as a whole host of other fruit and vegetables currently in season which you can see below:
Wild Mushrooms & Truffles
Bulgaria currently owns girolle supply, but their crop is now mature and therefore small sizes are hard to come by.
Pretty soon we will see the travelling girolle show move from the Balkans to the Baltics, and finally to Russia and Belarus.
It’s these shifts which provide the smaller mushrooms.
We traditionally see (my favourite) Scottish girolles mid July.
Summer truffles are in glorious abundance. Prices are so keen you can grate truffle onto things as you would parmesan now.
Fruits
We are poised to lighten up on gariguette supply as English strawberries have almost seen enough sun to unleash the beast.
Stone fruits improve every day. French cherries are currently outstanding.
Spanish figs are around, but for me figs are like grapes and should be enjoyed at the end of the summer.
Enough old fashioned seasonal snobbery, here’s a list of some fruits to give a hoot about:-
- Flat peaches
- White & yellow peaches
- Nectarines
- Gariguette strawberries
- Apricots
- Cherries
- Charentais melons
- Some early gooseberry action
- Tomatoes in a dizzying array of shapes and colours
Vegetables
You could add to a pickle to sit alongside a golden or candy beetroot, or roast with parmesan and lemon juice to concentrate flavour.
Or why not treat them as grandma would and boil the colour, flavour and texture off them to put your descendents off vegetables for life?
Fresh beans are now coming through nicely. Borlotti, yellow beans and the AOC protected coco di Paimpol have hit the markets on both sides of La Manche.
Whilst we may not be up for a fully fledged cassoulet in June with modern sedate lifestyles, fresh pulses can add substance to salads/soups and act as the base for amazing purees.
Enough ideas from an amateur cook, here’s a list of some other great spring/summer vegetables:-
- Jersey royal spuds
- Peas & broad beans
- Sea aster
- Sweet cicely
- The humble runner bean
- Adult and baby artichokes
- Round and yellow courgettes
- Multicoloured radishes
- A wide range of Europe’s favourite and less well known salad leaves
For those who didn’t make Taste of London this year here’s a neat summary of the grub 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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