Market Report - UK seasonal update 30 November 2015

Last week's market report from Wild Harvest features Italian subterranean fungi, Portuguese girolles, Medlars and candy and golden beets as well as a whole host of other fruit and vegetables currently in season which you can see below:

Wild Mushrooms & Truffles

Winter truffles (Tuber Melanosporum) have arrived and when right, the nose have just started, so they will improve every week well into 2016.

First to our doors are the Italian subterranean fungi, but the Perigord region of France is due to kick off in a matter of days.

White truffles continue, and it’s the time of year that Chinese truffles can be bought fresh (with little advantage over the convenient frozen product).

Due to a mild start to winter, Autumnal mushrooms are still strong and affordable.

Here are some others coming from Portugal or Bulgaria:-

• Yellow & grey legged chanterelle


• Pied de mouton


• Trompette

There's also some American and occasionally Portuguese girolle if you’re happy to stretch the concept of seasonality.

Fruits

I have just eaten the most perfect comice pear from the Wild Harvest fruit bowl. Hands down the
most amazing fruit I have eaten in 2015. My appetite was stirred so I washed it down with some excellent chocolate buttons. The flavour combination got me thinking of one of my favourite desserts. Escoffier’s Poire Belle Helene.

Medlars are available and perfect for jellies once "bletted" or rotten down a little.

Here’s a list of some of the other fruits that are also good this time of year:-

• Lychees


• Finger limes


• Buddha’s hand


• Clementines


• Cox apples


• Muscat grapes


• Comice pears


• Quince


• Cranberries

Vegetables

The luxurious radicchio tardivo is now available. This elegant bitter leaf hails from the Treviso area of Italy and in it’s late form provides both complex bitter notes and stunning structure.

Brussel sprouts and Jerusalem artichokes are also in great shape.

We may be facing dropping temperatures, but the range of European roots and shoots available is so strong, the list below represents only a slice of the selection:-

• Crosnes


• Candy & golden beets


• Coloured kales & chards


• A range of exotic radishes


• Chervil & parsley roots


• Punterella & cima di rapa


• Sea aster & purslane


• Capucine tubereuse


• Salsify

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. Visit the website here.