Seasonal Recipes

We are looking for seasonal recipes to add to our site. Go to link if you think you can help. Thanks!

October 2010 – Market Report

pumpkins and squashes in a basket

October is upon us and unusually for this time of year prices have remained fairly stable. Asparagus is back down to its normal prices and lemons are also falling in price daily.

There is a large choice of english apples to choose from now (too many to mention!), the most popular being coxes and royal gala. Those wonderfull piper wrapped pears we had last year are back in stock. Choose either comice or conference both really tasty and sweet.

Peaches and nectarines continue to be good quality and the italian plums (red and yellow) although not overly sweet are great value. Spanish okitua satsumas have arrived and are not too sharp and are proving very popular with the children at the schools we deliver to.

All our berry fruit (raspberriesstrawberriesblueberriesblackberries and redcurrants) are still fairly well priced and in good condition.

Celeriacparsnipsturnips and swedes are all improving in flavour and price and French jerusalemartichokes have arrived in great condition with the smaller English variety to follow shortly. Beetroot is also best now with the candy and golden varieties making a nice change. Brusseltops are a seasonal treat well worth trying – strip the leaves from the stalk, wash and cook in a steamer for a few minutes, drain, toss in butter and season to taste – as are the newly-arrived turniptops (cimadirappa), which are one of my favorite greensPurplesproutingbroccoli and curlykale are all good buys.

We have various coloured carrots in stock at the moment with yellow, blood, purple and rainbow accompanying our more usual English orange variety. Did you know that the carrot eaten in Engand was originally purple until the Dutch popularised the orange variety in keeping with their national colours.

Salads have remained of a high quality and we have now moved from english and dutch tomatoes to spanish without any problems.

Seasonal chestnutsquinces, kaki (persimmons) and cronses are all now available along with a wide variety of pumpkins and squashes.

Finally, here are a few dates for this month’s diary: its Apple day on October 21, British summer time ends on October 31 and the clocks go back an hour. October 31 is also Halloween so dont forget to order your pumpkins in plenty of time.