The summer is in full swing now and there really is no better time for fresh produce.
Fruit really dominates at the moment and stone fruit in particular. Peaches, nectarines and apricots are all at their best now. Our particular favourites are the flat peaches also know as doughnut or saturnpeaches, superbly flavoured and full of juice (pretty easy to eat too!). White and blood varieties are also nice alternatives. For those who like their fruit less furry, nectarines and flat nectarines are a good bet. Cherries and plums are also looking great. Best of all are our French greengages which have just started to arrive, certainly the highlight of the month for me!
English strawberries and raspberries, predominately coming from Essex and Kent are full of flavour. Blueberries, currants (red white and black) are all locally grown now and prices are reasonable. Gooseberries are also in season never as popular as i think they should be.
Our charentais melons from Italy are a better bet than the galia or cantaloupe at the moment . Watermelons are just superb.
Moving on to the veg, the British asparagus season is now over, back to the peruvian ones now I’m afraid. Purple sprouting broccoli has now reappeared from its break which is just as well as there are problems with the quality of normal broccoli. As a result its price and the price of its cousin cauliflower has gone sky high. Kale, tender stem broccoli, spring greens are all great alternatives. English peas, broad beans and bobby beans are also now available.
This year one of our most popular lines has been our heritage tomatoes – they continue to be popular and come in a variety of box sizes to suit. Our favourite tomatoes this month are the coeur de boeuf, yellow baby plum and the italian datterini on the vine (surely the sweetest tomato ever).
Rainbow carrots, rainbow chard and rainbow radishes add some colour to your plate. Yellow and white courgettes will be available all this month. English samphire season has started and is available at 48 hours notice. Scottish girolle mushrooms have now started to come through too.
Best value of all is fresh corn on the cob really fresh and sweet and cheap as chips.
UK salads like lollorosso, biondo and oak leaf have been disappointing this year and as such we have moved back to the French crop. We also have a new mescaline mix in stock which has a greater variety of mix in it than our normal baby leaf.
We now stock a wide range of dry goods too – olive oils , all types of vinegar, tinned tomatoes, olives, all types of nuts both shelled or with shell still on, dried fruit, tinned pulses (cannellini, borlotti, butter beans,lentils,chickpeas to name a few), puy lentils, rice (carnaroli and arborio), capers and gherkins.
Also we are now selling English free range eggs from a local farm – but more on that next month!
Don’t forget we have a bank holiday on the 25th August.
Happy holidays!!!