Today our buyer gives us the low-down on what’s happening with produce at New Covent Garden Market this week. We’ve found that weather conditions across England and Europe have caused some issues with availability. So how has this affected Fruit and Veg? What should you add to your orders, and what do you need to watch?
Vegetables
Good
English cauliflowers have seen a reduction in price and remain good quality, although our buyer prefers the Belgium and Dutch cauliflowers.
English root vegetables remain steady in price and quality.
Some smaller green vegetables remain steady in price and quality, such as extra fine bean; fine bean; sugar snap; and mangetout. These all come from Kenya.
Onions (Spanish, Italian and French) are of a good quality and we should now start to see the firmer skinned Spanish onions arriving. Prices remain stable.
Improved
As you probably know, courgettes were having a particularly difficult time in January this year, with many people complaining of shortages and inflated prices. Thankfully, the courgette issue has now stabilised to a price nearer to what we are used to. Alongside this we have seen good quality aubergine available.
Asparagus has dropped in price by a good margin, so it’s a good idea to add these to your orders now.
Tomatoes are another product that have seen difficult times over the last few months both in availability and cost, but this seems to have levelled out a little, although prices remain very strong.
Coming to an end
The season for English kale is now drawing to a close, and we are seeing less and less available at market.
Struggling
All English potatoes are still commanding a premium price due to poor growing conditions over the later part of last year.
Salads have had a difficult time due to the poor weather conditions mentioned above, but this seems to be easing a little in terms of supply; nevertheless prices remain high.
Fruit
Good
Nardacotes are still our favourite tangerine, and they are now being sent in with the leaf attached, which is a great alternative for our customers who display fruits.
European apples are as usual both plentiful and of a good standard along with a very steady price.
Grapes have remained of a high standard and there are some fantastic new varieties available, such as arra15 (white) and sheengene (red). Both pictured below.
Plums remain consistant, and South Africa has produced some very good fruit along with peaches and nectarines (more about peaches and nectarines below).
Improved
Soft fruit, like berries, remain very fidgety price-wise, but quality seems to have been restored to a very good standard.
Coming to an end
Sadly we can report that satsuma, variety Queen, is now coming to an end (pity, as our buyer likes this product!)
Unfortunately English apples are now finished for the season, so why not try a different variety?
Struggling
Lemons still remain high in price, and in our opinion the quality is very average, despite all our efforts to supply a quality product.
Unfortunately the peach and nectarine supply remains inconsistent both in appearence and quality. This is partly due to them coming from Chile. At the time of writing, peaches remain out of stock.
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