-
NEW!
• Side Hill Citrus Satsumas
• Crimson Gold Crab Apple
• Chestnuts
• Covilli Zucchini is here!
• Covilli Green Beans (Monday)
• Montecucco Rutabaga (Monday)
• Chopped and Peeled Butternut in Retail and Food Service Packs
• California Navels
• Red Anjou Pears -
COMING SOON
• Anna’s Red Napa Cabbage
-
BACK IN STOCK
• Star Ruby Grapefruit
• Quince (PNW) -
TIGHT INVENTORY
• Roma Tomatoes
• Green Leaf, Red Leaf, Romaine, and Iceberg Lettuce
• Broccoli
• Crimini Mushrooms
• Hot Peppers -
gapping
• Red Grape Tomatoes
• Red and Green Little Gem Lettuce -
WINDING DOWN
• Fresh Jujubes
• HGO Hachiyas
• California Keitts
• Tutti Frutti Mixed Heirlooms -
finished
• Figs
BUYER’S NOTES
Updated October 30, 2022
FRUIT
Even though California still feels like it’s summertime, the changes in seasonal produce are telling us that fall is here. Stonefruit has said goodbye until next summer and a variety of Hard Squash, Sugar Pie and Jack O’Lanterns are everywhere. Wonderful Red California grown Pomegranates are in full swing and beautiful plump Biodynamic Cranberries from Wisconsin are here. Read all about Cranberries in our Vegucation highlight.
Winter Citrus kicks off with Side Hill Citrus Satsumas arriving this weekend! California Valencia Oranges are your best bet now for juicing and will be around for another week or two depending on supply, demand and the weather. Even though California Navel Oranges start up in late October we recommend eating when the flavor is great, which happens around the holiday season. Navels are best eaten out of hand and should only be juiced if enjoyed immediately because of the bitter compound Limonin found in the white pith.
A new crop of Lemons is now coming out of the desert and looking beautiful! We can look forward to the volume coming on a little stronger as prices have already declined.
Ruby Grapefruits are back from RVO. Rio Red are starting up out of desert with Flames not far behind.
The Fig season is finished. Thank you for your support!
Specialty Grapes are done for the season, but we can continue to enjoy green, red and black seedless varieties up to the Thanksgiving holiday.
The small, cute pop-able Kiwi Berries are done but we can look forward to the transition from import Kiwis to California grown kiwis in the next few weeks.
Super sweet and smooth fleshed California Keitt Mangos are winding down. Large sized 5ct fruit is a wonderful value. Grab them while you can. The Ecuadorian season starts up in early November with the small kidney shaped Ataulfos, followed by Tommy Atkins and Kent varieties.
Thanksgiving is just around the corner and it’s time to ditch that canned cranberry jelly. Learn how to make an easy delicious homemade organic cranberry sauce with satsuma juice in under 30 minutes, and discover how cranberries are grown and harvested in our Vegucation Cranberry blog.
Pomegranates
Fuyu Persimmons
Side Hill Citrus Satsumas herald in the citrus season
APPLES
Club Apples are coming around. Smitten is done. Nice representation with Jazz, Envy and SugarBee. California Cuyama Fujis are delicious and in a variety of sizes and grades. Don’t miss Cuyama snack size Lady Apples-Fuji, Gala and Granny Smith. New! Crimson Gold Crab Apple.
AVOCADOS
California season is done with the last of Traceland wrapping up.
BANANAS
The dry season in Mexico means you won’t be seeing paraffin wraps on the crowns (used to prevent crown rot) – but we will continue to see the wrap on fruit from Ecuador.
BERRIES
Blackberries: Small amounts of Mexican fruit to supplement Tomatero, as production starts to slow.
Blueberries: Forbidden Fruit Orchards slow to start. Will peak at end of December, beginning of January. Look to Greenbelle/MX for Thanksgiving promotions.
Strawberries: Fruit is transitioning down to Santa Maria growing region and we will continue to see CWP and Martinez Strawberries. The fruit has been affected by cold and lack of sunlight and the color and flavor is seasonally appropriate. Waiting for the Baja region to start up.
Raspberries: Fresh Kampo/MX has good flavor and color.
citrus
Side Hill Satsumas herald in the citrus season with smaller sizes to start. Promotable volumes in a few weeks.
Grapefruit is back with Star Ruby and Rio Red, Flames coming soon. Valencias will go for another week with early Navels starting up. Read more in the Fruit market update.
Lemons out of Mexico will have plenty of volume through December. California will be coming on in a bigger way.
fall
Pomegranates in promotable volume through the holiday. Eco Grade are a value forward offering - expect light color, some cosmetic defects, and no quality issues. Fuyu Persimmons will be bountiful for another 4-5 weeks. Hachiyas are winding down.
grapes
Red, Green and Black Seedless Grapes through Thanksgiving. Then green and black will be done and red seedless grapes will carry us through Christmas.
kiwi
New Zealand Green Kiwis are done. New Zealand Gold Kiwis for another few weeks. California will start in 1-2 weeks. We may see a smaller bagged green California Kiwi to fill in the gap. The California kiwi season is going to be very short and tight this year. Late frosts in April damaged blooms heavily and growers are seeing yields down 40-60% from last season.
melons
Cantaloupes gapping for another 1-2 weeks while the sugars continue to develop. Large sized Watermelons are back this week. Honeydew is now coming from Mexico.
nuts
The holidays are coming. It is time to bake and entertain. Don’t miss our nut category with Bulk Almonds, Bulk Halves/Pieces and Whole Walnuts and Bagged Pistachios in shell. NEW! Chestnuts arrive just in time to kick off the week. Sweet and meaty, chestnuts are a fall favorite. Look for our blog this week on tips to cooking and eating chestnuts.
pears
Warren Pears are done. Grab the last of this delicious pear. NEW Red Anjou have a stunning, deep red color.
raisins
Did you know that dried black raisins are the largest and plumpest raisins? Fantastic for snacking as well as baking. Red, Black and Green Raisin Canisters from Sunview are delicious and available in 12/15oz cans. Vacuum packed canisters offer a long shelf life.
tropicals
We will see a quick shot of Covilli Pineapple. Dole Fair Trade Pineapples will be consistent. California Keitt Mangos are not done yet! The larger 5ct is a great deal with limited inventory. Look for 9ct Keitts to continue for another week or two. Yellow Dragon Fruit (Ecuador) has great flavor. New! Tommy Atkins Mangos (Ecuador) arrive Monday. Formosa Papayas are back in house along with Intennza Papayas.
VEGETABLES
We are on the cusp of transition time with daylight savings time a little over a week away. Days are shorter and there is less sunlight time which leads to less time in the field to harvest. In November many growers will transition their full operation from the Central Coast down to the desert. Stay tuned for a transition update.
We’re facing some significant tight inventories. The INSV virus is affecting just about all Lettuce growers, leading to high prices that could last through the Holidays.
Update from Lakeside Organic: Green Leaf, Red Leaf, Romaine, and Iceberg grown organically and conventionally has been hit hard by INSV. This disease is causing us to lose up to 60% of our lettuce crops in the field. This is affecting conventional as well as organic, creating a large gap in supply. The increasing demand and lack of supplies has caused prices to sky rocket on these items. In many cases, at these high prices, shippers are sold out and cannot fill orders. It is important to note even at these high prices most shippers including ourselves, will struggle to break even on our lettuce this season. These high prices will not make up for the monetary loses we are facing on the farm due to INSV. I want you to know, we here at Lakeside will do all we can to keep our regular lettuce customers in supply to the best of our ability at market pricing. The markets are expected to climb as we get deeper into the holiday season. Please be aware that pro rates, price changes, and flat-out cuts are possible at any time due to this act of God. Unfortunately, we don’t see this getting any better until we transition to the desert around December 1st. Hang in there, we will get through this together.
It’s a tough time of year for Broccoli: with stressed fields & quality issues, Crowns are all but unavailable, with limited Bunches to fill the demand. Extreme weather in Mexico took a toll on Green Onion supplies, and a heavier reliance on California growers means prices remain high. Canadian Crimini Mushroom shippers continue to recover from the heat wave a few weeks back, while demand is picking up with colder weather here in California. Expect supplies to be tight through the holidays. Roma Tomatoes are very tight as the bulk of production transitions to Sonora – lean on Cluster and Slicer Tomatoes to fill your needs. In better news, we have our sights set on Thanksgiving! Gorgeous Roots are rolling in from Ralph’s and Montecucco: think Parsnips, Turnips, Beets & Carrots, with Rutabaga arriving Monday. Onions and Potatoes are showing excellent quality & a great supply means competitive pricing through the end of the year. Set it and forget it! Get your customers excited about Sweet Potato and Hard Squash varieties by downloading Earl’s Guides.
Anna’s Red Napa Cabbage
this week!
Anna’s Watermelon Gherkins
Anna’s Watermelon Radish
asparagus
Keeping it tight with an eye on quality, but supply is steady.
bunched beets
Ralph’s Bunched Red Beets are done. Tomatero coming on to compliment Sun Valley Bunched Beets. Terra Firma Bunched Gold Beets.
varietal beans
Small amounts of Specialty Beans still available but keeping it tight. We expect a smooth transition to Covilli in early November!
Broccoli
The market is still extremely tight – prices are high due to lack of supply. Securing all the product possible from Josie’s and other growers. Crowns inventory is looking better.
sweet baby Broccoli
Tomatero gapping for 1-2 weeks and then will return with volume through Thanksgiving.
brussels sprouts
Bagged Brussels return (Monday). Good volume on bagged and bulk for Thanksgiving.
cabbage
Green and Red inventory has tightened up significantly. Anna’s is coming on with a good supply in green and red to carry us through the winter. Coming soon from Anna’s, gorgeous Red Napa Cabbage.
carrots
Sunrise Bunched Nantes are super sweet! Don’t miss Sunrise’s beautiful, Bunched Rainbow Carrots. Cal-O Table and Clip Top Carrots are tight. We will see some relief when the desert crop starts mid-November.
cauliflower
Sun Valley Orange and Purple add a wonderful burst of color to your display.
romanesco
Steady supply from Lakeside this week, alongside Sun Valley!
celery
Prices are rising as demand increases leading up to Thanksgiving.
cucumbers
Anna’s Watermelon Gherkins are crisp and crunchy and are delicious in salads, salsas, aqua fresca and make a great snack!
eggplant
Anna’s plants are seeing slower production as daylight hours decrease. Ricos/MX is starting with good volume. We will have some Graffiti as well.
greens
A bit of scarcity from Tomatero and Sun Valley until they move into new blocks this week and then it will be smooth sailing.
herbs
Seeing some mildew on Basil due to fluctuating temperatures on the central coast. Look to more product coming out of Mexico.
lettuce
Mixed, Green and Red Salanova from Sunrise is back. Red Butter demand spiked with limited Red Leaf supply. Limited Lakeside Red Leaf with high prices. Green Leaf and Romaine good supply. Josie’s done out of Salinas for the rest of the season and will transition to the desert in mid-November. Expect high prices until then. Lakeside Lettuce update under Veg Market Update.
leeks
Lakeside Leeks are done. Ralph’s (WA) has good supply on gorgeous Leeks with long white shanks.
mushrooms
Tight out of Canada due to the heat spell a month ago compounded with increased demand. Criminis are historically tight as we head into Thanksgiving. Download our mushroom guides and generate excitement for other delicious varieties this holiday season.
bell peppers
Tutti Frutti and Sunrise (Santa Barbara County) have started with Green Bells.
onions
Peri & Son’s compostable Earth Bags for Onions looking to start the end of this month! A great, environment-smart solution for our bagged onion customers.
Extreme weather patterns in Mexico caused a very limited supply of Green Onions, putting a strain on California’s growers. Prices set to remain high for now.
potatoes
Bouchey Fingerlings are done. Tasteful Selections will be the only vendor with Bagged Fingerlings. No Bulk Fingerlings available.
radishes
Flush in product from Tomatero and Anna’s.
roots
Montecucco Rutabaga (Monday).
summer squash
Tomatero Zucchini wrapping up soon. Covilli has started their Zucchini program. Will continue to bring in California when available.
sweet potatoes
Holiday pricing is on the way, starting early November! Download the Sweet Potato Guide.
tomatoes
Covilli (MX) is starting to flutter up and Tutti Frutti (Buellton) is slowing down with wonderful flavor and color. Overall tomato pricing is going up with limited volume and high demand.
winter squash
Tutti Frutti is wrapping up much sooner than later by the second week of November. Dwelley supplies will be strong.
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VEGUCATION CORNER
