BUYER’S NOTES
Updated May 1, 2022
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NEW!
• Kylese Apricots (return mid-week)
• Tioga Cherries
• Honeydew and Cantaloupe (Mexico)
• Sweet Globe Green Seedless Grapes (Peru)
• Beurre Bosc Pear
• Japanese Ume - place your preorders now! -
BACK IN STOCK
• Anna’s Organic Baby Bok Choy
• Calo Easter Egg Radishes
• Intennza Papayas (Monday)
• Formosa Papayas (Late week)
• Tasteful Selection Honeygolds -
WINDING DOWN
• Cara Caras
• Blood Oranges -
COMING SOON
• Mini Seedless Watermelon Bins (Monday)
• Mexican Grapes Late May -
TIGHT INVENTORY
• Jumbo Carrots
• Belgian Endive
• Fresh Red Onions
• Red Chard
• Ginger
• Italian Parsley -
GAPPING
• Anna’s Tokyo Turnips and Red Radishes
• Calo Shredded Carrots
• Sunrise Purple Bunched Carrots
FRUIT
Longer days and warmer weather has brought on the start of the stone fruit season. Cherries started up last week out of the Central San Joaquin Valley with Coral and Royal Lynn early varieties. We have moved into the delicious Tioga Cherries and varieties will continue to change throughout the season. Have you ever noticed when you buy a bag of cherries, they are typically all a uniform size? Learn why in our Cherry Sizing Vegucation blog. Early variety Kylese Apricots started up and will return mid-week. The orange freestone flesh has a balanced acidic-sweet flavor. Only a few more weeks to wait until Peaches and Nectarines start up. Don’t miss the D.E. Boldt Stone Fruit update below. Japanese Ume are eagerly awaited each year and will return this week. Melon varieties out of Mexico are picking up with Cantaloupes, Honeydew and Mini Seedless Watermelons (bins arrive Monday!). Mexican Blackberries and Raspberries are starting to wind down. California Strawberries are picking up out of the Watsonville/Salinas growing regions. Blueberries are bountiful in 6oz clamshells as well as pints. Forbidden will go through mid-May and Homegrown will ramp up the middle of May with mostly pints and 18oz packs.
APPLES
Club Apples Cosmic Crisp, Crimson Delight, Jazz and Envy represent club apples until imports start in June.
AVOCADOS
California avocados sizing up smaller and large sizes will be tight and expensive as we roll into Cinco de Mayo week.
BANANAS
In an effort to improve upon your current Banana Program practices, we offer you some guidelines as a foundation of knowledge that pulls from decades of produce experience here at Earl’s Organic. Download Earl’s NEW Ripening and Handling and Banana Color Guides
CITRUS
Marsalisi Meyer Lemons are peaking. The last of the Blood Oranges arriving this week. Rain in the Central Valley last week delayed Fruit World’s Cara Cara harvest. Look for more to land this week with the end of the season near. Two more weeks on Navels from Rainbow Valley Orchard, steady as they go out of their Woodlake orchards. Hyde may have a few more picks on Gold Nuggets. RVO is done for the season.
GRAPES
Grapes are back after a long gap. Green Seedless Globe Grapes (Peru) have good flavor. Mexico will start up in late May, followed by California in mid-July.
PEARS
Import Bosc moving to a Beurre Bosc Pear, slightly less russetted. The Autumn Bartlett also know as the Packham, is similar in size, shape and flavor to the Bartlett but with a slightly wider base. They are an aromatic pear with sweet juicy flesh.
UME
Japanese Plums are enjoyed in numerous ways, especially as Japanese plum wine, syrup, and pickled plums. Ume are extremely tart, astringent, and bitter, therefore they are not for eating raw – they will cause you a stomachache. They are delicious salted or preserved in alcohol; or fermented into wine known as Umeshu.
STONE FRUIT
Tioga Cherries are coming out of Patterson. Dwelley is starting up in the next week or two. More on cherries under Vegucation. Kaylese Apricots will trickle in over the next week or two and we will see full production by the middle of May. Only a few more weeks to wait until Peaches and Nectarines start up.
D.E. Boldt First Look at Stone Fruit
STONE FRUIT, continued
D.E. Boldt Stone Fruit target date is the second week of May. February frosts damaged blooms on early varietals so the first few picks will be light. However, with the trees being thinned out naturally from weather we can expect larger, more flavorful fruit. Additionally, forecasts show temps reaching the mid-80s over the next 10 days which will push the sugar content higher. The best fruit is found at the top of the tree where the frost is least likely to affect.
TROPICALS
Mangos are plentiful as we head into Cinco de Mayo. Don’t miss our “How to make a flower out of a mango” Instagram Video on May 5th at 1pm! Papayas return this week.
VEGETABLES
May brings the end of Covilli warm veg as most local areas are on the verge of harvest. Look for Covilli Green Beans and Brussels Sprouts to be plentiful for Mother’s Day. There will be some tightening and small gaps but overall, we expect a smooth transition with the likes of Beans and Summer Squash. Most row crops like Broccoli and Cauliflower are stable but prices are strong. Coastal View Produce Asparagus will be solid until the end of June. Remember, Storage Onions and Potatoes are yielding to new crop this month. Keep supplies tight until the transition has passed. Lettuce and Greens are all strong, but we are seeing some aphid pressure from time to time. Something to keep an eye on and educate your staff and customers. Peppers, Cukes, Corn, and Tomatoes are all transitioning out of Mexico. Keep an eye out on the shifts. We plan to have good summer showings from Dwelley, Sun Valley, Tomatero, Sunrise, Tutti, and Wilgenburg … rounding out with Lakeside, Josie’s and Cal-O. There will also be some special appearances from Terra Firma, Comanche Creek, and Coke Farms to name a few. A great way to start the Summer!
ASPARAGUS
Coastal View Produce Asparagus, an Earl’s Exclusive, goes through July 4th. Download the POS card to highlight your display.
ARTICHOKES
More local produce coming on in a variety of sizes.
BUNCHED BEETS
Tutti Frutti Bunched Red Beets are sharp looking!
BABY BOK CHOY
Sun Valley is coming into a large flush this week and look for prices to start to drop. Anna’s Organics is back this week.
SWEET BABY BROCCOLI
Good time for Baby Sweet Broccoli! Lakeside prices are really sharp. Tomatero will gap for 7-10 days while they wait for the next field to come on.
CABBAGE
Lakeside is waiting until Savoy to size up. Look for the Oceanside label in the meantime. Napa Cabbage quality from Lakeside is great. Anna’s Organics vibrant heads of Green Cabbage are bountiful. Red Cabbage continues to be expensive and hard to find.
CARROTS
Sunrise Nantes back into full volume. We will see some Nantes from Sun Valley. Tomatero is packing 25# bulk Nantes carrots! Calo finishing up on Red Carrots. They will gap until November when they start up out of the desert. Calo is gapping on Shredded Carrots for about 2 weeks.
CELERY
Josie’s finishing up out of the desert as they are seeing some quality issues. Josie’s and Lakeside are 1-2 weeks out from starting their full celery programs out of Salinas Valley.
CUCUMBERS
Market has been stable for the past few weeks. Back on track with Fair Trade Bagged Persians from Divine.
CAULIFLOWER
New from Tomatero! Fioretto, which means “little flower” in Italian, is a flowering cauliflower. It is a hybrid of broccoli and cauliflower. This variety forms a loose head of tiny florets on beautiful pale green stalks. More delicate than your standard cauliflower, the flavor is mildly grassy and faintly sweet. The raw florets are crisp-tender and pair well with creamy dips. Fantastic for roasting, stir fries and pickling. Chop it up for Cauliflower rice, no need to grate or use a food processor. Tomatero is located in the Pajaro Valley, just south of Santa Cruz and 5 miles inland of the California coast.
Tomatero Fioretto
CAULIFLOWER, continued
Colored Cauliflower could show at the end of the week. Sun Valley will be walking the fields this week and assessing their harvest. Purple will come on first, followed by White, Romanesco, and then Cheddar. Tomatero Romanesco finishing this week and then gapping until Sun Valley or Lakeside starts up in two weeks.
EGGPLANT
Very tight while we wait for the new crop to start up out of Mexico.
GINGER
We are at the tail end of the Peruvian Ginger crop. We may see a gap until the new crop starts up at the end of May.
GREENS
Sun Valley transitioning from Aromas into Watsonville. We may see a small gap on their Rainbow Chard but they are back into kale full force. Sunrise is gapping on Dandelion Greens this week.
HERBS
Beautiful fragrant bunches of Tomatero Basil will be strong through the summer. Italian Parsley is very tight right now with demand exceeding supply.
LETTUCE
Sunrise Little Gems are back and on the Weekly Specials! Coming soon- head lettuce from Sun Valley. Their Green Leaf and Romaine is good looking and we will see more this week.
PEPPERS
Green Peppers are back in better availability. All colors are looking good. Look for product out of California and Canada. Jalapenos will be bountiful for Cinco de Mayo and on the Weekly Specials.
ONIONS
Red Onions are very tight. Heger was first to market and is having production issues keeping up with the high demand. We will see some Red and Yellow Onions out of Mexico to help bridge the gap. Peri and Sons starting out of the desert in a few weeks. Anderson out of the PNW is all but done at this point.
POTATOES
Nature’s Pride out of the Pacific Northwest is done. Calo new crop Golds are beautiful, and Reds continue to be tight. Gold and Red Potatoes will be coming from California by the end of the week. Russets have great quality, however supply is starting to tighten up and prices are rising quickly.
PEAS
Look for fun new Snap Pea varieties from Comanche in Chico. Honey Snap Peas and Purple Snap Peas 8/1# clamshells, Purple Snow Peas 8/12oz clamshells and 10# English Peas! Fun Fact: Honey Snap Peas, known for their sweetness, turn translucent when cooked. Plenty of Tutti Frutti (Lompoc) English Peas for Mother’s Day.
Comanche Honey & Purple Snap Peas
RADISHES
Mild weather across California is bringing on some pretty Easter Egg Radishes from Calo.
RHUBARB
Earl’s beautiful, sturdy, deeply-red stalks are grown by certified organic farmers in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Learn how to buy, store and cook rhubarb.
TOMATOES
Covilli Mixed Heirlooms and Purple Rose Heirloom tomatoes will continue through mid-May. Local Wilgenburg greenhouse slicers are tight. Lots of Romas for Cinco de Mayo!
WINTER SQUASH
Butternut is getting harder to find due to labor shortages in Mexico.
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