Buh-bye, Ramps.
Why? Here’s the scoop: the weather is changing. As the weather gets hotter, the ramps won’t hold up as well. At the same time, they become scarce. What this means is that not only are they not as good, they are more expensive and harder to get your hands on. Interesting tidbit: Unlike commercial produce growers, a lot of ramp pickers don’t have industrial coolers they can put them in to bring the temperature down–which means that the hotter the weather, the faster the ramp tops will turn yellow. We are pretty sure that all the ramps we are getting this week are it, and they’ll likely be gone before the weekend.
First of the season native strawberries from Connecticut just arrived and are delicious. We expect to see more next week, and expect supplies to grow stronger over the next couple weeks. On another berry note, we still are getting the “special” primo driscoll blackberries with purple label. Unlike the strawberries, these are not local, but they are jammy and sweet, though commercial.
Summer stone fruit has begun. We have Frog Hollow Apricots, Fitz Kelly Nectarines, Rainier Cherries, and California Cherries. The apricots are in their peak season, and are perfect for eating out of hand now–and apricot season is short, so now is the time to use apricots. Peaches and nectarines are early clingstone varieties, which ripen earlier in the season. These are fully ripe and have good sugar, but are also rather tart, and would benefit from a touch of added sweetness or caramelization via heat. The tartness and firmer texture would also work well in savory applications, such as sliced for a salad, pickled, or grilled–they’ve got the texture to hold up to those treatments. Rainier cherries also have a relatively short season, but we expect to see CA bing cherries for quite awhile. Plums are the last stone fruit to ripen, and right now, all that’s available are rock-hard “market” plums.
Mushrooms: Oregon porcinis are here for a short while, and Monday we are expecting bluefoot, chanterelle, and mousseron mushrooms. These mushrooms are at the best prices of the season right now, as well. We have many special cultivated mushrooms, like maitake, honshimeji, trumpet royale and chef’s mix, as well as the more typical button, cremini, shiitake and portabello. Did you know button mushrooms are also called champignon de Paris? #fancy
Special baby greens: it’s possible, with some advance notice, to arrange to get 2# units of single-varietal greens from Ted Dobson of Equinox mesclun fame. We are not stocking them, and they will not be available by ordering via the answering machine. If you are interested, call us to discuss the varieties and options, as well as amounts you’re interested in.
- Native Strawberries
- Equinox Farms, Sheffield, MA
- Native Mesclun Mix
- New Jersey Asparagus: Last Week!
- Holland White Asparagus
- Life Force Farm, Bowdoinham, ME
- Organic Spring-Dug Parsnips
- Native Fiddleheads
- Wild Ramps: Last Week
- Wild Oregon Pousse-Pied
- Crown o’ Maine Organics
- Oregon Field-Grown Rhubarb
- Fresh Green Almonds
- Fresh Oregon Morels
- French Bluefoot Mushrooms
- French Mousseron Mushrooms
- Oregon Chanterelles
- Oregon Porcinis
- Native French Breakfast Radishes
- Native Easter Egg Radishes
- Fitz Kelly Farm
- Reedley, CA & Frog Hollow Farm
- Tree-Ripe Peaches
- Tree-Ripe Nectarines
- Tree-Ripe Apricots
- Rainier Cherries
- California Nectarines
- California Peaches
- California Apricots
- California Cherries
- Brown Turkey Figs – ½ trays only (limited/sporadic)
- Champagne Mangoes
- Seedless Pink Muscat Grapes
- Fresh Fava Beans
- Fresh English Peas
- Spring Onions
- Baby Artichokes
- Fresh Garbanzo Beans
- Native Pea Tendrils
- Native Stinging Nettles
- Knoll Farm, Brentwood, CA
- Green Garlic
- Fava Leaves
- Wild Rapini
- Pea Tendrils
- Lavender (limited)
- Lemon Verbena (limited)
- Mustard Flowers (limited)
- Radish Flowers (limited)
- 86: French White Asparagus
- Seville Oranges
- Chantenay Carrots & Purple Dragon Carrots
- Cardoons
We’ve had a great response to the Heiwa Tofu: thanks, guys! And duck eggs are flying out of here. Trying to source any other special things? That’s totally our jam. Let us know–we love a good wild duck egg chase.