AI Students Visit Moceri Produce

Connelly Gardens in the Media with Chef Mike

Check out the nice media piece below with Chef Mike Almos on San Diego living, Channel 6:

Fall Cooking with Connelly Gardens produce with Chef Mike Almos

A really great example for cooks of all skill levels about how to open up to the local bounty and be creative with the ingredients at hand.

See the photos of the harvest at Connelly Gardens:

Chef Mike Almos on Facebook

Market News June 27th

PRODUCE REPORT

Asparagus: Product is tight out of Peru and Mexico and Jumbo and XL sizes are very limited. Transportation has been a issue with flight delays. Prices are remaining high. White Asparagus has been consistently high as well.                                                                                                                                                                 

Berries: California blueberries are finished and product is limited and more expensive. Until the growing regions up north really kick in we will not see relief. The blackberry market is on the increase, we are still taking some from Stehly Farms Organics while they are able to ship. Strawberries and raspberries are steady.                                                                                                                                                                       

Fruit: The apple market is moving as storage fruit is limited, varieties are limited to the major movers. Prices are up especially on gala & fuji while reds and grannys hold steady. Pineapples are steady but usually increase in mid to late summer, plan for market increases. Grapes will start soon in Central CA causing supply side market easing for better pricing.                                                                                                                                     

Melons: Cantaloupe and Honeydews are steady as the production is moving north. Seedless watermelon quality is good, demand should exceed supply as the 4^th of July holiday approaches, prices may increase a bit as well. Mixed melons are in season with lower pricing.                                                                                       

Vegetables: Most production is moving into Central Cal, driving down some markets like zucchini, yellow squash and green bell peppers. Red and yellow bells are still on the higher side as we are still pulling from Baja waiting for the northern product to mature. Broccoli has spiked and is on the way back down. Leaf lettuce is in good supply and prices are great. Roma tomatoes are a little tight right now as we wait for the CA crop to get moving, we should see some relief as soon as this coming week.

SPECIALTIES REPORT

Specialty Items- Baby zucchini is the value deal on baby squash right now, baby sunburst and green summer is more volatile and higher priced. Baby peeled carrots with tops are steady. Yellow Beefsteak Tomatoes are come down in price. Heirloom tomatoes and mixed cherry heirlooms are pretty expensive right now, it’s the calm before the storm of tomatoes getting ready to mature on the vine. They should be coming off pricewise soon. Snap and snow peas have quickly shot up on the market, if you have flexibility French beans or yellow wax are a great value right now.                                       

Seasonal Items- Stonefruit and variety melons are presenting very well as the season moves forward. Warm weather and healthy soil is the driver for quality on these summer gems. White and yellow nectarines, peaches, plums, apricots and cherries are looking and tasting very nice. On the melon category we are seeing Tuscan cantaloupe, santa claus, orange honeydew, crenshaw, galia, canary and casaba.  Fresh brown figs are the deal on the figs, black missions are available too, just a bit pricier. If you are in need of a specialty citrus option we are seeing Peruvian satsumas on the market, meyer lemons are imported and pricy, blood oranges are gapping til Oct.

Local- Connelly Gardens has beautiful zucchini and goldbar squash, ‘Passport’ galia melons and heirloom mixed cherry tomatoes are just getting started, preorder yours. Don’t forget their micro rainbow mix, a garnish with universal appeal. Suzie’s Farm has varieties of summer squashes, cucumbers and eggplant. Blue Heron Farms is strong in their organic baby greens mix, They are still offering organic strawberries and raspberries, let us know if you are interested in these local berries.

Produce News from the Field

MARKET REPORT 5/22/12

Berries: Baja is wrapping up their strawberry season as the weather is getting too warm for their liking. Oxnard is also sending most of their remaining berries to cannery as they are too ripe to ship. Watsonville berries have started out very large with excellent flavor. Market is a little bit stronger as the growing areas have been cut by 2/3^rd’s. Blackberries and blueberries are starting to thrive with the heat. Markets should be getting cheaper over the next few weeks.

Melons: California and Arizona are coming into some good volume on cantaloupes. Prices are getting better daily. We are seeing high brix melons with full slip’s and very heavy netting. Honeydew volume is still primarily coming out of Mexico but Arizona is not far behind. Prices and quality are improving as well. Watermelon are getting closer but volume is still moderate out of Mainland Mexico. Bakersfield will hopefully be ready soon.

Vegetables & tomatoes: Nogales is all but shut down for the season except for a few tomatoes and some squash. Baja new crop round and roma tomatoes have started out fairly strong with good pricing and quality. Cherry and grape tomatoes are also new crop out of Baja with slightly higher prices but with nothing but sun on the forecast, they should back off quickly. Red & yellow bells are also coming out of Baja with good volume. Prices have come off considerably. Coachella is producing green bells, eggplant, and corn. Asparagus has begun out of California but remains very short. Washington is helping to supply demand but until Central Mexico gets started sometime next week, demand will continue to exceed supply.

Grapes & stonefruit: New crop flames and perlette’s are off to a slow start. Mexico has had issues with their crop and Coachella is still struggling to keep up with market demand. Prices are very high. California stonefruit has begun but is heavy to the small side as usual with the new crop. Prices are still fairly high but should come off pretty quick with very warm days ahead of us.

 

Citrus: Valencia oranges are in full swing now with good quality. Prices should ease up as we get into summer. Lemons remain on the short side. Quality has been hit and miss with choice grade looking less than what we are used to. Lime volume is pretty good with better pricing on smaller sizes.

Onions: New crop reds out of Mexico and Imperial Valley remain fairly short with higher pricing. We have stuck with the old crop on yellow onions as to try and avoid the Imperial Valley onions which always show very little skin and are very soft. They are starting to show better cure but are still not ready. This is a very short crop just to bridge us until Bakersfield and Stockton get started.

 

San Diego Zoo Garden Festival May 10-13, 2012

Thanks for checking in, we appreciate the opportunity to share!
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/gardenfestival/

Moceri Produce is a proud supplier to the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park. We help get the fresh fruits and vegetables from the fields to your forks.

Local Food is where it's at! Come see why...

Bringing Locally Grown Fruits and Vegetables to the Zoo for You!

Fresh Organic Greens from Blue Heron Farm - Fallbrook

www.blueheronfarmbandb.com/farm/index.htm

Micro Greens and Culinary Herbs from Connelly Gardens - Ramona

www.connellygardens.com

Specialty Vegetables from Suzie’s Farm – San Diego

 www.suziesfarm.com

We proudly support these growers and our customers who purchase their products. Why is buying local important?

Reasons to Buy Local Food:

·       Supports Local Jobs and Business

·       Safe Stewardship of Regional Land & Water

·       Knowing Your Farmer

·       Exciting and Unusual Fruit and Vegetable Varieties

·       Picked Fresh and Ripe for Best Flavor

·       Lower “Food Miles” & “Carbon Footprint”

·       It’s the Right Thing to Do!

Now you might want to do the right thing and eat locally...

What can a new locavore do to eat closer to home?

Shop at your Local Farmer’s Market

www.sdfarmbureau.org

Join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Program

http://sandiegoroots.org/csa.html

Eat at Restaurants that Serve Locally Grown Food

www.ediblecommunities.com/sandiego/

You will taste the difference, but what other benefits are important to know about?

Benefits of Sustainable Farming:

·       Fewer Harmful Pesticides

·       Soil & Water Conservation

·       Recycling of Organic Matter - Compost

·       Diversity of Plant, Animal & Insects

·       Soil Fertility - Long Term

·       Beneficial Bugs Keeping the Balance

·       Taking Care of Soil Microlife

·       It’s the Right Thing to Do!

Thanks for your attention, now go do the right thing!

Artisan Lettuces from Tanimura & Antle

It's 10:00, do you know where your baby lettuce is?

We do! It is arriving fresh from the field awaiting your great decision to start using it on your menu. Just think of how your customers will comment to each other at the table about how great their salad tastes.

They may even tell others about your establishment starting a tidal wave of interest and new customers.

All because you took a bold move in using a specialty lettuce to set yourself apart, congratulations!

For more info, ask your sales rep, watch the videos...

Mixed Artisan Lettuce 24ct: Item #13892

http://youtu.be/GPaEyhGvOtw

Artisan Romaine 24ct: Item #13676

http://youtu.be/TkYQj0R9gP8

Produce Market News - April 17th, 2012

Specialty Items- Baby green summer squash and baby zucchini is on the pricier side, baby sunburst is the best deal. Baby peeled carrots with tops are steady. Yellow Beefsteak Tomatoes are fairly reasonable, who doesn’t love to eat some fresh mozzarella in between stacked red and yellow tomatoes with some nice olive oil and fresh herbs.                                                                        

Seasonal Items- Baby Brussels Sprouts are available in both green and purple colors. Dragon Fruit is available and not too expensive. Hedgehog mushrooms are the star of the wild mushroom scene right now, get them while available. Some really nice Kyoho Grapes (Concord type) are still going, so much flavor and great for specials. Fresh Brown Figs from New Zealand are available, they are the opposite of cheap, they will fill your craving for the fresh fig until we see CA start later this season. Fiddle Head Ferns are a great spring item best cooked properly by steaming or boiling until tender crisp. They can also be pickled for future use. Ojai Pixie Tangerines, they are awesome.                                                             

Local- Connelly Gardens has beautiful hydro boston lettuce looking really sharp and tasting super fresh. Don’t forget their micro rainbow mix, a garnish with universal appeal. The farmer, Tim Connelly is growing a bulk of our culinary herbs that are seasonally available in the spring. Suzie’s Farm has wild arugula cut fresh from the field along with lettuces, braising mix and a spicy salad mix. Baby beets, turnips and radishes of many colors and types are available to round out the selection. Blue Heron Farms is back with their organic baby greens mix, we are happy to see them available again. They are offering organic strawberries, let us know if you are interested in these local berries.

Onions: Imperial Valley will begin shipping red and yellow onions by the end of the month. Yellow supplies are steady while red have become very scarce. Prices continue to increase.                                                                         

Berries: Recent weather has been wreaking havoc on the berry crop. Production is trying to come on but cold and rain keeps knocking us back as shippers are stripping quite a bit of fruit due to heavy bruising. California blueberries remain very high as production is slow to kick in. Raspberries and blackberries also in short supply. Hopefully this week’s warm weather will help get these spring berries rolling.                                                                  

Citrus: Valencia oranges have begun but with very low sugars we will stick with the late navel crop. Prices are up slightly. Lemons remain on the short side out of central California. The lime market also seems to be trending upward this week.                                                                                                                

Melons: Cantaloupe imports are winding down fast and prices are up sharply. Honeydews continue to be the better buy. Seedless watermelon quality is much improved and prices have started to ease up.                              

Vegetables: With the Nogales season winding down we are seeing a jump in many prices. Until Coachella and Baja get going next month, we expect to see prices continue to rise. The strongest market so far is the bell pepper market. Red and yellow bells have been hit the hardest so far. Greens will not be far behind. Baja is starting with some colored bells and that might give some relief by next week. Eggplant, green bells, and blue lakes will be short until Coachella gets up and going. Best buys this week look to be Italian and yellow squash and asparagus.

Connelly Gardens Plant Sale 1st & 2nd Weekends in April

Hello Chefs, Restauranteurs, Foodies and Gardeners,

Here is a great opportunity to get some "free range and humanely bred" vegetable and herb plants for your garden.

Next weekend and the following weekend are the times, Connelly Gardens is the place. Bring the family and friends, and your gardeing questions.

Come home with a gaggle of plants for your garden or flowerpots. Tim Connelly will be offering exceptional varieties that are proven for growth and flavor.

Please visit the website to see more about Connelly Gardens at http://www.connellygardens.com/

See the Plant list at:

http://www.connellygardens.com/2012_Plant_Sale___Garden_Planning_Worksheet.pdf

See you there!

Robert

Culinary Students from AI

Thanks to all the culinary students and professor Kenneth Hargreaves for their visit to Moceri Produce this morning. I enjoyed sharing what we do for chefs and restaurants aroung San Diego and look forward to getting to know you as chefs and culinarians.

I hope you enjoyed the sample baskets with the baby potatoes, carrots, apples, kumquats and mystery fruits. Let me know what you made with them or better yet submit a photo and description.

Please get in touch if you have any questions, we look forward to serving you.

Robert

Ugli Fruit

Check out the Ugli Fruit website.

 You can order this from Moceri Produce now on code 28550.

http://www.ugli.com/about_us.html

Restaurant business strongest in almost six years

February 3, 2012

The following article has been published by The Packer and was written by Andy Nelson: Fresh produce sales could jump in the near future, if the latest restaurant performance index is any indication. TheU.S. restaurant industry in December turned in its strongest performance in almost six years, according to one leading industry measure. The National Restaurant Association’s restaurant performance index was 102.2 in December, up 1.6% from November and as high as it’s been in almost six years, according to a news release from the Washington, D.C.-based association. It was the third time in four months the index, which tracks the current health and outlook for the industry, was over 100. Thehigh scores were driven by strong same-store sales and customer traffic in December and by operators’ plans for capital spending — expected to be at their highest levels in more than four years. Sixty-nine percent of restaurant operators reported a same-store sales gain between December 2010 and December 2011, while only 18% reported a decline, according to the association. That marked the strongest sales performance since February 2004. Restaurant operators also reported brisk customer traffic in December. Fifty-seven percent reported higher customer traffic levels from December 2010 through December 2011, while just 23% reported a traffic decline. Forty-eight percent of operators said they made a capital expenditure for equipment, expansion or remodeling during the past three months, the highest level in six months. And for the first time in a year, a majority of restaurant operators expect their sales to be higher in the months ahead, according to the association.

Market Report 1/24/12

Berries: Production is down due to recent rains on top of very cold nights. Surprisingly, quality is still fairly good. However, there is not enough fruit to fill market demand and as a result, prices are on the upswing. Raspberries as well are very short this week.

Desert veggies: Leaf item quality is improving slowly. Blister and blister peel are showing up less and less as many shippers trim the product to eliminate the damage. As a result of trimming the product, color, weight and appearance are affected. Some romaine is being trimmed to the point of looking like a large heart. All leaf markets seem to be off this week as very warm days are predicted for the next 7-10 days. Broccoli and cauliflower remain very good buys with excellent quality. Celery looks to ease up this week as volume increases.

Citrus: California navels are in good supply. Prices are very fair and quality is excellent with good sugars. Choice grades are even showing #1 fancy appearance. Lemons remain very short especially on larger sizes. Quality remains excellent. Lime crossing are way down and prices are reflecting. Fruit seems to be getting harder with less juice.

Vegetables: Nogales prices are starting to crack this week. Bell peppers are already crashing on all colors. Look for very nice quality with good pricing. Asparagus prices have been cut in half over the last week and look to continue down as weather helps bring this crop on strong. It is time to get it back on the menu. Italian and yellow squashes are slowly easing up but with very cold nights, it is taking longer than expected. Prices on both eggplant and blue lakes are improving.

Melons: Seedless watermelon has temporarily backed off but looks to rebound with the cool weather. Quality is much improved from last month. Offshore cantaloupe and honeydews remain in short supply as growing areas move from Honduras to Guatemala. Look for prices to remain high for another week or two.

Urgent Market News January 12, 2012

Bell peppers and squash seem to have been hit the hardest from last week’s Florida freeze and with Mexico still a week or two away from any volume the market should remain very high and availability will be down. Most shippers are pro-rating or filling orders based off of 12 week average. Relief may not come for several weeks so supplies will remain light and prices volatile. Currently prices at trigger level we could see it get even higher!

Kale market has increased due to the cooler weather in Yuma and now with freezing temperatures during the past two days and the plants stagnate in growth harvest delays will occur. The market should maintain higher than normal for the next 5 to 10 days. Most shippers are pro-rating or filling orders based off of 12 week average.

Cantaloupes & Honeydew demand exceeds supplies in most cases. Supplies are down out of Central America due to the transition in Guatemala moving from North to South. There are melons coming out Honduras but volumes will not pick up for another 5 to 7 days. Larger cantaloupes are very short and honeydews are legitimately short on all sizes. Things may not settle down until the first of February.

Asparagus market continues to reach new highs and should continue throughout the month. Supplies out of Mexico are extremely tight due to cold temperatures and delayed harvests rendering the West Coast virtually out of supplies. Peru although a better situation than Mexico is also extremely short on product with demand exceeding supplies as they face similar issues with transition, cooler weather and poor yields. Markets are being quoted day to day.

Urgent Market News

Asparagus- Market continues to reach new highs: For those keeping up with the market outlook this should not come as a surprise but the asparagus market is out of sight and should continue throughout the month. Supplies out of Mexico are extremely tight due to cold temperatures and delayed harvests rendering the West Coast virtually out of supplies. Peru although a better situation than Mexico is also extremely short on product with demand exceeding supplies as they face similar issues with transition, cooler weather and poor yields. Markets are being quoted day to day.

Cantaloupe- Heavy rains in Central America back in October can be attributed to the shortage of cantaloupe and honeydew as well as the transition from Northern to Southern growing regions. We will see Honduran fruit arrive this coming week but the volume will be minimal. We have seen the market increase within the last few days and could have some increases for the next few weeks until volumes increase. It is still early to see if this will be just a knee jerk reaction or if it will continue to strengthen. We are projecting 2-3 weeks of questionable supply before things begin to stabilize again.

Strawberries- It does not appear that the wintery cold Temperatures pierced as deeply into the growing areas as first feared and long term damage should be minimal. Markets reacted to the cold weather with an increase and should maintain until the fields are assessed. There could be some questionable quality due to the freeze until the affected fruit is through the system.

Truffle Hunting on 60 Minutes

Please set your Tivo/DVR’s to record this Sunday night ‘s 60 Minutes show, where Leslie Stahl shares her experience truffle hunting with Olga Urbani. I’ve attached a promo link below. 

Enjoy,

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7394064n&tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel

Happy New Year!

We welcome the new year and all the opportunities to serve our customers.  We have some exciting news and market updates to share. Information leads to knowledge which can empower you as a chef, restauranteur and consumer to make the best possible choices. 

We look forward to sharing our thoughts and impressions that will benefit you as we navigate the world of food, dynamic markets and evolving food trends.

This blog will be a part of a media connection opportunity offered to you as a way to quickly inform, explore and share information pertinent to your business and creativity.

Thanks and good eating!