Week of 3/6/10 to 3/13/10

PRIMO'S PICK OF THE WEEK !!!
This week Primo is featuring Celery in honor of March being National Celery Month. Celery’s crunchy texture and distinctive flavor makes it a popular addition to salads and many cooked dishes. Although it is available throughout the year, you will enjoy the best taste and quality of celery during the summer months when it is in season and locally grown varieties can be easily found in the markets. Celery grows to a height of 12 to 16 inches and is composed of leaf-topped stalks arranged in a conical shape that are joined at a common base. Celery contains vitamin C and several other active compounds that promote health, including phthalides, which may help lower cholesterol, and coumarins, that may be useful in cancer prevention. Choose celery that looks crisp and snaps easily when pulled apart. It should be relatively tight and compact and not have stalks that splay out. The leaves should be pale to bright green in color and free from yellow or brown patches.

Recipe of the week
Lite Pimiento Cheese-Stuffed Celery
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups lite mayonnaise
1 (4-ounce) jar diced pimiento, drained
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon finely grated onion
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 (8-ounce) blocks 2% reduced-fat sharp
3 Cheddar cheese, finely shredded
6 celery ribs, cut into 4-inch pieces
Garnish: paprika
Preparation
Stir together lite mayonnaise and next 4 ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir in cheese.
Spread 1 tablespoon cheese mixture into each celery rib. Garnish, if desired.
Note: Store remaining pimiento cheese mixture in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 1 week.

FUN FACTS OF THE WEEK
In it's 1897 catalog, Sears Roebuck & Co. advertised a celery nerve tonic for sale.
California produces more than 2/3rds of the celery grown in the U.S. and Florida produces about 20%.
Using a celery stick to garnish a Bloody Mary originated in the 1960s at Chicago's Ambassador East Hotel. An unnamed celebrity got a Bloody Mary, but no swizzle stick. He grabbed a stalk of celery from the relish tray to stir his Bloody Mary and history was made.

MARKET OVERVIEW
Row-crop shippers are seeing much improved processor demand for Iceberg lettuce. Demand for yellow, red and white onions has strengthened considerably since mid-February.

Trucking companies continue to have difficulty finding westbound loads from the East Coast. The availability of trucks on the West Coast is only fair, and freight rates are strong for this time of the year.

ICEBERG LETTUCE
Market is very active. Significant increases in price have materialized since last week , due to the past rains in the desert regions. There are whole fields that are being disked back into the ground due to issues with pink ribbing, bottom rot, and reduced shelf life. This has reduced availability and now the processors are buying on the open market. Early indications are that this type of pricing could remain in effect through the balance of the Yuma deal, which will be around the end of the month. Belle Glade, FL could be a very good option for destinations close to there, as iceberg is currently trading at less than California, and the freight is considerably less.

ROMAINE & LEAF
Much like the iceberg markets, leaf and romaine availability has been reduced as well. As a result the leaf market is more active with all suppliers. A few growers have had issues on romaine to where certain fields were passed on due to quality. Yields are less and romaine looks to get active throughout the week. Romaine and romaine hearts are showing fringe burn lightly. Most suppliers are having this issue. Green and red leaf has been clean, but pricing is getting stronger.

CAULIFLOWER & BROCCOLI
The broccoli market is stronger on bunched product and crowns are very light in supplies. Most suppliers are starting this week with enough crowns for contract and little to sell on the open. Supplies are expected to be light throughout the week. The quality continues to be good, coming out of Santa Maria, Yuma, and Scottsdale.

Cauliflower supplies are light as this item is very active. Product availability is expected to be limited throughout the week. Brown and black spotting continues to be seen sporadically upon arrivals, as well as some discoloration. Salinas has started some production with a few suppliers.

CARROTS
California carrots are coming out of Bakersfield for the next week or two weeks with good supplies. Yield and quality are good and there should not be any gaps for the next couple of months.
Georgia has product available as well.

CELERY
This market is starting to get stronger with all sizes. Production is lighter in Oxnard and Santa Maria and suppliers are scrambling to fill all orders. There continues to be a few shippers of celery in Yuma. The quality continues to be good from all the growing regions. Book orders early as demand looks to increase throughout the week.

BERRIES
Strawberries:
California Strawberry growing areas received 2 to 3 inches of rain over the weekend. The forecast is for a chance of rain on Tuesday then again a better chance of rain on the weekend. Growers are currently stripping and monitoring these fields with minimal volume being harvested. Quality will be problematic with white shoulder, bruise, pin rot, mold and water damage likely to be prevalent. Market is higher. Florida had to run water over to weekend due to very cold temps in the growing area. Heavy rain is in the forecast for Tuesday. Market is active with limited supply.
Raspberries:
Supplies are still limited with Driscoll being the main supplier. Quality is being reported as good. Market is firm but steady.
Blackberries:
Blackberry supplies are still limited with fair quality and firm market.
Blueberries:
Supplies are good with a weak but steady market on both Coast. Quality is improving. Look for this market to get very active in the next 10 days due to the earthquake in Chile.

POTATOES
The Idaho potato market continues to be steady with low demand. Most shippers are hungry for business and peaking between 70 and 90 counts depending on the variety. Quality is good with a few shippers reporting some light peepers showing up in their storages. The norkotah, western, and Burbank varieties are being packed in Idaho. Washington Over these next few weeks Norkotahs will start to disappear. This could cause larger size potatoes to go up as Burbanks are usually to the smaller size. Washington shippers are peaking on 60ct and larger. Colorado is going strong steady supplies and quality, with light demand. Colorado is heaviest to 70 & 80 count. Mount Vernon, Washington continues with excellent quality on reds and Yukon-gold’s but the supplies are getting low. Some shippers are done with Yukon’s. They are done with whites for the season. North Dakota has good supplies of red & yellow potatoes with few whites. Wisconsin is about done with both reds and yellows. California packers have good supplies of reds, whites, and yellows for the next two weeks but will then be done with their own product. Florida is just starting but supplies are light due to the freezes earlier this year.

ONIONS
Onion market is on the move!! By the first to middle of March we will start seeing some NW sheds finish for the season. Some of the larger sheds may have the capability of shipping as late as April 1st. This will be dictated by a couple factors. First and foremost will be the market, if prices continue to escalate, they will do everything possible to stay in the market. Secondly will be the quality, if the product starts breaking down to quickly and their shrink numbers get out of hand some sheds will be inclined to get out of the market as quickly as possible. There will be a great enough demand for the onions that selling out the remaining inventory will be quite easy. Demand out of Mexico continues to escalate as their domestic crop flounders from a quality standpoint. I think its fair to say that this years crop is not as strong as last years due to the wet fall the area experienced. Be aware of quality issues with onions right now as we have had some sporadic reports. Texas onions may be running a few weeks behind as well.

APPLES & PEARS
Red Delicious, Gold Delicious and Granny Smith, along with most all varietal apples, remain in short supply on small sized fruit. This will be a season long dilemma and each week the supplies get lighter. Demand continues to be very strong on small fruit and will continue to be very strong in comparison to
the available supply. Deals remain in the larger sized fruit, and quality is excellent on all apples. Specialty apples, including the Honeycrisp variety, are still available and in adequate supply. Anjou Pears are in excellent shape with better supplies in Washington. Bartlett pears are in short supply. There are also varietal pears available including Bosc, Seckel, Concorde, Comice and Crimson Red.

AVOCADOS
MEXICO- Majority of fruit in the market is Mexican right now. Rains did slow harvest last week just slightly. There continues to be excellent quality.
CALIFORNIA – Supplies are good with a weak but steady market on both Coast. Quality is improving. Look for this market to get very active in the next 10 days due to the earthquake in Chile. Expect shipments to slow down as most are holding back on fruit and to let it size up. Supplies will slowly increase as weather allows.
CHILE – Chilean fruit is about 95% finished for he year. Expect numbers to fall off weekly. Quality remains very good.

CITRUS
WEST
Market steady to strong as demand is very good, the fruit is eating excellent and overall quality is good. We are starting to see some fruit that is showing a little puff and crease in the weaker areas, but overall fruit is very nice. We are starting to get into some fruit which may show a slight tinge of green on the stem end and navel end.
LEMONS
The market is very strong with good demand on all sizes. We are harvesting in all 3 districts and the overall quality is good. We are peaking on 115’s, 95’s followed by 140’s which is keeping the smaller fruit very tight and strong. Expect the smaller fruit to stay strong through the month and expect good juice content out of all districts.

GRAPES
As if we were not already struggling with red and green grapes availability, the Chilean earthquake is seriously hampering efforts to build inventories. There is some fruit on the water and some fruit in storage locations but it is expected to be gobbled up very quickly. Chile still needs to assess the condition of it’s fresh crop and determine what is available. Expect the markets to rise.

MELONS
CANTALOUPES:
Honduran and Guatemalan product are both now coming into the US. Unfortunately Guatemala has struggled with white fly and have started out very slow. Honduras had a small gap last week which has made for light supplies this week. Next week look for better supplies to be coming in from both areas. Florida product is coming into both Pompano and Manatee. There is product on the West Coast out of the LA area and some fruit coming into New Jersey as well.
HONEYDEWS:
Offshore fruit is still arriving into Florida, California and New Jersey with volume supplies still mainly in 5’s and 6’s. Product quality is good. Nogales is getting Mexican fruit in with good availability and quality.
WATERMELON:
The overall market remains high; supplies are limited in Mexico (into Nogales) and from offshore (into Florida). Demand is strong. Offshore quality is very good, while Mexican quality is average.

CUCUMBERS
Eastern:
Florida cucumber pricing continues to rise as Honduran supplies diminish. With the end of the off shore cucumber deal at hand, Florida has no domestic product to “fill in” . The freeze of several weeks ago has significantly delayed the onset of Florida’s domestic cucumbers. Quality is fair to poor at this time.
Western:
Mainland Mexico production continues with fair to lighter supplies. Some growers have begun to transition between old and new fields that have created some gaps in supply.

PEPPERS
GREEN BELL PEPPERS:
Eastern
Pepper in Florida is now in a very real state of demand exceeding supply. The sky-high pricing is no longer a knee-jerk reaction of shippers to the freeze or an overreaction to the Nogales markets. There simply is no Florida pepper and very tight supplies out of Nogales. Current Florida weather (morning frost and temperatures staying well below average) will only worsen the situation in the coming days.
Western
Green bell peppers continue to get tighter and production and smaller sizes for the near future. Demand continues to be very strong with east coast demand the driving force on the market. The spring crop for eastern bells looks to start in April.

SQUASH
Eastern
Expect for several more weeks for the yellow squash supplies to be hard to come by, and poor quality. Many Florida shippers are bringing yellow squash in out of the West just to try to cover. Expect green squash pricing to increase due to past weather issues.
Western
Mexico production is steady with demand holding strong. Production still looks to improve over the next couple of weeks.

TOMATOES
Eastern:
Florida continues to be a non-factor in the tomato supply chain. There has been significant crop loss from the early freeze and supplies out of Florida will be down and won’t rebound probably until spring. We can expect to see higher fob’s probably up through the spring accompanied with shortened supplies. It
is looking like the Florida crop may get back into production around late March possibly April.
Western:
Supplies out of both Nogales and San Diego are drastically diminished due to recent past rain in the Mexican growing areas and a strong Mexican market. Growers are still trying to get supplies and the pipe line filled again, but it is slow going. Slowly maturing fruit due to the weather is holding growers back. We could see an upswing in production in 2 weeks weather permitting. fob’s continue to rise and could keep on going depending on the supply chain.