Joe's Market Report

Market Report- Week Beginning Sept 16th, 2024

 

 

What’s Hot

 

Early Fall favourites have started to arrive! Winter Squashes are in and are fantastic. While we are not quite done gorging ourselves on the stunning Welsh Bros. corn, we have our eye on a roasted pepper squash salad in the not-too-distant future.

 

Another sure sign to grab your cozy sweaters, knee boots, and floppy hats, is the arrival of the fall apple crop. Gold and Gala are in and are a buyer’s choice item right now.

 

New crop Ontario Potatoes are in, this year’s wet summer has produced a strong harvest so far. We also have a fantastic selection of local beets that have benefited from this year’s weather.

 

For those looking to preserve a little more of the summer harvest, we now have local concord grapes available, perfect for your jamming needs. While you’ve got your jam pan out, we suggest preserving some of the stone fruits available now, as they won’t be around for much longer!

 

Our friends at Denboer Farms continue to come to market with bunched carrots and radishes that are fantastic, and a real opportunity buy.

 

Green Valley Farms are also producing superb quality leafy green vegetables such as kales and dandelion. We refuse to give up on our salad of the summer, kale charred over coals with chili lemon and feta.

 

Check out our Melons! We’ve got a ‘King of the West’ Honeydew melon available right now that goes back to our buyer’s childhood. Whenever they’re available we make sure to grab them, as they are always the best honeydew available. Not to be outdone, our current supply of watermelons is absolutely rocking. Flavour, texture, size, all are 10/10!

 

Red and Green Seedless Grapes are also a fantastic choice right now. Candy like sweetness, and that satisfying crunch, because soft grapes are weird.

 

Honeygold pineapples are in and living up their namesake. We also have a new supply of Turkish Figs that are impressing everyone who tries them.

 

After a challenging few weeks, berry quality has improved, and prices have remained stable. We continue to monitor weather in the growing regions and amend our sourcing strategy accordingly.

 

Lettuce quality has improved, and prices have stayed flat, which si good news as we make a return to banquet and corporate event season.

 

Items of Concern 

 

The wet season here in Ontario has proved challenging for local Broccoli and Cauliflower and is keeping us in USA product for now. When quality on the local product consistently improves, we will migrate back to a local product.

 

Mushroom supplies are tightening, which is starting to put upward pressure on prices.

 

We are in the last throws of local stone fruit. Get it while you can as most farms are wrapping up, and for some items, we don’t expect a restock.

 

Limes are trending up in price now, although that does not appear to be the trend across other citrus varieties.

 

Looking Ahead

 

We expect to have Welsh Bros corn available until Thanksgiving, which is fantastic news.

 

Kennebec potatoes should be available in a few weeks, keep an eye on our social channels for an official announcement.