We have the first arrival of new potatoes this week – first earlies ‘Colleen’ from Jersey Quality Produce at the start of the week, and ‘Ulster Prince’ for the weekend – a regional favourite grown by Duncan Gielty at Lyncroft Farm in Ormskirk. These young potatoes are creamy when cooked and sweeter because their sugar has not yet converted into starch, which means they’re particularly suited to salads. Watch out for more varieties appearing in the next few weeks.
Speaking of salads, our local salad leaf supply from Glebelands will be a lovely spring mix of rocket, pea shoots, spinach and lettuce, as well as the usual mustards and endives. These leaves are as fresh as they come but they don’t keep so well in a paper bag – a good reason to bring in any re-usable plastic bags you have at home to put them in.
A few UK lines have been difficult to get hold of this week – cauliflowers are limited and will not be available for the weekend, we are expecting our Cornish supplier Francis Sampson’s final crop to be ready for harvest late next week. In terms of brassicas, spring greens are an excellent choice at the moment. Coriander is also very limited and we won’t have such big numbers of asparagus due to the recent cold weather slowing growth.
From Europe we are welcoming our first deliveries of the year from Naturcharc, a co-operative of organic growers in Almeria, Spain. As well as great value courgettes and pointed cabbages, their new season onions are particularly good. We have the first galia melons arriving in time for the weekend, and our current batch of watermelons smell amazing!
