Good Grief!

A little later than usual, here is Ken Klein’s Market Report. Executive summary:

• The tomato market is very confusing.
• Cantaloupes—now smaller and better!
• Peach and nectarine prices are dropping; plums continue to be expensive.

The Market Report, by Ken Klein
Klein’s Supermarket, 2401 Pennsylvania Avenue, Philadelphia
Our Hours: M-F 8 AM to 8 PM; Sat. 8 AM to 8 PM; Sunday 9 AM to 1 PM

Greetings Food Lovers!

Food Quiz

I’ve gone from growing wild, to growing on slave plantations, to industrial production. A perennial grass, I am grown in about eighty countries in the tropics and subtropics and can grow from six to twenty-three feet in height. My cut shoots are one to two inches in diameter. I am first documented in India in 1000 BC. Early on, I was used in medicine; Dioscorides, a first-century Greek physician, considered me “worth my weight in silver.” You’ll find me mentioned by Jeremiah, Ezekial, and Isaiah in the Old Testament. Europeans viewed me as a fabulous food and expensive medicine, brought through deserts to their ports. In fact, in 966, Venice’s fate and fortune were founded on me and on the trade of silks and spices.

My most popular output results from being cut; crushed for my juice, which is extracted with water; purified; concentrated by evaporation; and crystallized. In ancient times, you might have chewed me, or, in an Arab harem, made me into a depilatory. For nouveau cuisine, cook me as a skewer for shrimp. Originally a rare and valuable plant, I became so popular that by 1979 there were more of my products produced than could be consumed. Today, ecologists propose my juice as an alternative food source for pigs and poultry, and scientists are mapping my DNA to help understand plant genes.

What am I?

• pineapple
• maple
• sugar cane
• bamboo.

Market Report

Avian flu was discovered in a Texas flock last week, causing 24,000 birds to be destroyed. The disease is thought to be isolated, but an investigation is ongoing. Mexico has halted poultry imports from Texas. The chicken markets are not expected to be greatly impacted by the bird flu incident unless additional infected flocks are found.

How will this affect us here in Philadelphia? Not much. Our birds come from the Delmarva peninsula. However, this virus has the potential to arrive anywhere in the world spontaneously and quickly. In a related matter, we expect chicken prices to go up for the summer grilling season. This is a demand issue created by us. In 2003, the boneless, skinless, chicken breast prices rose over 15%.

Produce News:

• Tomatoes: Warm temperatures in Florida and Georgia are fueling strong tomato growth, powering the tomato markets to lower prices. Last week, tomato shipments were 25% greater than 2003. However, the chief harvesting areas are beginning to shift north, which could cause some supply gaps and erratic prices this month. This information is confusing. First of all, there seems to be favorable conditions for the tomato harvest to mature more quickly, bringing product to market faster and satisfying our demand for quality product. When I look at the shipping-point prices compared to delivered-to-my-door prices, the numbers seem to expand. Gas prices have been the hidden factor. We have been seeing an inflation in food prices on the wholesale level across the board. Ok, so we don’t want to hear this economic rambling. But folks, it is the way of our world these days.

• Cantaloupes: This week, we have been having problems with cantaloupes. The market has been heavy with super large size. When the packers in California pack them for transport, they put them in a cardboard box with a plastic wrapping. This does not allow the product to breathe. Darkness, moisture, and time equals mold. All week, we have been returning a “mess.” At the end of the week, there was a shift to smaller cantaloupes. Wow, what a difference! The color, taste and fragrence is what we have all been looking for since last summer! When selecting your cantaloupes, put the fruit in your hands. It should have a hay yellow color, with a slight give to it on the edge opposite where the vine connected to the fruit. Now smell it. It should smell like it tastes! Please wash your cantaloupes before you cut and serve them. The outside skin must be washed, as you should do with any produce item.
• Honeydews: In another month, honeydews should have the same selecting process as cantaloupes.
• Cherries: For the past weeks, my suppliers have been assuring me that the cherry prices will be coming down. Does not seem so. Looks like the California harvest is ending, and the Washington harvest is just getting ready. The quality has been outstanding, but if you love sweet cherries, get them now. It will be a long wait until next year. I found an interesting tidbit this week about cherries. The farmers have much to contend with to bring this gem to the table: wind brusing the fruit, spring hail storms pocking the fruit, and birds eating the fruit before it is picked. Enough to make a person drink—cherry juice, that is. When the fruit is damaged, the farmers’ additional outlets are jam processors and juice makers.
• Peaches: Peaches are now coming in nicely from the Carolinas and from Georgia, creating a price drop from more competition on the supply side.
• Nectarines: Nectarines are getting sweeter, larger, and lower in price.
• Plums: Plums are still expensive. This should continue for a few more weeks.
• Blueberries: Jersey blueberries are a few weeks away. Next time you drive down the shore, check out the fields off the A.C. Expressway.
• Corn: Corn is fanstastic. It is arriving from Georgia and South Carolina and is winding down in Florida.
• Lettuce: Weather conditions in California are great for the lettuce harvest. This will keep the prices down at the shipping points; however, fuel prices will keep all lettuce well over a dollar.

The correct answer to the food quiz is sugar cane!