Fruit and Veg

August's Fruit and Veg Market Report

Written by Tom Moggach
August 04, 2015

Who can help? What's this strange, fuzzy object? It's not often I'm left entirely baffled on Buyers' Walk....

It’s a glorious time on the market - a brilliant month to visit.

"It's a fantastic season: you've got the best of everything at its best and at its cheapest," agrees Marcus Bunney from distributor J Connell.

Soft fruit is a definite highlight. You'll find currants (red/black/white), gooseberries (incuding red), raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and strawberries - often British:

Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Soft Fruit
Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Blackberries
Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Whitecurrants

The first Kentish plums have landed:

Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Plums

Greengages, too, from across the Channel:

Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Greengage

From Southern Europe, peaches and nectarines will continue for the next three weeks or so. This includes 'flat' and 'blood' varieties, like the final picture below, with darker, crimson flesh:

Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Flat Peaches
Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Nectarines
Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Blood Peaches

Note that apricots will finish soon - in the next week or two. You may even find some English apricots if you hunt around:

Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Apricots

English cherries, too, are coming to an end - hurry for the last batches. (I can't wait for the first English apples. The early Discovery variety is not far off...)

Melons are a great buy, with watermelons in particular offering great value:

Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Melons
Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Watermelon

Fresh nuts are also worth considering, including the first French cobnuts and green almonds.

On the veg front, English runner beans are in high demand and occasionally tight.

You'll still find English peas and broad beans:

Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Peas

Quality brassicas, especially broccoli, cauliflower and purple sprouting, have been occasionally tricky due to erratic weather.

Kale is more reliable:

Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Purple Sprouting
Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Curly Kale

Tomatoes are abundant:

Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Beefsteak Tomatoes

Marrows and courgettes are in their prime:

Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Marrows

Sweetcorn will soon be plentiful. Right now, it's mainly from the Continent but homegrown supplies will swiftly catch up:

Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Sweetcorn

Other veg of note includes this beautiful rainbow chard:

Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Rainbow Chard

Salads are in excellent fettle, including homegrown spinach and spring onions:

Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Spring Onions

These crunchy breakfast radishes are French:

Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Radishes

Other veg of note include borlotti and Paimpol beans, and artichokes - Globe, Petit Violet and Jerusalem.

For wild mushrooms, this is a poor time of year. Currently it's mainly girolle, including harvests from Scotland.

Check out these gigantic Canadian morels, although sadly they are the last of the harvest:

Fruit And Vegetable Market Report August 2015 Morel

So what is the fuzzy green object in the photo at the start of this report?

Answers - or anything else you fancy - in the Comment box below please!

Comments

Subscribe to our emails

Join thousands of food and flowers businesses and get what’s in season delivered to your inbox every month.

Loading more blogs...

End of content

No more pages to load