June 2021 – Fruit & Veg Market Report

At Menu Fresh we aim to provide information on the fresh produce sector across the United Kingdom, Europe, and the world; we can advise and guide you, and your chefs on the market changes, product changes and seasonal trends to ensure you’re able to make an informed choice in line with your menus and budgetary requirements for your restaurants.

Potatoes

With the long-awaited return of indoor hospitality, increased dining options could bring demand to the potato market as a whole. ‘Restocking’ demand in preparation could ramp up and there have been early reports of increased trade to restaurants.

We can expect to see salad potato prices increase over June as we come to the end of the season. Some will have to rely on imported which will push prices up and it’s worth keeping an eye on quality.

Chipping potatoes will also increase in price as we wait for the new season to start. This potato isn’t cold-stored as it affects the cooking properties and reduces its shelf life. If not kept ambient it will negatively affect their taste.

Potato Fact

When potatoes are chilled to below 5 to 8° Celsius, their starches become sugars, known as reducing sugars. These reducing sugars are the main cause of the brown discolouration, bitter taste and limpness of chips and fries if the potatoes are reheated incorrectly after storage. This is known as the Maillard reaction.

Root Vegetables

Parsnips are reaching the end of their season and we will be relying on Spanish imports until mid-July. The shelf life will be shorter, so lower stock levels might be wise.

We are still relying on imported carrots, so again stock levels need to be kept tight. The UK Season will start again in mid-June, so we should see and availability return to normal levels.

Leeks remain short while we wait for the new UK season to start. This is expected from mid-June onwards, depending on the growing region.

Brassicas

There is a good supply of UK Cauliflower coming through, and the UK broccoli is starting to make an appearance, although the Spanish are still the dominant season for the next few weeks.

We will start to see Savoy cabbage from Norfolk coming through with Northern growers starting mid to late June, all-weather pending.

UK red and white cabbage will be finishing and we will be using imported Dutch mainly until the new season starts in July. The cabbages tend to be very large and less graded than the UK supply.

Fruit

Spanish peach, nectarine, plum, cherry and apricot is now well underway and in good supply and quality.

Citrus fruit is moving to mostly Southern Hemisphere supply so we will see a reduction in the availability of oranges, easy peelers and grapefruit. The quality is excellent.

Spanish Mercia Melons will be making an appearance and the volume of supply will be a lot better.

Salads

UK salads are coming through well now as each week passes more become available. The quality is also better than the depleting Spanish.

UK herbs are also available, but we are still relying on Israeli, Kenyan and Spanish imports to make the volume and the varieties.

Mushrooms

The recent opening of the catering industry has had a big impact on cultivated mushrooms. Mushrooms can take up to 4- 6 weeks to grow so the recently increased volume impact will take a while to meet the current uptrend in sales.