Greenhouse crops help counter shortages
You have to look sharply to find signs of spring on fruit and vegetable counters this week. Many of our basic imports are between crops and some prices are inflated as produce distributors scramble to keep our stores supplied. One example: with asparagus scarce from Mexico, not plentiful from California, and still not ready to pick in New Jersey, importers are shopping wherever they can find this vegetable. I bought excellent asparagus from Spain in an IGA on the weekend. Strawberries from California are short and expensive, but quite good, especially if you sprinkle them with a little sugar an hour before you eat them. Raspberries from California and Mexico and blueberries from all over (Mexico, Florida, North Carolina and California) are both good buys. California sweet cherries are expected by next week. Watermelon season is coming on and prices for small and medium sizes have gone down since the Florida crop started appearing alongside Mexican melons.
One of the best bets for the freshest foods seems to be green housegrown products, such as the tomato, the English cucumber, and the bell pepper, all in good supply at fair prices. Tomatoes are particularly plentiful and seem to increase in variety and size week by week. An example is Wild Wonders, the name for little, hydroponic tomatoes under Ontario’s Sunset label. These red, orange, yellow and near-black tomatoes have good flavour and give a lift to a salad or crudité plate. Shoppers can prepare for more variety and quantity of Quebec hydroponic tomatoes now that Sagami, the big Laurentian tomato grower, has bought Savoura, longtime Quebec cherry tomato leader that declared bankruptcy in February.
Texas grapefruit are good, and clementines from Spain and Morocco continue to be good. I spotted French Granny Smith apples in a pile of grannies from Washington state and enjoyed them.