Happy Thursday!
We're making our way toward February in a dash and hoping everyone is sticking strong with their resolutions! Ours, to name a few, include dedicating this year and beyond to our sustainability journey, connecting, growing and learning from our database of loyal shoppers, and continuing to bring quality, consistency and value to our team of partners. Whatever your resolutions are, we hope you hang on to them, and stop to enjoy the berries once in a while - we know we sure will!
For more information, including crop and weather reports, please scroll below.
Oxnard:
Mexico:
(Stay tuned for more Mexico region photos next week from our field team).
Blueberries:
Quality in Mexico has been very good, with organic production starting to pick up between now and mid-February. In South America, we are currently in peak arrival period out of Chile with quite a lot of fruit forecasted for the next two weeks. We received our first load of Chilean organics to Commercial OBC this week. Oxnard organics look very good at this time, and production is expected to increase this week.
Florida:
We have had a cold few days, with some mornings reaching the low 30s but luckily no damages to report. Moving forward, temperatures will be in the high 70s with lows in the 40s-50s and no significant rain on the forecast. Quality is really good and counts are 16-18 count, some 12-14. Organics are 16-20 and should continue this size through the Valentine's Day pull with large stems ahead for our fruit. Fields are loading up and we anticipate a lot of fruit ahead and a big push in volume over the next few weeks.
For up-to-date weather conditions in all of our growing regions, click on the region below. Wunderground.com is our go-to weather resource for fast and reliable weather updates.
Our 2020 Chef Invitational Top Chef Ambassador Chef Travis Peters of The Parish, Tucson is brewing up something extra special as part of his collaboration with Tucson, Arizona brewery 1912 Brewing Co. Guess what their sweet ingredient is? California Giant strawberries!
A Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Gose with California Giant Berry Farms strawberries, rhubarb, Mexican vanilla, and hints of graham crackers can be expected of one of their tasty beer options. The collaboration, partnership and recipe development goes far beyond the Chef Invitational summer event - as Chef Peters proves to continue to wear his ambassador 'hat' with pride and encourage berry usage beyond the norm in all aspects of his culinary endeavors, and even introducing berries to other chefs and vendors.
Along with some decadent new beer flavors featuring California Giant berries - the chef also plans to offer four carefully curated dishes to accompany the 1912 brews, with tickets on sale now for their February 12th Dinner Pairing in Tucson. If you're in the Tucson area, we highly recommend checking it out and snagging your tickets quick.
Cheers!
And as Chef Peters says.. Rock on Tucson!
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