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Watsonville-Salinas:
Santa Maria:
Temperatures have fluctuated in our Santa Maria region with temperatures the next seven days to stagger in the 70s with potential for minor showers Monday. Nighttime temperatures will be in the 40s mostly with winds on the horizon for the first part of next week. Our conventional Portola quality is looking good, with crooked fruit here and there but nothing significant. The fruit is sensitive in the afternoons but counts are holding between 14-16 and 22-24 depending on the ranch. The Monterey conventional crop is mostly 18-22 with some crooked and bruised fruit here and there due to the recent warm temperatures, and volumes are actually decreasing slightly. The organic fall crop looks nice with a wide range of counts from 14-16 and 18-24. Our spring San Andreas is on the smaller, softer side at 28-32 but we have some nice flowers coming in soon. Labor remains fine and we are getting ahead of schedule when we can to beat any foreseen weather hurdles. We will begin planting Fronteras on October 19th.
Blueberries:
Oregon:
Volume in Oregon is winding down and we plan to pack two loads this week and two loads next week. Most of the remaining fruit will be the Aurora variety.
Mexico
Mexico is packing light volumes and quality is looking good. We anticipate light volumes from now through December, with production to ramp up after that from January - April.
We have received a small volume of Argentina/Uruguay fruit on the East Coast, with small volumes to continue to arrive there through week the next few weeks. Reports on quality are good. We’ll start receiving bulk fruit from South America to pack in Florida during late December- early January months, which will give us flexibility on pack styles and help improve quality.
Mexico:
Mostly all Central Mexico regions are experiencing chilly afternoons with scattered rainfall and partly cloudy skies. As far as temperatures go, most regions are ranging form the 60s-80s, with Maravatio having cooler mornings in the high 40s. This weekend, all regions are predicted to have storms and lower temperatures, with conditions to normalize after that.
Blueberries -
The volume of fruit received was reduced to ensure the quality of the fruit. We have fruit with good bloom, firmness, and correct weights. The cloudy weather and chill in the morning and afternoon is slowing the ripening of the fruit but ensuring good size in the fruit we are receiving. The organic production should be steady for the next two weeks.
![blue 39[1]](https://trade.calgiant.com/hs-fs/hubfs/blue%2039%5B1%5D.jpg?width=550&name=blue%2039%5B1%5D.jpg)
![straw 39 1[1]](https://trade.calgiant.com/hs-fs/hubfs/straw%2039%201%5B1%5D.jpg?width=550&name=straw%2039%201%5B1%5D.jpg)
![straw 39[1]](https://trade.calgiant.com/hs-fs/hubfs/straw%2039%5B1%5D.jpg?width=550&name=straw%2039%5B1%5D.jpg)
![rasp 39 1[1]](https://trade.calgiant.com/hs-fs/hubfs/rasp%2039%201%5B1%5D.jpg?width=550&name=rasp%2039%201%5B1%5D.jpg)
![black 39[1]](https://trade.calgiant.com/hs-fs/hubfs/black%2039%5B1%5D.jpg?width=550&name=black%2039%5B1%5D.jpg)
South America:
In Peru we are experiencing mostly mild temperatures in the 60s-70s with partly sunny skies. We are seeing good quality out of our Biloxi variety in origin and in arrivals. Warm temperatures have allowed normal harvest advance so far. In Argentina/Uruguay we are experiencing mostly sunny days and warm temperatures in our main harvest zones - with temperatures ranging from low 70s-high 80s, and in the 90s in some regions. The Salto-Concordia is still the main area of harvest and shipments nowadays, with Snowchaser as the main variety. Scintilla and Sapphire are adding to the harvest, and the remainder of the varieties could start this weekend of next. We are seeing good quality at this time.
Florida:
Weather in Florida has been in the 90s during the day and 70s at night. We are forecasted to have a slight cooling trend come October with temperatures ranging in the 80s with nighttime lows in the 60s with even a few showers, which will be good in relieving any stress from the plants. We begin planting on Monday and are looking forward for our harvest to begin in a few weeks! Photo updates to follow as our crop starts to kick off.
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 2019 Chef Invitational and California Giant Top Chef Ambassador Travis G. Peters is bringing the heat today about what's currently hot on his menu at his Tucson restaurant The Parish, and some of the inspiration from his hometown that translates into his creative dishes.
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CG MKTG: Hello Chef Peters! Thanks for taking the time to chat with me a bit today. I want to start off by asking how your Chef Invitational winning recipe has been received on your menu since returning back to Tucson from the competition?
Chef Peters: Likewise! People love it, it immediately became one of our bestselling menu items! I did make a couple slight changes because my original Chef Invitational recipe was made in a quick-fire format with only a couple hours to prepare and unlike the Chef Invitational, at The Parish, I have the luxury of time. For the restaurant’s version, our hot sauce is fermented for several weeks. We also brine chicken in blueberry sweet tea for 24 hours instead of braising quail. Finally we smoke the chicken for an extra layer of flavor. The end result is a lightly smoked luscious, juicy chicken with a lovely sweet blueberry undertone. We finish the bird with a raspberry dill barbecue sauce and lay it over some of our yummy black and blue brussels sprouts, and finally put the quick pickled berries on top along with fresh herbs! The flavor combinations & textures are perfect and I’m very proud of it!
CG MKTG: I am sure people love this recipe - we sure did at the event just a few months ago! In what other ways are you utilizing berries on your menu currently? Any ‘favorite’ applications or a berry-inspired dish that stands out, and why?
Chef Peters: Wow, where do I begin? I put berries everywhere! On our new menu, we feature them fresh, pickled, in our raspberry dill barbecue sauce, multiple fermented hot sauces, we use them to brine and we have been infusing berries with various liquors as part of our cocktail program for all 8 years we’ve been open.
I currently have two favorite berry-inspired menu items.
The first is our blueberry pickled red onions that top our giant beef short rib. It’s a very delicious and surprising flavor that brings the whole dish together with its sweet acidity, plus the color is so intense - I just love it!
The second is our award-winning black and blue brussels sprouts. We fry the brussels sprouts & then toss them in our fermented black and blueberry hot sauce along with fresh herbs and spiced pecans. They have quickly become a crowd favorite! Because we ferment our hot sauce for several weeks, the berries develop beautiful, funky, tart and sweet notes that go perfectly with the sweet heat of the habanero pepper - not to mention the deep, dark, intense natural purple hue from the berries is absolutely beautiful! We also bottle this sauce to sell at the restaurant and we have a hard time keeping it on the shelves because of its high demand!
CG MKTG: I want some of that blueberry hot sauce! What inspires you about where you live (Tucson) and how does this translate into your new menu?
Chef Peters: My family has been in Tucson since the 1870s, so everything about this city influences me and I owe this everything! Tucson has been fortunate enough to have both immigrant and local influences since its inception. From the indigenous Tohono O'odham, & Pascua Yaqui Indians to the Spanish colonials who brought spice trade or the European, African & Chinese Americans who came here to help build our railroads, many of which settled here, thus helping influence our rich multi-cultural city. Because of this, Tucson is an amazing melting pot of culture and cuisine, and has been recognized by UNESCO as Americas first creative city of gastronomy!
Growing up around Tucson’s predominant Sonoran cuisine has been a blessing because it is filled with rich, delicious, bold flavors that have had a huge influence on myself, my cuisine & generally anyone who lives or visits here. Currently, you can find Tucson flavors on my menu through our use of Sonoran tones to create familiar flavors with our own take on it. For example, those blueberry pickled onions I mentioned earlier are a direct tipping of the hat to pickled red onions that you will find at any taco stand in Tucson & our Tamarindo vinaigrette is influenced by my favorite Mexican candy that I would get at the swap meet as a boy!
However, my favorite Tucson influenced menu item is a bold approach to a local favorite sometimes called Mexican street corn or more appropriately, Elote. Elote is wildly popular in Tucson & we put our own southern spin on this Tucson favorite by infusing traditional Elote with an almost forgotten southern dish known as sour corn, which is simply fermented corn. We took the influence of both of these two cultural dishes to create our Sour street corn. We ferment whole corn on the cob with fresh chilies and other aromatics for several days. Finally, we grill the corn to order with sea salt and butter and finish them with habanero aioli, fresh cilantro, crumbled pork rinds, local goat cheese, southern style hot sauce and grilled lime! It is a perfect marriage of our Southern style restaurant and the Tucson flavors I grew up eating!
A Glance at The Parish's New Menu:
Butter, habanero aioli, Louisiana hot sauce, cilantro, chicharron, crumbled local goat cheese.
Candied pecans, cilantro, and black & blue berry hot sauce.
Raspberry dill barbecue sauce, spicy black & blue brussels, candied pecans, pickled berries, cilantro.
Blue cheese hominy saute, Dr. Pepper demi-glace, blueberry pickled red onions, chimichurri.
We love that our 2019 Chef Ambassador is bold, creative and inspiring both inside and out of the kitchen. Heading to PMA Fresh Summit in Anaheim in a few weeks? Stop by our booth #2961 to meet Chef Peters in person and pick his brain about his culinary creations.
Stay tuned for more from Chef Peters next week in this two-part interview series!
"California Giant Team - thank you for the great quality berries received here at DC6082 today (Saturday, 9-21-19). We appreciate the efforts of all your team members to delivery top quality strawberries. Much appreciated, Frank Sears, Assistant Quality Control Manager Walmart Food Team DC 6082"
