Imported Citrus

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Westlake Weekly Update 6.16.20

Featured Item: Imported Citrus 

Our summer fruit bowl runneth over, with the abundance of stone fruit, berries, and melons available.  We have enjoyed everything from grilled watermelon to strawberry shortcake this last month.  As we sit and wonder what’s next,  we get a craving for something tart, acidic, and sweet.  What we realize is missing is citrus! Oranges and tangerines in general.  Where have all our favorite easy peeling juicy citrus gone?  Our heads were turned to the new kids on the block such as cherries, but let us not forget our citrus tastes.  The delightful little clementines and tangy tangerines are a winter fruit in the U.S.  Thankfully, companies like Westlake make it possible to enjoy our cold weather friends even in the summer months!

Imported citrus fills our grocery shelves, fridges, and cravings for those round plump navel oranges.  We live in such a time that most any fruit or vegetable can be available to us year-round.  As we enjoy the fruits of summer, don’t forget about the “oh so good for you” citrus!

Before we get into imports, California still has some offerings.  For instance, California mandarins are available but ending soon.  You won’t want to miss out on the last of these beauties.  Gold Nuggets are on the final floor count for this week.  Don’t be concerned that the last of these citrus is less than quality.  All the mandarins have continued to look and eat amazing!

Our growers in Chile and Peru are bagging mandarins and are available now.  The demand continues to look good in these early imports.  The Chilean fruit is looking fantastic and with a good run on size.  The Peruvian clementines are peaking on 32s and larger sizes.  They have excellent eating quality.  Call us now for availability on the 2lb and 3lb bags. As July hits, we expect to see the first of the Peruvian mandarins and minneolas.   

The Daisy tangerine from Australia will be available by July 6th.  The packed style on our imported mandarins and tangerines is a 10kg carton, which is equivalent to 22lbs.  If you’re looking for summer promotions, give us a call for availability and special pricing.

The navels from California are finishing up in the next 10 days.  The most prevalent sizes remaining are the 48s and 40s.  Small sizes are available but limited.  As we finish with the California navels, our growers in Australia and Chili will have navels available on the West coast by July 6th.  We are the best contact for imported navels and Cara Caras for the summer months.

Westlake will have California Valencia oranges available.  This is a good alternative for the  California variety and can fill the gap until we receive our imported navels.  

Grapefruit is selling great!  The demand exceeds supply on what is being harvested each week in California.  The Star grapefruit is eating and looking very good right now.  Get some while you can!  We expect the season to end in the next couple of weeks.  The Marsh pink grapefruit will become available by mid-July.  We anticipate the high demand to continue on this variety.

As more and more restaurants are reopening, we will see an increase in demand for lemons in the foodservice sector.  Summer has not slowed down the demand for California lemons either.  We expect the market prices on lemons to continue to rise.  Our imported lemons from Argentina have started to arrive on the East coast.  We expect to see the arrival of Chilean lemons on the West coast by the end of July.

Any way you slice it, Westlake has you covered for your citrus needs.  As we say farewell to our California citrus, we have our imports ready to fill your shelves.  Give us a call anytime for more information on our imports.  We look forward to meeting your needs!

Potatoes and Onions:

The russet potato market is quietly rolling along with good quality and availability for this time of the year.  We are starting to see some signs of strength in the market with the larger cartons of russets. We have great quality and availability in the colored potato market as well.  Kern County, California is in full production with red, white, and yellow potatoes.

Central California is hitting its stride on new crop white, yellow, red, and sweet onions.  The quality and availability from our growers are excellent!  We still have a few growers in the Northwest packing yellow onions, but the quality has not been as consistent.

Latin Items:

Westlake has new crop tomatillos and jalapenos available out of Northern Baja now.  They are just begging to be roasted or diced into a yummy salsa or topped off in a margarita!  We expect pasilla peppers to be approximately one week out.  

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