What’s new from Clements Wholesale Fruit & Veg this month…
Well what a month March turned out to be! We hope that when you are reading this that you are safe & well, it has been (& continues to be) a difficult time for so many & so unprecedented.
A mix of panic buying & shoppers looking for outlets closer to home has meant that smaller, local, retailers have seen demand for produce in their stores soar. This has kept the Clements Wholesale Fruit & Veg team extremely busy, working 12 hour shifts through the night to keep the supply chain going.
Of course the hope is that when government movement restrictions are lifted & shoppers feel safe to visit supermarkets once again that they will remember the local stores & farm shops that kept high quality, fresh produce on the shelves throughout this crisis, & that they will continue to support them. We can only cross our fingers & wait & see. In the meantime here at Clements Wholesale Fruit & Veg we will continue to supply high quality produce & to deliver 6 days a week to throughout Lincolnshire (& beyond).
April is traditionally the time when the wholesale markets pick up speed & new lines arrive thick & fast as the weather warms up. The Spanish soft fruit season is already well underway & the strawberries & raspberries that we have seen so far have been great quality – plus they look stunning…
It is the tail end of the season for easy peelers, so do order a box or two while you still can. Other exotic highlights include pineapples, although they are available 12 months of the year this is their peak season in South & Central America so their flavour is fantastic.
Continental salad crops are also looking really good & demand will rise as the weather warms & shoppers switch from winter veg to salad items. Cypriot new potatoes are already available but with the current focus on bulk buying we are yet to see the season take off as consumers are sticking to larger sacks of main crop potatoes. Look out for peas & broad beans soon too – we will let you know as soon as they are available.
British lines for April include kale, cabbages, cauliflowers, celeriac & swede. Being based in the heart of the veg growing county of Lincolnshire means that we can source many of these direct from local growers, keeping supply chains short & offering exceptionally high quality produce to our customers.
This is also a pivotal time for British rhubarb as the season swings from indoor forced to the cheaper outdoor crop. These outdoor varieties have thicker stems & a slightly different flavour but they’re still just as delicious!
Of course April means English asparagus, the warmer weather will hopefully mean an early start to the season & we will let you know as soon as it is available. To receive updates straight in to your inbox so you are one of the first to know about new products subscribe to our newsletter here.
See you next month – we are already looking forward to asparagus in abundance & the first of the Spanish stone fruits.
In the meantime do get in touch with us. The team at Clements Wholesale Fruit & Veg are always happy to answer queries, source new products or show you around our premises in Spalding, Lincolnshire.