Market Minute: Markets are ideal for summer grilling promotions
Market Minute: Markets are ideal for summer grilling promotions
Now that the weather is hotter with brighter and longer days, your customers are set for backyard grilling of fresh veggies that are healthy and nutritious. That means the summertime fun has begun and will run all the way to Labor Day — and even beyond.
Grilling goes back to the 1600s in the Caribbean and South America where the tribe’s placed meat on flaming sticks. They called it Barbacoa. In 1897, a gentleman named Ellsworth Zwoyer designed charcoal briquettes. Backyard grilling actually kicked off in the late 1940s shortly after WWII. Today, there are gas, charcoal and electric grills.
Here are the markets on some popular vegetables people enjoy grilling alongside those steaks, hamburgers and hot dogs.
- Potato demand is moderate, market steady with larger sizes tight.
- Yellow onions are showing a heavy supply with a lighter demand.
- Sweet corn is in good supply out of Georgia on yellow, white and bicolor for the east. In the west, white corn is mostly available with yellow and bicolor short.
- Broccoli volume is a little short for the next couple weeks. Demand will exceed for a short while.
- Asparagus supply is available from multiple sources, especially local regions. Production has decreased.
- Cauliflower is in good supply with excellent quality.
- Zucchini and yellow squash are available out of Georgia and California.
- Eggplant is being supplied out of Georgia and the desert west.
- Green peppers are in a lighter supply both in the east and west with high demand.
- Mushrooms are in good supply with excellent quality.
Your suppliers can fill you in with additional items, volume, quality, and prices.
Ron Pelger is a produce industry adviser and industry writer. He can be contacted at 775/843-2394 or by e-mail at [email protected].
