Citrus

In this late January, when the weather is cold, snowy or rainy, we all expect a piece of sun and some heat... Citrus are those products that remind us that along the Mediterranean sea, the weather still quite warm... and we appreciate the sun contained in such fruits.

Now are available on the market:

• Blood Oranges, finally the season starts...
• Malt Oranges 
• Bitter/Sevillan Oranges
• Organic Oranges with leaves
• Organic Lemon with leaves
• Lemon from Nice/Menton with leaves
• and the very flavoured "Hand Of Budha" Lemon. You have to tell all your customer to taste this one. This citrus is appreciated for its skin to prepare sauces, chutneys, jam or desserts. 

Please ask for details.

Good Afternoon, you all.

I know that's for many of you this week is the last one before next year... but before you go, let's have a look on the poultry available for Xmas.

For the blog, it is also the end of its life... a new one is on is way for next year. With more informations about Rungis and Crenn import-Export potentials, more pictures, downloadable documents... new tools for a better communication, for you, for your customers.

If you don't come before hloidays... We, all Crenn Import Team, wish you a merry Xmas and an Happy New year.

What about exotic fruits?

As this weeks doesn't change a lot from what I'd said last week, let's talk about exotic fruits.

First of all, some quick notes about the market:

• Beausse stop today for all the winter, they will be back late march
• Litchees just start
• Lemon from Nice (with leaves), available but a bit green
• Clementines with leaves from Corsica are there
• French Chanterelles a bit more expensive, but with the quality - Be careful, not a lot of these.

Since a moment, I'm looking around the market to find a good supplier for exotics - a large range, good quality and if possible prices (really not the easiest): I took some pictures about what is already available. Please see below the slideshow.

The easiests to get for us are:

• Pineapples (By air or by boat, sweet, bottle, Victoria, Baby Victoria, ...)
• Mangoes ( Kent, Osteen, ... by air, boat, from Africa, South America...)
• Litchees (from now, with branch or not)
• Physallis
• Dattes 

If you have any demand, please let us know, we will find for you the products.

New "roots" available on the market.

Bonjour Everybody,


By this end of the week, I've noticed some interesting new items for you:

• "Oca du Pérou": This is a nice stem by its colours (yellow/pink). It surpasses now the potatoes on Andean slopes... Edible steamed or raw, the flavour is tangy, and the texture is crunchy like carrots (when undercooked) to starchy or mealy when full cooked.

• "Boulette de Bussy": Now available, this is a kind of turnip, green. This turnip is sweetened and its hazelnut taste is much more sweet in mouth than the regular turnip. This variety comes from only Champagne area.

• "Navet du Pardailhan": Another kind of  turnip from the Hérault department (close Montpellier). Ths is a long black turnip, with a taste going from hazelnut to mushroom with a slight smell of truffle. The taste is very subtle. This year, due to the dry weather, the crop will not be important, but the quality muste be there.

• Salicornia: you know all of this plant which grows where there is salted waters like in the marhes. This one, comes from Israël. It taste less the sea than the one we are used to find on the seashore of Brittany... but still nice to go with fish, salads ...

• Striped courgettes: That's like ordinary courgettes... just with pale green stripes on the skin.

• Truffle from Burgondy: Already available since a while, they looked nice this morning and made me think that Celebrations are coming quite fast and to remember you that Truffle from Perigord are not expected before January.

• Large Porto Bello: Just to let you know that Butet has a new supplier for Porto Bello from Poland and they are huge, seems to be the real ones. Price same as usual.

What a quiet market...

Good morning,

Since two weeks, the market is very quiet... so this morning only few things to tell you about fruits and vegetables.

Season is now over for coco paimpolais, almost over (and prices increasing) for Muscat grape

Fine beans from Kenya: the product is quite rare as the weather overthere is very bad... so price is up.

Some new items will start soon like "boulette de Bussy" which is a kind of turnip, "navet du Pardailhan" an other kind of turnip but I will give you informations as soon as I can.

The season for the raf tomato "the pata negra of the tomatoes" has just started but prices still very high and I prefer wait before buying them.

that's all folks

Bonjour tout le monde,

It's time for the traditional "Rungis Market Friday Report". What do we have today for you?

Let's start by the most interesting: the fruits:

Exotic fruits are back on the front of the shelves:

• Pineapples from Cameroun, by air, per 6 or 12 pcs 
• Victoria from Mauritius per 7 pcs
• Baby Victoria per 8 or 10 pcs (depending of the size)
• Mangoes (Osteen)
• Persimmon fruits
• Kiwi (with red heart... a wild kiwi from china, very tasty, but go fast, the season doesn't last)

Citrus are now good, flavoured and sweet enough:

• Oranges in 16kg bushels (approx. 65 pcs)
• Grapefruits in bushels of 40 or 48 pcs
• Clementines with or without leaves (Spain, Italy)
• Lemons without treatment...

Other:

• Melons, prefer italian ones to the one from Morrocco even if price is not cheap
• Quinces: still good
• Cranberries for Thanksgiving and to go with games

Now it's also time to stop thinking about figs and plum... we won't be able to guarantee availabality, quality and prices.

Regarding the vegetables, nothing really new but some interesting products like:

• Small savoy cabbages and cauliflowers (not baby)
• Cabbage in bunch
• Khol Rabi
• Coloured cauliflowers (but price is expensive)
• Coloured carrots mix
• Japanese artichokes
• Helianthis (kind of jerusalem artichokes)
• Italian salads like raddichio: offer will increase in the next days.... so we can expect a price decreasing.

Mushrooms: It's still hard to tell you about ceps. This is not a good year for ceps, the weather is not accurate for good quality. For all the other wild mushrooms, Yellow Chanterelles and girolles 'small, not pine head) are my favourites at the moment.

As you know, we are able to provide you customized mix by 1, 2 or 3 kg.

This friday, in Rungis.

Hi!

Waouw, that's already end of the week and time to update the blog... Time goes so fast...

This week I have noticed many interesting products on the market.

Vinas has a very nice range of Raddichio, this red/yellow salads. As the crop has just started, it stills a bit expensive.
we can find:....

Still with Vinas, they start also to sell a selection of chinese cabbage.

As I told you the week before, now it's the plenty season for roots: chervil, parsley, turnips... and since this week the japanese artichokes aka "Knotroots". The Knotroots are firm and with a nice white color. In my opinion, this is a good products to put on the menu.

Regarding the other products, if you want to change from Coco de Paimplol, why not trying "Haricots Tarbais" which is quite similar, but different, available with Butet.

We are now between 2 seasons for the fruits: summer fruits are definitly over, we have to go on winter fruits such as fresh walnuts, chestnuts, pears and apples and you can try citrus like clementines.

A good thing to match with games: cranberry are now available in 340g bag, possible to buy per unit.

Currently, I'm sourcing a tropical fruit supplier, if you have any interest, please let us now what kind of products are mor suitables for you.

What's interesting this week?

At that time of the year, how surprising it can be, people want some change in their way of clothing, but also in what they eat... Goodbye salads, tomatoes and cucumber, welcome cabbage, cauliflower and squashes... ok, ok, it's not so true, but from what i've seen on the market, it's what I found the most interesting to talk about.

This week, I've never seen so much kind of squahes:
- Butternut
- Spaghetti
- Patti Pan
- Onion squash (Potimarron)
- Muscade Pumpkin
- Extra-Large pumkin (over 100kg)
- Mini Pumpkin
- Coloquintes
- "Pommes d'or"
- "Bonnets de Turcs" / "Culs de macaques" (no pictures available at the moment)
- ...

Another thing testify of the come back of automn veggies: the roots. Are now available and good in quality:
- Parsley roots
- Chervil roots
- Parsnips
- Turnip "golden beetroot"/ "Boule d'or"
- Crapaudine Beetroot
- Jerusalem artichokes
- Salsifi and Scorsonere
...

To finish about seasonnal veggies, let's talk about cauliflowers and cabage. All of them are on the market:
- Cauliflowers: White, purple, yellow/orange,
- Broccoli, Romanesco (Think organic with MAS Hotgame)
- Savoy, green, red cabage...

Before to write some few thing about the fruit market, I want to let you know Grey Chanterelles are now arrived from Sweden or Bulgaria. The sylvester offer is mainly coumpounds of:
- Girolles (Scotland, Sweden, France, and Bielorussia)
- Chanterelles (Sweden, Bulgaria)
- Pieds de Moutons (Bulgaria)
- Trompettes (Bulgaria)

- Ceps must be checked every day...

Regarding the fruits, forget peaches and nectarines, but while we wait for citrus, think apples, pears, quinces and some plums . The must at the moment is:
- Wet walnut from Périgord, and soon from Grenoble (AOC)
- Chestnut from Ardèche.
- Figs from Sollies (still incredible taste, much more better than spanish one, and not so expensive for the quality).

We start to see some oranges, grapefruits and other clementines, but may be we have to wait at least 2 weeks more.

One strange fruit: Kiwai which is a kind of mini kiwi...

When school starts again...

Good morning dear reader, 

After a busy week, I'm pleased to tell you what's on the market:

On the fruits and veg market, the offer is slowly moving from summer to autumn... Peaches and nectarines are ending, it's hard to find products ripe enought but new fruits start again:

- Wet Walnut in bag from Périgord and in the next weeks from Grenoble. I've seen also the first chestnust on the market but unfortunately not with our suppliers.

- Hazelnuts, the season is over but undried hazelnut still

- Grapes: it's the full season for the french and italian. We have very nice varieties for you: Muscat, Lavallé, Centeniale... 

- Citrus: I saw and tatse this week some Clemenvilla and oranges from spain very nices 

- Plum like Mirabelles, Reine Claude still nice and tasty

- And of course the figs from Sollies which are EXCELLENT this year

Regarding the vegetables, since 2 weeks, we are able to suppl "Coco de Paimpol" in 5kg bags which are more suitable for restaurants. 

- Smoked garlic is available by 10 rows (approx 1kg each)

- pink, purple and Lautrec garlic are now available

-Squash like muscade pumpkin, butternut and patissons are very good and the fist colocynths are not there.

-Mushrooms: Weather is very dry in Europe all the mushrooms are not on the market.

- Cepes are available but we can't gauranty if there are worms or not; Tha quality is very nice and firm when they are fresh... I don't know yet how they evolve with the time

- Girolles: from Scotland and Sweden... and eastern europe

- Pieds de moutons very nice.

Next week, I'll write a word about Alvidis and their new range from Laffite...

The smell of the end of holidays...

This week some new products have appeared on the market that make me think we are close to the end of summer holidays... 1. Figs from Sollies First of all, i would like to write about the FIGS from Sollies. Sollies is a small village near Toulon, south of France where from generation to generation a real know how is born about the production of figs: that's why they obtained in 2006 the right to use AOC label. What is peculiar about this fig? Known to be one of the best figs in the world, it looks like a purple to black droplet. Its pulp is fleshy and colored like strawberry jam. The smell is light, refined, with vegetable notes and fruits flavours like watermelon, strawberries, berries... the taste is well balanced between the sweetness of the pulp and the sourness of the juice, between the crunchy of the skin when you blow in and the smeltness of the pulp in your mouth. The figs are availables with Monloup in all the calibers, from now to mid-November.

2. Grapes Synonym of late summer, now you can find grapes in quantity:

• Lavallée: Black fruits, very sweetened, juicy, skin thick and with a lot of seeds
• Muscat : Black fruits, flavoured, thin skin and only few seeds
• Chasselas from Moissac: Gold coloured white grape, very sweet, thin skin and only few seeds
• Danlas: is derivated from Chasselas, less coloured, less sweetened but better preservation and fruits slightly biggers
• Exalta : Gold coloured white grape, very sweetened, with a pleasant perfume. soft seeds quite unperceivable during its consuption.

3. Mushrooms

Even if this week and probably next week the offer is very poor, we can expect to have nice girolles, cloves and medium, Trompette and pieds de mouton (medium to large)

Focus on Marius Auda

It's time to take advantage of a sleepy market in Rungis to tell you about some of our suppliers who are out of the market. This week, let's talk about Marius Auda.

Marius Auda is one of our suppliers in young leaves, fresh herbs and edible flowers.

This company is based around Nice since nearby 70 years, first as farmers, then, in the early 60's in market-gardening production and nowadays they produce and package a wide range of fresh herbs, young leaves and edible flowers.

At Marius Auda, quality is not only a principle, but a way of life. That's why they have chosen to control the production from the seed to the final product. Their know-how is unique:

•   in the way to prepare the soil
• Ploughing
• Steam desinfection
• Contribution of organic matters (fertilizer, compost)
• in the selection of the original plants
• Selection of the seeds
• guarantee of the variety and of the origins.
• in the system of production
• Greenhouse,
• Climate management (ventilation, heating, humidity...)
• Technological watch to get the best method of production
• in the follow-up of the production:
• Respect of the life cycle of the plants
• Management of the irrigation and of the treatments by plots
• Data-processing of the history of each plot
• Phytosanitary watch
• in the way to harvest the production
• Hand harvest of the herbs
• Meccanichal harvest for the salads
• Dexterity
• Plants are harvested at maturity by people who knows plants
• in the way to stock the raw materials
• Agreement
• Quality Control
• Storage in coolers
• Packaging
• pre-packed for fresh products
• ready to use packaging
• Traceability
• Complete from the seed to the sale of the final product
• Data-processing of all the farming
• Lot number on each pack, case, ...
• Sales
• To restaurants via wholesalers
• To consummers via supermarkets
• all across France and they export to Canada, Denmark, Italy, Germany and UK

For Crenn Import Export, Marius Auda is a strong partner. They are very attentive to your needs. If you want to have a specific mix of leaves, herbs or flowers, please ask, and we will see what we can do.

Regarding their range of products, because it is very wide, the best is to go on their website, lovely but unfortunately quite only in french. If you have any needs of translation, we are there fo that.

For your information there is a new products which is not on the website and which could be interesting, it's the organic liquorice stick in punnet of 50g minimum. See picture below.

News from the market

Morning!

End of july in Paris... this is the peak of summer holidays in France... for the next two weeks, the market will be slow, very slow... I'll be very carefull on your goods to avoid any problem.

Even if Rungis seems sleepy, we can find some interesting products:

• Peaches/Nectarines  are very good at the moment, the same for blood nectarine and peaches
• Plums: we can find Reine-Claude and Mirabelle but this is to avoid, it's not tasty. In fact the season is too early, wait 2 weeks more.
• Think about squashes (Potimarron and Butternut)

About the mushrooms, I've several things to say:

• Girolles: quality is back, and we have the very small in quantity.
• Ceps: From France... different size available, not too expensive... the ones I saw today were without worms.
• Trompettes: nice
• Pieds de mouton, I've seen the first ones this week, but not sure of the quality... let's check again next week.

Regarding the Roquette, it seems to be slightly better this friday, but I think we have to stay very attentives.

Please, have a look to the slide show below for the lastest photos.

Carefull on the roquette

Since few days we have bad feedback on the roquette production: holes, blackspots... the quality is not bad, but the aspect is not reaching the level our customers expect. Most of the production in Rungis comes from île de France and around.

For you, we have source an other place of production with Hotgame in Brittany but if the quality and the aspect are good, the quantity is not there.

As a conclusion, we advise you to avoid Roquette this week.

For further information please call us

New products on the market

Waouw! Even with a quiet market, this week is rich in surprises... lots of new items are back this week!

• Potimarron pumpkin
• Butternut squash
• Yellow Patisson
• Coloured carrots in bunches

and a new babyveg: red turnip and pink turnip

The best is to have a look to the pics.

Last news on the market

Good morning everybody.

Did you get a nice week-end?

This morning, I took time to speak with some suppliers and I've been told some few things interesting for you. Blood peaches are expected for this week with Monloup, may be blood nectarines aswell. This week, the ratio quality/price may be very interesting from what I've heard, and we must see the first black trumpets and pieds de mouton. Ceps should be available but quality... let's see!

Colours

This morning, while I was taking my pictures, thinking about a thema for the blog the idea to write about colours in fruits and vegetables came.

For exemple, since end of last week the first coloured cauliflowers are available in yellow and purple, you have also the romanesco with its green flower... To stay in this area of the market, what about potatoes? Truffle potatoes (Vitelotte), potatoes from Ile de Batz (yellow), "Oeil de perdrix" with its pink point.... Pink garlic from Tarn, purple, yellow, white onions,  so many colours to prepare nice dishes.

I'm not talking about the raddishes I showed you weeks before...

Regarding the fruits, season is ending for apricots (still available for few weeks, but the best is over) and plum are now very good: Golden Japan, Allo, Valery, Var ... Quetsches and Reine Claude.

Seasonal facts

Even if it is the best season for fruits and vegetables, Rungis starts to be quiet... summer holidays are very important for french workers, especially for parisians... ;-) so I've decided to write about some few facts about july.

I know some products I'll speak about are already on the market, but the real season must starts now...


Arrivals:

• Dairies:
  
• Reblochon
• Saint Nectaire
• Vegetables:
• Aubergine ... well, we can get it all the year, but the french one, from fields, starts.
• Fruits:
• Plums: Allo, Golden Japan, Santa Clara and Reine-Claude... the 2 firsts are already on the market since 2 weeks, but their taste is becoming good only now. I haven't seen yet the 2 others.

Stopping:

• Dairies: Cheeses from Northern and Eastern parts of France such as Munster, Epoisses or Langres
• Vegetables: in our countries, this is not the best season for the following products but nowadays...
• Spinach becomes more bitter
• Artichokes: Camus are now big, woody and streaked
• "Primeurs" : no more "primeurs" for legal reason since july 31st... but we can find "new"
• Fruits: Cherries will be more and more rare in the next weeks

Best in season:

• Dairies: 
• Camembert from Normandy (A.O.C)
• Pont L'évêque
• Livarot
• Ossau-Iraty (with black cherries jam.... mmmm ... a must)
• and all goat cheeses
• Vegetables:
• Beans: green, butter, coco.. quite all are there.
• Courgettes: round, long, yellow... 
• Tomatoes: it seems so weird to say that we are in the best season for tomatoes as we can see them all the year... but it's true. 
• Peppers: very good with tomatoes in salads or grilled on bbq...
• Gherkins: I've seen the first ones last week...
• Mushrooms: we may expect some french girolles and ceps end of the months, depending of the weather...

• Fruits:
• all berries
• Apricots
• All Melons
• Peaches, Nectarines

I hope these few remarks would help you...

On a monday morning updated a wednesday of july...

Hello everybody!

I hope the week end has been sunny and warm for you all.

Usually, on a monday morning there is quite nothing to say about the market, most of the time we can't find daily fresh products. But this morning, I've notice some "new" stuff in the shops:

- Coco Paimpolais --> the really first ones of the season
- "Belle de Fontenay" potatoes, season has started again
- French grapes (Ora and Prima)
- Plums "Allo" and Golden Japan

I'm sorry, I haven't any pictures this morning

New on the market

It's not often I can introduce really new products on my blog. Most of the fruits and veggies are now known except the ones created/selected by humans. Today I have 2 new items to write about:

The first one is multicoloured raddish: pink, white, yellow, ... the taste is the same as regular raddish but the colours give something peculiar in your dish. This product is available with Vinas

The second is a new hybrid between apricot and plum: Flavorella Plumcot.

 Extracted from internet : "Plumcots are a hybrid combination of a plum and an apricot. Predominantly plum-like, they have a smooth skin but look more like an apricot in terms of color. Beneath their beautiful golden yellow skin is a bright yellow flesh that offers a full-bodied, sweet flavor. These juicy fruits are brushed lightly with a food grade protective powdery coating that waterproofs them and prevents their skin from cracking. Their sugar content is much higher than standard plum or apricot varieties, producing fruit of incomparable sweetness. Great for eating out of hand, Melissa's Plumcots are also excellent with potatoes and cured meats such as pancetta, bacon and proscuitto .  "

After these "innovations" let's talk about products back on tha market: Cebette from Belgium Coloured carrots Butter Beans Cherries "Rainier" (red and yellow)