Mexico, Florida freezes affecting produce supplies in Maine (houses, buying)

[Coaster]

For anyone who was wondering about the rapidly declining selection and quality of produce in Maine supermarkets lately, Sysco Foods sent out a notice a few days ago warning of 80-100 percent losses in major produce-growing regions in Mexico. That's on top of the losses in Florida from the earlier freeze there. I've noticed green strawberries and oranges, as well as other produce that left a lot to be desired.

Frozen or canned for the immediate future, I guess, plus whatever we can grow in greenhouses. Prices out of sight, I assume.

More at the link

Mexico loses 80-100% of crops to freeze, US prices to skyrocket

The cold weather experienced across much of the US in early February made its way deep into Mexico and early reports estimate 80-100 percent crop losses which are having an immediate impact on prices at US grocery stores with more volatility to come.
Wholesale food suppliers have already sent notices to supermarket retailers describing the produce losses in Mexico and the impact shoppers can expect. Sysco sent out a release(pdf) this week stating the early February freeze reached as far south as Los Mochis and south of Culiacan, both located in the state of Sinaloa, along the Gulf of California. The freezing temperatures were the worst the region has seen since 1957.

Add this to all the news about corn and wheat crop shortfalls globally, and we can start to see Maine's vulnerabilities in food supplies.

[Maineah]

Buy frozen stuff. I don't eat much asparagus, eggplant, green beans, or force ripened tomatoes anyway.

[cebdark]

Maybe it's just me, but I can recall a time when we bought seasonal produce. If it was on sale, we bought it and ate it. If it wasn't in season, we didn't eat it. Somehow, we survived.

It seems in the last 20 years or so, we've come to rely on a veritable cornucopia of fruits, etc. that were never available in our area before - displayed beautifully for our shopping enjoyment. Everything is available at our fingertips, and frankly, I think we're spoiled now.

Maybe we've come to being so used to having it all that we forget that we can do without once and a while?

Maybe it's just my inner "old poop" talking.

[starwalker]

Originally Posted by reloop

Maybe it's just me, but I can recall a time when we bought seasonal produce. If it was on sale, we bought it and ate it. If it wasn't in season, we didn't eat it. Somehow, we survived.

It seems in the last 20 years or so, we've come to rely on a veritable cornucopia of fruits, etc. that were never available in our area before - displayed beautifully for our shopping enjoyment. Everything is available at our fingertips, and frankly, I think we're spoiled now.

Maybe we've come to being so used to having it all that we forget that we can do without once and a while?

Maybe it's just my inner "old poop" talking.

Well let me join you in the "old poop" corner! It wasn't too many years ago when I looked forward to the beginning of asparagus season (in the grocers... we had moved from where we harvested bag upon bag of wild asparagus from along the irrigation ditches and roadsides). Nothing tasted as good as that first "mess" of creamed asparagus on toast with a side of deviled eggs! Now, they are there year round. I don't buy them out of season, but it's still not quite the same (except for the stalks that I will soon begin harvesting from my garden! They take a few years to get established.)

Winter, we had apples (buy a bushel of "keepers" and wrap each apple in newspaper to store down cellar or somewhere else cool) and an occasional orange or grapefruit which was a treat. A serving of juice (who remembers small "juice glasses" any more!) was a treat at breakfast "out" or on a weekend. Spring berries were eagerly anticipated, along with the first lettuces and other greens (this year I am planting "miners lettuce" an early wild green that the kids and I loved to find even as the snow was leaving when we lived out west) and the good things to eat continued as the seasons changed. Remember that first ripe tomato of the season? Waiting for the corn to "come on" and "thumping" the watermelons in the patch, waiting for that hollow sound that means it's ready?

Every season, even winter, using old fashioned storage methods, had sufficient variety to provide many vitamins, if you ate what was served.

But now, when it seems like everything has to always be "new, improved!!" and taste like something else (I hear of many families where the kids won't even consider "plain" chips!) I worry. I don't think it is going to be hard for us to have a good, varied and well balanced diet, even if the things we cannot, or don't yet grow or trade for, go through the roof. But then, I'm not only in the "old poop" corner, I've got at least one foot firmly in ancient history!

FWIW, at our farmers market stands, we are always teaching, sharing and encouraging our customers towards learning how easy it is to make great food, quickly, from fresh local ingredients.

[dmyankee]

Oranges have sucked for at least a year. I buy the Spanish Clementines now.

[Maine Writer]

Originally Posted by starwalker

Winter, we had apples (buy a bushel of "keepers" and wrap each apple in newspaper to store down cellar or somewhere else cool) and an occasional orange or grapefruit which was a treat.

The column I wrote a few days ago is about cooking from the cold cellar. I went down to get a week's worth of groceries from cold storage and the freezers and noticed something smelled "off." A couple of rutabagas were spoiling. Wow is that an awful odor. I started looking through everything. The pumpkins had soft spots so I froze what I had room for and fed the rest to the chickens and turkeys. There are just a few winter squash left. The apples didn't store well and are already gone. I made a mistake in harvesting. They were ripe early because of the early spring. I waited too long to pick them. The only apples left that we grew are in applesauce. The Russet potatoes are starting to sprout so I made a leek and potato soup with dried chanterells T picked last summer. We'll fill out the rest of winter with veggies I froze last summer while we wait for the high tunnels to start producing quickly.

[starwalker]

that's one way to rotate stuff.... Eat from the freezer and cellar, and then when things start having issues in the cellar, you have more room to freeze again, and less press of time than at peak harvest season.

I didn't grow potatoes this past year, but I am noticing that the local ones that I have been buying are wanting to sprout quickly.

[Three Wolves In Snow]

Originally Posted by Maine Writer

The column I wrote a few days ago is about cooking from the cold cellar. I went down to get a week's worth of groceries from cold storage and the freezers and noticed something smelled "off." A couple of rutabagas were spoiling. Wow is that an awful odor. I started looking through everything. The pumpkins had soft spots so I froze what I had room for and fed the rest to the chickens and turkeys. There are just a few winter squash left. The apples didn't store well and are already gone. I made a mistake in harvesting. They were ripe early because of the early spring. I waited too long to pick them. The only apples left that we grew are in applesauce. The Russet potatoes are starting to sprout so I made a leek and potato soup with dried chanterells T picked last summer. We'll fill out the rest of winter with veggies I froze last summer while we wait for the high tunnels to start producing quickly.

MaineWriter, I would love to read your column. Where can I find it? If you can't put it here on the forum, (in case it's considered advertising), will you PM it to me?

Thank you.

[Coaster]

Originally Posted by Maine Writer

The column I wrote a few days ago is about cooking from the cold cellar. I went down to get a week's worth of groceries from cold storage and the freezers and noticed something smelled "off." A couple of rutabagas were spoiling. Wow is that an awful odor. I started looking through everything. The pumpkins had soft spots so I froze what I had room for and fed the rest to the chickens and turkeys. There are just a few winter squash left. The apples didn't store well and are already gone. I made a mistake in harvesting. They were ripe early because of the early spring. I waited too long to pick them. The only apples left that we grew are in applesauce. The Russet potatoes are starting to sprout so I made a leek and potato soup with dried chanterells T picked last summer. We'll fill out the rest of winter with veggies I froze last summer while we wait for the high tunnels to start producing quickly.

Can I live at your house?

[Submariner]

Soon it will be fiddlehead season once again