Fresh Produce by Oakleaf European

Lychee The late variety Wai Chee is arriving by air from South Africa. A rounder fruit that is slightly sharper to taste than the popular Mauritius variety. We expect sea-freight MacLean this week too. Cucumber French naked cucumbers smell great! Unlike the Spanish wrapped product, these really stimulate the senses. They have been going for [...]

Fruit & Mushroom We are moving closer to the citrus season with Spanish lemons almost ready as these leafy ones show the colour is still a little green! Clementines, however, are superb already and the early variety ClemenRubi is proving a real winner. Today saw the first arrival of grapefruit from Florida. A pale pink at [...]

A few changes again as we really move to autumnal weather. Peach and nectarines are mostly Italian now and this is a sure sign we are starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel. A good year but time to move on now. Mushrooms are coming into their own too. Great girolle can be sourced [...]

ruit & Mushroom A couple of Autumnal signs have appeared this week on the market. The increasing volume of wild mushroom and today the first Quince! We are now offering eight different kinds of wild mushroom, or nine if you count both colours of chanterelle. The late summer or early autumn fruit is changing too. Stone [...]

Fruit & Mushroom An attractive display that captures the moment – some late apricots that have a fantastic blush and the start of the Muscat de Hambourg grape season. It is a variety that is renown for its intense flavour. Other French grapes include Prima and the white Ora but this is not as appealing as [...]

Fruit & Mushroom We have had a flash of summer changes in mushrooms with good cepes available for a day! French girolle is growing, but a bit large and Scottish Highland girolle should be with us before the next Newsletter. Grapes origins are changing (Moscatel in particular had become very poor) and Italy and now [...]

Fruit & Mushroom In an attempt to try and get away from talking about stone fruit so much, we will start with citrus! Not thought about so much at this time of year but we have now moved away from Spain for lemons and are offering superb Eureka from Argentina which is more perfumed, has [...]

Fruit and Mushrooms It must all be about stone fruit at the moment! Cherries are everywhere although there never seems to be enough and it is a mad scramble to get the best fruit each morning. A local grower has defied the predictions and we can now offer his produce in a +34 calibre – it [...]

Truffle The summer truffles are now ripe enough to start supplying so now is the time to enjoy them. Paler and less pungent than the winter ones, they are becoming increasing popular because of their lower price and for their simple flavour. Girolle French girolle mushrooms from the Sologne region are pretty good this week [...]

Apricot The selection is growing a little now and we have the loose packed Currot (a paler apricot but it can have some flavour when ripe), and cell-packed fruit of a high quality such as these Sunsweet. The fruit has a lovely blush and will be great to eat when fully mature. Edibal Flowers Two [...]