February Seasonal Produce Picks
Are you taking advantage of what’s in peak season each month? Are you creating incremental sales by promoting some items that may not be mainstream, but that your customers might try if you explain the seasonal nature or introduce them to an item at its best quality and flavor?
These fruits and vegetables are typically at their best during February! Have your produce department become known as a seasonal food destination!
CA Blood (Moro) Oranges
Blood Oranges are variety of orange with red flesh that has rich flavors of berry and pomegranate to complement its sweet citrus taste – and they are in peak season during February and March.
Slice a Blood Orange each day and overwrap it to show off on your display so customers can see the gorgeous color.
FL Pink/Red/Dark Sweet Grapefruit
February is National Grapefruit Month! Red, Pink and Ruby varieties of Grapefruit from citrus groves in prime growing regions in Florida and Texas are their very best right now. California Grapefruit are also in season, so, if you only like Grapefruit when it is sweet and mild – February though March is your time!
CA Navel Oranges
There’s nothing quite like a sweet and juicy Navel Orange from California. The classic citrus flavor and seedless flesh makes for a satisfying snack, a little piece of sunshine for your day. The best-tasting and best-looking Navel Oranges of the season are available from January through April.
CA Cara Cara Oranges
On the outside Cara Cara Oranges look exactly the same as regular Navels. Inside the beautiful and exciting differences are revealed. Cara Cara Oranges have pink to light red flesh which is seedless like normal Navels, but the straight-forward sweetness is balanced by a mild Strawberry to Cranberry-like finish.
CA Minneola Tangelos
A cross between a Tangerine and a Grapefruit, Tangelos are juicy and have a vibrant, mostly sweet orange flavor with a distinct tangerine tanginess. Dark orange-skinned Minneola Tangelos from California, distinguished by their stem & end knob, are now in the peak of their growing season.
CA W. Murcott Mandarin
True Clementine variety Mandarins from California are, in fact, out of season.
Now what? There’s a fresh crop variety of Mandarin now in season from citrus groves in California’s San Joaquin Valley = W. Murcott Mandarins. With the W. Murcott variety, California Mandarins have entered their “second” peak season and should taste good through early April. These citrus fruits are small and rather flat, have bright orange skin and deep golden-orange flesh, are sweet and extremely juicy, feature a rich citrus flavor and are mostly seedless.
Halos, Sunkist Smiles, and other branded California Mandarin packs will feature W. Murcott Mandarins during the late winter and early spring.
CA Kumquats
Well, in spite of being the one of smallest citrus fruits, Kumquats are big on flavor. Bursting with citrus intensity, these mini, bite-sized citrus fruits have sour-sweet flesh with edible skins. Yep, you eat them whole! – rind, flesh, small seeds ‘n all for a rush of sweet-tart zippiness.
Hass Avocados
They have creamy texture and rich taste great are excellent on salads, sandwiches, in dressings and smoothies and as topping for savory dishes.
And for the Big Game, millions upon millions of pounds of fresh guacamole will be enjoyed made with peak season organic and conventional avocados from Mexico.
ID Russet Potatoes
February is Potato Lovers Month! Idaho growing conditions are ideal for producing nice quality Russet Potatoes that have low moisture content making them fluffier (think baked or mashed), less likely to absorb oil (think fried or in casseroles) and easier to get crispy (think roasting and frying).
Sweet Mini Peppers
Sweet Mini Peppers continue to grow in popularity thanks to their convenience and flavor. Why? It is a convenient snack-ready pepper.
The peppers are one to four inches long and a mix of Red, Yellow and Orange colors. Inside, the seeds are few and high up in the so you can basically hold the stem and chomp away on the sweet-tasting, vitamin-rich flesh!
Colored Cauliflower, Cauliflower
Green (aka Broccoflower or Green Goddess), Orange (aka FiestaFlower, Cheddar Cauliflower) and Purple Cauliflower essentially taste like good old White Cauliflower, but the color pop and nutritional boost they add to dishes make them exciting vegetables.
February is a time of peak production on White and Colored Cauliflower from California and Arizona.
What are some of the hot trends related to Cauliflower?
Pizza crusts made with crumble cauliflower, buffalo sauce covered roasted cauliflower and mash cauliflower.