Winter warmers on track

An abundance of British vegetables are available during the winter months and the offer tends to dominate the fresh produce market as soon as the weather takes a turn for the worse - keeping up with consumer demand for hot, healthy food.

Traditional winter warmers, such as purple sprouting broccoli, cauliflower, swede, cabbage and turnips, make steady money over the winter months, with festive favourites Brussels sprouts and parsnips boosting the category at Christmas. Spring cabbage, although not a traditional winter vegetable, is now grown along with winter vegetables until mid-April and Jerusalem artichokes are coming back into fashion and beginning to muscle their way back into the mainstream.

Bedfordshire-based specialist grower and processor Parripak Foods says that traditional products such as Brussels sprouts, parsnips and red cabbage enjoy their biggest increase during the three weeks leading up to Christmas. And, when winter sets in, the company benefits from the uplift in volume sales of vegetables to soup manufacturers.

Parripak’s marketing manager, Dominic Pleasance, says customers are very precise with their requirements when it comes to winter vegetables. “Although they are always looking at process and product development for new cuts for vegetables or new product lines, their number-one requirement is definitely rapid turnaround on orders,” he says. “We are expecting record sales this winter and to ensure that we are geared up for the volumes required, we changed the shift pattern in the warehouse in October to seven-day week production.”

However, availability of winter veg has been an issue recently due to contrary weather patterns experienced throughout the UK earlier this year.

Bristol Fruit Sales (BFS) supplies retailers, caterers and wholesalers with swede, spring cabbage, Brussels sprouts, purple sprouting broccoli, cauliflower and parsnips throughout the winter months and focuses on local Cornish fare, marketed through premium brand Growfair.

Jon May, sales manager at BFS, says that it has been a struggle to get enough produce on the market to satisfy demand. “It has been difficult for growers this year,” he explains. “There has been a lot of wet weather and growers could not plant as they intended to. This had a knock-on effect and we have had shortages when we wouldn’t normally.

“We do find the produce to fill the gaps, but it means that we are seeing peaks and troughs in availability.”

Alasdair MacLennan of Southern England Farms (SEF) in Leedstown, Cornwall, which grows cauliflower mainly from November to March, agrees that there have been problems with winter cauliflower production. “Planting was difficult due to wet conditions and ran later than planned,” he says. “Growing conditions in early September were good, but since then they have been variable and the latter part of October has slowed crops up due to the cold.”

But quality is looking good for winter veg and no quality issues are forecast across the board. Swede came on to the market at the start of September and was one of the few products that was plentiful when it first became available. “Demand is high and it is a steady vegetable for the winter,” says May. “We can get in as much as 625kg two or three times a week. It is a staple veg. It fits in soups and stews, and always sells well.

“You have to look out for worm holes and make sure that the product is clean and tidy in order to sell it, but we have had no such issues so far and quality has been very good.”

BFS sources the majority of its swede from Cornwall, but also procures the root vegetable from the rest of the UK. “Cornish product is as good as any other source, but even when it is not quite as good, we still use it,” admits May. “We get a lot of local demand for local product but, more so, it is about supporting the growers local to our business. That is what we are about.”

Winter brassicas, such as cauliflower, cabbage and purple sprouting broccoli, have excelled despite delayed seasons throughout the UK, and new varieties are joining the mainstream. “As a producer and retailer, I have seen firm demand for brassicas; maybe with this financial climate, the general public is going back to basics and demanding cheaper produce without all the fancy frills,” says grower Bill Kelsey of Kelsey Farm, Sidcup. “All products are on schedule. Broccoli is coming to an end, cauliflower remains in good production, even though we have just had a gap in plantings caused by a wet spell in July causing higher than normal prices, sprouts are forming well with supply plentiful from Lincolnshire, and all cabbage is looking really good.

“We have also introduced Romanesque - a combination of cauliflower and broccoli. It has a very pretty shape with very good anti-cancer properties.”

Purple sprouting broccoli is also increasing in popularity and, according to May, consumers have strict requirements when it comes to buying the winter brassica. “We have seen really good demand over the last couple of weeks for purple sprouting broccoli,” he says. “Quality has been very good, but we have to look out for a good, bright purple colour. It will not sell if it is a green or yellow colour. It is like most things in the trade; if the quality is there, then the product sells itself.”

Winter-season spring cabbage is joining the mix now and samples indicate that quality and shelf life will be good, with the season set to last up until mid-April.

Pollybell Organic Farm has seen an increase in demand for niche winter vegetable offerings such as organic celeriac, beetroot and Jerusalem artichokes, as well as its core winter lines red and white cabbage and cauliflower. Peter Cornish, managing director of the company, which grows organic vegetables on 60 per cent of its 3,000-acre land on the Lincolnshire/Yorkshire border, has seen celeriac increase in popularity since Pollybell started to grow both organic and conventional crops of the root vegetable in 1996. “Celeriac is a real winter warmer,” says Cornish. “And our production this year has been of an average yield and quality, which is a good sign in this business. We now just produce organic celeriac and demand for the veg has grown.”

Pollybell supplies Waitrose and Sainsbury’s with organic celeriac from September until March or April and has 20a dedicated to it on the farm. “Considering organic celeriac is a niche line of a niche product, we are doing very well with it. It has its followers and they are very loyal,” says Cornish.

Pollybell has found that it can add value to its crops by leaving on the foliage that would normally be removed before selling. In both the organic and conventional sector, leaving the tops on celeriac and beetroot appeals to consumers with particular tastes and these products can demand a premium, even though they involve more work for the end user. “We have left the tops on the celeriac for a local box scheme this year and it was well received,” Cornish says. “When we first became involved with the crop, Delia Smith used it in one of her cookery programmes and demand shot up. Demand is growing, but it needs some further promotion.”

Pollybell discovered a new product to market almost by mistake when it realised there was a demand for Jerusalem artichokes, which traditionally harvest in only October and November, in the UK. The farm started to grow the root vegetable for conservation purposes, as a home for wildlife, but soon realised that it had a product that customers wanted. “We only sell very little to local box schemes at the moment, but I am sure that will change soon,” says Pollybell’s James Brown.

And now for the stars of the show - Brussels sprouts and parsnips. Consumers just won’t have Christmas dinner without these winter veggies, and sales surge the three weeks before, and for some time after, the festive period.

“Brussels sprouts are always a winner at Christmas and, compared to the steady 180kg a day that we shift now, volumes can go up to 900kg a day around Christmas,” says May. “It does tail off again after New Year eventually, and maybe demand will tail off quicker this year because of the credit crunch, as people will come back to reality with a bump.

“We have also seen an increase in sales of Brussels sprouts on stalks in the last year. It is a more expensive way to buy it, but sales really picked up last Christmas, when the year before that no one was interested. Brussels sprout stalks are now available and it looks like they are going to be popular again,” he adds.

BFS deals with UK parsnips year round, but business really picks up for the vegetable a couple of weeks before the Christmas period.

Winter is traditionally a busy time for Parripak and sales are driven by rising demand for soup and the increase in vegetable accompaniments, says Pleasance. “We supply our customers with traditional winter veg, such as parsnips, year round, but the promotional volumes tend to affect us from the beginning of November until about March,” he explains.

“The lines that increase for the Christmas weeks [three weeks before] are products such as sprouts, parsnips and red cabbage.

“In winter, we are especially busy with soup manufacturers as their volume requirements increase when we get a cold snap, so we need to keep a close eye on the weather to predict the uplift in volume.”

So winter vegetable lines seem to be holding onto their market share due to their status as a staple food. And in a turn-up for the books, even the organic percentage of the category is pushing forward at a time of financial upheaval. “We are predominantly a June to November grower,” explains Cornish, “but we are going to start a small R&D programme to trial seven to eight crops, in conjunction with our customers. We are looking to grow different crops and extend our harvest window.”

The dreaded credit crunch has had little effect on winter vegetable lines and the industry is confident that, whereas luxury items such as strawberries or exotics may fall by the wayside this Christmas, winter vegetables are a fixed feature on the dinner plate.

“Christmas is busy and historically all winter vegetables sell well,” says May. “I am worried about the credit crunch, but then people will still splash out for Christmas regardless and will still have their Christmas dinner with veg. It is the extras that will suffer. Even though the season was late, availability is reasonable and as long as we don’t ask for any silly prices, then the veg should sell as normal.

“Growers have struggled to get the crops going this year, but they have overcome their problems and are mostly back on track to make some money this Christmas.”

But MacLennan believes that there is a little more pressure on the industry. He says: “Low returns over the last couple of seasons have seen several growers stop producing cauliflower. Another poor season will see many more drop out. This is compounded by the increased input costs.

“[But] logic would follow that if purse strings are tightened, then traditional wholehead winter vegetables should be a preferred option for shoppers due to outright value for money.”

POLLYBELL MOVING ON UP

Pollybell Organic Farm has completed the first phase of its new coldstorage units and the next phase is on course to start next spring. The company’s plan is to have a total of three coldstores, with the aim of product never being harvested further than 20 metres from any coldstore across the farm’s 3,000-acre site.

The new project, which will add two coldstores, each housing two rooms, to the farm’s original single coldstorage facility, has been designed with energy efficiency as a high priority. The first phase was operational for the first week of August and the second will be ready for June 2009.

The company is also in the planning process of building two water reservoirs on the farm, which will welcome wildlife and provide an accessible source of water.

“Water supply is key to our business,” says Pollybell’s James Brown, pictured. “The reservoirs will allow us to tap into a water supply, and provide a method of draining, as our land is below sea level. We don’t believe we will have a problem with getting planning permission, as we need access to water and the reservoirs will be good for the surrounding environment.”