Summer

What’s picked in summer

In summer the shop changes its lead: the fruit steps back and the market garden takes over. Oranges last until July and mandarins return in September, so citrus only rests completely in August. We’d rather say so plainly, even if it means selling less: what you see here is what’s really in the fields.

The last orange: Valencia Late

Valencia Late closes the orange season in July, and Powell, Barnfield and Chislett last until June. They’re the juiciest of the year: if you juice every morning, this is the time to make the most of them.

The summer market garden

Aubergine has been here since May, and in June it’s joined by Italian frying pepper, the green and red hot peppers and butternut squash. July brings green chilli and habaneros. Chinese cabbage bows out in June. It’s all in vegetables.

What’s happening on the tree

After the spring blossom, the orange tree gets on with swelling the fruit that set. In August next season’s oranges are there, small and green, gaining size and sugar. Cutting them now would be throwing them away: they have neither the sweetness nor the juice they’ll have in November. It’s the time for watering, summer pruning and little else.

Where the oranges sold in August come from

From two places: a cold store, where they may have spent months, or the southern hemisphere —South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay— with weeks of travel ahead. Neither is necessarily bad fruit, but it isn’t seasonal or local, and it isn’t what we can offer. When someone advertises «freshly picked Valencian oranges» in the middle of August, something doesn’t add up.

When everything comes back

Mandarins return in September and are the first. Persimon persimmons come in during October, and oranges arrive in November with Navelina. The front page has the calendar month by month.

Keeping things at 35 degrees

In summer everything changes. Vegetables that kept for a week in the fridge in spring want using sooner, and fruit out of the fridge lasts days, not weeks. The practical approach: order quantities for the week, take everything out of the box as soon as it arrives, and keep in the bottom of the fridge whatever won’t be used soon. And don’t leave the box in the sun on the landing or in the car: half an hour is enough to ruin a whole order.

When to order

Because we cut to order, there’s no stock that sells out by mid-afternoon: either it’s in season or it isn’t. What does change is the quality within the season itself, so if you’re especially fond of something, order it in its good weeks rather than at the end, when it’s already on its way out.

Between cutting, packing the box and the courier leaving, 24-48 hours go by, in mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands. You can put several things in the same delivery: tell us in the order notes how much of each you’d like.