Fresh produce expected to be on trend at the New Covent Garden Market

Fresh Apple

Adrian Cojocaru

Published Mar 15, 2022

According to the insights from Produce Business UK, in the coming season, gourmands will have the chance to enjoy a more extensive list of less usual products, which from this season will be grown domestically. The conclusions come from the market’s annual Fruit and Vegetable Trends Report 2022, based on the qualitative insights from New Covent Garden Market wholesale traders. This market is one of the primary sources of ingredients for the HoReCa sector, and it is estimated to supply around half of all of the fresh produce eaten out of home in London.

Among the products on trend will be the Asian Wok Cucumbers grown in the UK by a family farm from Cambridgeshire for the first time. Unlike traditional cucumbers, this variety is used in hot dishes to add extra crunch and juiciness. Traders declared that they would introduce some other newer cucumbers to chefs, including micro snack cucumbers, which are expected to benefit from good demand.

Celtuce will be another product of Asian origins newly grown in the UK. Celtuce, stem lettuce with a similar texture to iceberg lettuce, is popular in mainland China and Taiwan. Being appreciated for its strong taste, chefs increasingly incorporate it into their menus to offer something genuinely new and different. Up to now, this vegetable is mainly imported from Spain and France. With a strong preference for British produce, sea vegetables, such as Sea Beet and Sea Purslane, are particularly interesting among chefs. Crab apples, previously overlooked because of their sour flavor profile, now also enjoy booming popularity, chefs using this fruit for jams and jellies.