Even with California's recent high temperatures, the supply of baby romaine lettuce is good. "The heat affected the quality of the crop. There has been some minor thrip damage but we are in good supply right now," says Ernst van Eeghen, VP of Business Development for Church Brothers Farms. "The weather is starting to cool off and that's really good for the crop which looks really clean and nice with great weight and good size."
The supply of Baby Romaine is currently coming from Salinas, California, and production will stay there until approximately mid-November. After that, production moves to the Imperial Valley.
Baby Romaine can be used in a variety of dishes, including in a classic Steakhouse Wedge Salad.
Consumers welcoming unique items again
As for demand, it too is good. "After the pandemic, more unique specialty items took a back seat and it took the foodservice category a few years to recover. However, now we have a lot of customers asking for different options over conventional romaine and iceberg lettuce. Baby Romaine is an item that's done really well over the last year and our acreage continues to increase every season," says van Eeghen.
The growing demand could also be due to a growing baby lettuce category. Church Brothers Farms also produces Little Gem lettuce (a mix of romaine and butter lettuces), which it says is also quite popular. Both can be chopped up for use in salads but can also be used in dishes requiring lower-carb choices such as lettuce boats, tacos, or even grilled.
For more information:
Loree Dowse
Church Brothers Farms
Tel.: +1 (831) 796-2434
https://www.churchbrothers.com/