Eggplant, green beans gain popularity

Eggplant and green beans are two items that Nogales, Ariz.-area distributors say are flourishing.

The eggplant market gets especially active in early November, when Canada winds down and California starts phasing out its deal, said Chris Ciruli, partner at Ciruli Bros., Rio Rico, Ariz.
“The eggplant market is off to an incredibly good double-digit start,” he said Nov. 5.

Eggplant and specialty eggplant varieties have been good items for Ciruli Bros. for at least 15 years, he said.
The company does a lot of East Coast business with eggplant.
Movement was picking up through November, and Ciruli expected promotable volume and good prices by early December.

Ciruli Bros. ships regular eggplant and has been selling more specialty varieties every year, he said.

On a recent store check at a mainstream market in northern Colorado, Ciruli said he noticed Hindu eggplant on the produce shelf. “You haven’t seen that in the past,” he said.
“It’s something unique,” Ciruli said. “People are always looking for something popular to promote.”

He said he also saw homegrown Japanese eggplant, which is one of the hardest varieties to grow, in bag packs at a big box store in Hawaii.

That means the store is moving big volume of Japanese eggplant, he said.

Rio Rico-based Fresh Farms has a good following for its eggplant program out of southern Mexico, especially its shade house eggplant,” said salesman Al Voll. 

“They do a phenomenal job at farm level,” he said.

Fresh Farms sources the majority of its eggplant from Sinaloa.
Size and quality appears to be good this season, and the market was strong -- $20-22 for a 1 1/9 bushel carton -- in early November, when supplies were light and demand was good.

“Markets have eased off slightly, but with good movement,” Voll said Nov. 10. 

He expected supplies to pick up by the first week or so of December, and prices to drop to more reasonable levels.
Fresh Farms will offer eggplant until May.

At Earth Blend LLC in Nogales, eggplant is a good mixer item that fits with the company’s other items, like squash, cucumbers and bell peppers, said Steve Spence, director of sales.

“It’s a pretty popular item,” he said. It’s not a huge seller, but many buyers are including a few boxes with every order.
Earth Blend offers standard eggplant grown in Sinaloa from December until late April or early May.

Green beans are another increasingly popular item shipping from Nogales, and distributors says this year’s crop looks especially nice.

Nogales-based Crown Jewels Produce received its first load of green beans Nov. 9, said Jesus Gonzalez, general manager.

“They look really fancy this year,” he said.

The company has shipped green beans seasonally in the past but plans to ship them year-round from now on.

Earth Blend expects to have consistent supplies of green beans until June, Spence said.

“The fruit looks really, really good,” he said. “There is good color to it.”

Volume typically is heavy during November and December and then falls off but remains steady until the end of the season.

“It’s a pretty big mover for the holidays,” Spence said.
Earth Blend sources green beans from Sonora and Sinaloa.
Mexico’s green bean program will be impacted by Hurricane Pamela that went through Sinaloa in mid-October, Voll said.
“The month of December for most of the bean growers is going to be a little dicey,” he said. “They will scramble to cover all the contracts.”

Voll said he likely will only be able to receive 50% of the green beans he needs to fill his orders in December, but the situation should improve within a few weeks.

“Barring any more weather, they should get back in line by January,” he said.

He said it was too soon to tell what the quality will be like.