Cauliflower top winner in per capita vegetable gains for 2017
Having taken a quick look this morning at the recently updated per capita numbers for fresh vegetables, I am here to tell you the winners and losers.
At least according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, that is.
Winners:
- Cauliflower; rice, rice baby! Per capita consumption of fresh cauliflower is estimated at 2.18 pounds in 2017, up 38% from 1.57 pounds in 2016 and up 63% from 1.33 pounds in 2010.
Over the past five years, Google Trends reports peak search activity for cauliflower occurred in late January this year, with top related searches listed as:
- skinnytaste cauliflower rice
- keto cauliflower pizza crust
- cauliflower mac and cheese keto
- cauliflower fried rice tasty
- how to cook riced cauliflower
- Onions! Feel the heat. The USDA reports fresh onion per capita consumption is 21.19 pounds in 2017, up 15% from 18.98 pounds in 2016 and up 12% from 19.58 in 2010.
Over the past five years, Google Trends shows the top search activity for onions occurred late November 2017.
Top related searches for onions in the U.S. in the past year were:
- no crumbs left marinated onions
- are cooked onions bad for dogs
- pee smells like onions
- onions and bacteria
- instant pot caramelized onions.
- Fresh sweet corn. How sweet it is! Per capita availability of fresh sweet corn was 7.52 pounds in 2017, up 5% from 7.19 pounds in 2016 but down 19% from 9.25 pounds in 2010. Top Google Trends related searches were for:
- sweet corn festival 2017
- sweet corn festival 2016
- sweet corn festival 2015
- sweet corn cobette
- Millersport sweet corn festival 2014
Other fresh vegetables with per capita gains in 2017 included:
- Bell peppers. 11.39 pounds in 2017, up 3% from 2016 and 10% up from 2010;
- Asparagus, 1.58 pounds, up 2% from 2016 and up 1% from 2010 and
- Fresh cabbage, 5.98 pounds, up 2% from 2016 but down 20% from 2010.
I’ll go over some of the per capita vegetable laggards of 2017 in a coming blog post....
