The moon will be on full display as September passes the torch to October this week.  The dim fall lighting is already settling in and soon we will have to reset our clocks to back up the fading light.  There’s hope ahead, though.  There’s plenty of baseball left, the Bears are finding ways to win, the Chiefs continue to thrive, and the Vikings, well maybe they are playing the long game.  Our patios are holding off the winter with brave faces and collective ingenuity.  There’s that electricity in the air, with that feeling, that yes, we can do this...so let’s get to work.
 
The Wild Salmon season is going to be here for a few more days.  We will see Kings and Coho’s this weekend, and possibly to start next week, but expect the season to start closing its doors, just as mysteriously and quietly as it opened.  It will be a whisper.  The Halibut season is quite another story.  It seems like extensions are going to be put into place on the West Coast as there is enough quota left to keep the season going.  We should be seeing Halibut well into December for the holidays.
 
Mahi Mahi season is getting going in South America.  We should start to see better availability and better pricing.  Time to get this fish back on the menu.  If you need a place holder, try Swordfish and Ono.  Both species are already filling voids in the market, Swordfish is especially at a surplus and great quality is assured.   
 
The Red Snapper fishery is still reeling after last week’s storms.  The ship should be righted for next week, but if you need weekend subs try Red Grouper and Black Bass.  The Groupers are running larger sized and will be great portion makers.  The East Coast Black Bass can range from 1-4 lb and with crispy skin and rich, flaky meat, are the perfect whole-fish plate replacement for Snapper.
 
The Lobster market is continuing to take its lumps.  The Canadian season hasn’t kicked in like everyone thought it would, at least not yet, and domestic hardshell landings can’t keep up with the Indian summer demand.  I expect the market to loosen up in the next few weeks, so, there is a light ahead.  We have to ride the waves, read the leaves, and know that change isn’t always a bad thing.  Often, its not pleasant, but just what we needed. 

Gourmet Gab

With shorter, cooler days falling upon us, many of us find ourselves retreating to our inner hideouts to keep warm and spend quality time with our family and friends. What better way to celebrate Fall than dipping into one of America’s finest creameries seasonal cheeses.  If this sounds like a good plan to you, we suggest Upland’s Creamery’s Rush Creek Reserve.

Uplands Creamery’s Rush Creek Reserve is a seasonally produced cheese released in the Autumn when the cows’ diet begins to change from the fresh Summer pastures to the Winter’s drier hay. While Upland’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve is cellar cured for many months to express the complexity of the grass-fed milk, Rush Creek was designed to show off the more subtle undertones of hay fed milk and the intricacies of a softer, younger cheese. These raw milk cheeses are washed for 60 days before being released and aged alongside their counterparts in the cellars adjacent to the creamery.

Inspired by the great French cheese, Vacherin Mont D’ Or, Rush Creek Reserve is a raw cow’s milk cheese gently wrapped in a spruce bark ring which aids in maintaining its shape while imparting woody notes to the gooey cheese. As the cheese ages, a mottled mix of white, blue, and green cheese molds can be seen growing on the bark. These precious molds are natural to the aging process and help soften the interior paste to a custard like pudding.  The custard like paste has notes of beef broth and fine cured salami.

As these cheeses are very limited and go fast, be sure to reach out to your sales rep before they disappear, you don’t want to have to wait until next fall.