Some favourite fruits this week include great value pears, nashis, raspberries, apples, mandarins, oranges and limes. Custard apples continue their good run in terms of quality and volume.
We’ve got medium supplies of bananas and prices are holding, along with watermelon and pineapple. The season is almost over for plums and grapes — red seedless are the pick of the bunch this week. The Shepard avocado season is now finished and we’re seeing plenty of Hass arriving from various Queensland regions. Buy in advance of use as they can take up to four days to fully ripen at room temperature.
Passionfruit, blueberries, rockmelon are all short in supply. Strawberries are also hard to come by due to the shortage of quality young plants.
In vegies, silverbeet is one of our best buys and it has really come down in price. Add silverbeet into quiches and tarts with close friends; spinach and fetta or use in a quick and easy stir fry. Salad vegies like radishes, rocket, lettuce, snow peas, spinach and Lebanese cucumbers are all plentiful.
There are good supplies of Asian vegies, asparagus, beans, broccoli, broccolini, cabbage, chillies, corn, eggplant, endive, fennel, garlic, new season ginger, herbs, kale, mushroom, okra, and Bundaberg-grown sweet potato. Supplies of cauliflower, celeriac, wombok, coriander, kohlrabi, spring onions, squash and potatoes are not as strong this week, but they’re still widely available.
Chard, celery, horseradish, shallots and rhubarb will all be in short supply, but brussels sprout supplies have improved this week.
This week’s top pick is the imperial mandarin from Central Burnett and Bundaberg. Recent rainfall in these areas has boosted the harvest and their mandarins are juicy and sweet. Best eaten peeled fresh, mandarins also lend themselves to cakes (particularly Italian polenta cakes), jellies and jams.
For a sweet-savoury combo, try mandarins in rice paper rolls with chicken, coriander, avocado, chilli and vermicelli noodles.
For A Better Choice of what this season has to offer, look for Your Local Fruit Shop. Go to www.yourlocalfruitshop.com.au to locate your closest store. Check out the Your Local Fruit Shop Facebook page for the latest news from your local fresh produce experts at https://www.facebook.com/yourlocalfruitshop.
Brisbane Produce Market
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