Brisbane Market Report - 63

High demand over Easter has pushed the price of some fresh produce higher this week and despite recent poor weather in the growing regions, there is ample supply.
Look to Asian vegetables, beetroot, brussels sprouts, carrots, celery, eggplant, fennel, snow peas, silverbeet, onions, potatoes and pumpkin for the best buys in the vegetable aisle.
Prices on imported and Victorian grown asparagus are firm.
You can also expect to pay more for some kitchen favourites such as cabbage, cauliflower, capsicum, leeks, squash, sweet corn and sweet potatoes but they are top quality.
Shorter supplies and high demand for beans, broccoli and zucchini have pushed them into the expensive range while parsnips will be hard to find at this time of year.
Salads are still popular in the lingering warmer weather with mixed leaf salad and most herbs the best buys of the week, although basil and mint are in shorter supply so will cost you more.
Tomatoes and cucumbers are the most expensive they have been this year, while avocados and eshallots are of good quality but firmly priced.
Its pear season with some great prices on the popular Williams' Bon Chetien, corella forella and beurre bosc varieties. Keep a watch for more early autumn varieties in Your Local Fruit Shop stores including Josephine de Malines, red anjou, mid-season red sensations and winter nelis.
More great fruit buys include quality bananas, limes, watermelon, honey dew, pineapples and pawpaw.
Expect to pay more for good quality apples, with new season pink ladies and gala apples now on the shelves. Other varieties that are eating well include royal gala, golden delicious, red delicious, fuji, granny smith and jazz.
Berries, lemons, average quality new season mandarins, valencia oranges, grapes, figs and rockmelon are firmly priced.
Passionfruit, kiwifruit and imported navel oranges are available but expensive.
For those who want to impress, it's a great time of year for feijoa, guava, dragon fruit, custard apple, persimmons, rosella, quinces, carambola (star fruit), pomegranate and two less known fruits, jujube, sometimes known as the Chinese date or red date, and achacha, a tropical fruit that is likened to lemon sorbet in taste.