IN FRUIT
The KP mangoes from Mildura continue to astound me. They look terrible but are as good as the very best Queensland or Northern Territory fruit to eat. We are fast approaching the end of our Hass avocado season and this weekend will see the beginning of green skin fruit (which personally are my favourites of the year) in our stores.
What has been very good in the last week and looks like remaining that way are strawberries and raspberries. This early Autumn fruit is always a bit on the small side but it is fantastic to eat. Apples, grapes, papaya, are all at their best.
With grapes it is time to consider the Crimson seedless option. These grapes are picked later than the whites and will taste fresh and crisp over the coming weeks. The other fantastic grape are the black muscatels which are at their peak over the next fortnight.
We are noticing fantastic growth in our imperfect picks category, mangoes, lemons, bananas lead the way here. Who cares if a lemon is a little marked on the skin? Or if a mango is too small to be perfect or has a touch of sunburn on the skin? If those features result in the fruit being half the regular price then I think that product is worth considering.
IN VEGETABLE
Hard produce continues to be very good value with pumpkin and those fabulous brown onions from South Australia leading the way. I really think at these prices it is a great idea to buy extra this week. Again our imperfect picks options are excellent value. The kumera this week is outstanding in this area. Lots of good value tomato options in our store this week, I don’t think there would have been much joy in being a tomato farmer this year. We have our best garlic of the year from Tasmania in store at the moment and it is unbelievably great quality and this week disappointingly will see the end of our late crop Australian asparagus which again has been superb in quality. It will be disappointing to revert to the imported product that the major chain stores use all the time, but in a way I like the seasonality of our produce.
