IN FRUIT
The news in fruit this week is far better than veg. We have lots of great options in fruit. In grapes I would like to recommend that you switch to the crimson seedless variety which is picked some weeks later than the whites. They are therefore fresher, crisper and will keep better than the whites which is the grape that Australians traditionally buy. The Crimsons in bags that we have at the moment tick all the boxes for me. Usually the bagged fruit is the less desirable sometimes it is on the pale side in fact almost white in colour and often smaller berries. This less desired, and so cheaper, fruit eats every bit as well as the large full coloured but can be as little as half or even one third the price. Apples, paw paw and papaya all remain great value and are eating fantastically. Fuyu are now at their best as are honeydew melons. Right now the honeydews ate better eating and cheaper than either rockmelons or seedless melon.. We say farewell this week to Williams pears and move onto packhams that are with us for the rest of the year. These will not be as ripe as the Williams we have been enjoying and I suggest you buy ahead a few days before you wish to consume them and leave them out of the fridge to ripen. Finally we are now right into Aussie navels and they are great by next week I would be wary of any imported oranges , they wont be much good.
IN VEGETABLE
In veg the going is really tough. As well as damage in the Sydney basin we now have flooding in Central and Southern Queensland affecting the new crops that have just commenced up there. Not long term damage, more just major inconvenience and so scarcity of supply for the next week or two. As always there are still bargains to be had. Most of our potatoes are coming from South Australia plus a few from Tasmania and supplies from these areas are still strong and so good prices in this category. Apart from that we have good prices on cabbage and red cabbage and also cauliflowers this week. In forty years my Chinese veg grower has never let me down but this week he told me we will have none this week so we and all our competitors and all the Queensland fruit and veg industry are trying to source our Chinese lines out of Victoria so prices are through the roof and will stay that way for a couple of weeks. Some good news is that new season fennel is now underway and well priced. It is of course Mothers Day this week which alters shopping behaviour this weekend . We have good news and bad news. The good news is that we have an absolutely fantastic range of flowers that you can pick up for Mum this weekend. The bad news is that traditionally this is a great berry weekend to go with Mothers Day lunch. Sorry but Mother Nature wont be letting that happen this year. That heavy rain has really damaged the berry crops everywhere.
