IN FRUIT
Lemons are always in high demand for Easter, this year they are in reasonable supply and are at a good price. Limes are also good value this week so plenty of citrus options available. In fruit this week it’s hard to go past the Angelino plums. Freshly picked Angelino plums have a small seed and a really sweet yellow flesh and are excellent eating. We have our last hurrah for the mango season with a line of particularly good Brooks’ mangoes. Our advice on these is doing the squeeze test for ripeness, you cannot tell by looking at the fruit. It is always green with a touch of yellow. Softer fruit will be riper. This is a great week for chestnuts - great fun over the Easter break. Berries look to be scarce for Easter. There are some very good eating large rockmelons available but they are not keeping all that well - buy them and eat them, don’t put them away for four or five days.
IN VEGETABLE
In vegies, cooler weather and planting gaps caused by rain earlier in the year has seen products tighten in supply in particular broccoli, cauliflower and red capsicums have all been adversely affected. At Easter dill and coriander are in very high demand and supply seems to be quite good. Sheppard avocados have been affected by strong wind and rain caused by the recent cyclone in Queensland and as a result supply is somewhat inconsistent. On a positive note the fruit is eating well, I think a good Sheppard is eating better than Hass but they ripen very, very quickly. As soon as they have some give to them put them in the fridge. From the rich river flats of South Australia we have beautiful Spanish onions which are in fantastic supply. With prices that are only seen a handful of times a year Spanish or red onions are a must for this week’s shopping list.
