Our focus this week is on summer fruits which are now in full swing. The very hot weather expected at the end of this week will bring these to maturity very quickly so I would expect significant increases in both supply and demand. Of these fruits my pick for the week is a combination of both peaches and nectarines. Quite a significant proportion of this fruit is grown within 50 kms of Sydney, especially the peaches but also the majority of our nectarines, mostly between the Hills District and Wisemans Ferry, but also out in the lower Blue Mountains at Grose Vale. As well, we have increased supplies of mangoes arriving from the Northern Territory, grapes from up north and apricots from the Riverina. Good eating rockmelons are far cheaper than they have been, bananas have eased in price and we have very attractively priced sweet topless pineapples and imported drinking coconuts - and these are the best from Thailand not the cheaper, usually inferior fruit from Vietnam. The only disappointment is cherries. This week they have had so much rain on them that they go bad while you watch them and Craig our buyer has opted to discontinue them for a short while until sounder fruit is available. I would advise caution on any cherries you see in the next few days. There has been rain in all the growing areas, add a few hot days and this is a recipe for disaster. Meanwhile enjoy those summer flavours.
IN VEGETABLE
By comparison little has changed in the world of vegetables. We still have plenty of kale and Dutch carrots in store. Our gourmet tomatoes from New Zealand are very cheap barely covering picking, carton and freight charges. Machine picked beans are good and very cheap. Telegraph cucumbers are still a bargain but lebanese cucumbers have become a little dearer. Iceberg and Cos lettuce and seedless watermelon look like being fairly dear, especially if the expected heatwave occurs, however our assorted fancy lettuce price remains unchanged this week.
