IN FRUIT
Seedless watermelon is still cheap, good and of course ideally suited to this weather. In other melons, the big flush of rockmelons are nearly over and so we look to honeydews both yellow and white to fill this void, casaba melons are a different melon to try here. Limes are really cheap and a much better option both quality and price wise to lemons. All the grapes are fantastic, papaya has eased in price, avocados continue to get cheaper, and the best eating plums are Tegan Blues... particularly those from Western Australia. All apples are now good to eat, however the Pink Ladies and Granny Smiths are still the old season so will not keep as well as the new varieties. The most disappointing fruit at this time are bananas which are literally boiling in their skins. They are suffering from severe heat stress and the failure of the wet season up north is only exacerbating this. Mangoes are hanging on well - we have some very good Palmers ready to eat in store and these will be followed by Kensington Prides from Mildura, which are in store now but not really ready to eat yet.
IN VEGETABLE
Very warm and humid conditions are continuing along Eastern and Southern Australia ensuring vegetable supplies are at least adequate or perhaps more than adequate. Hence nothing is really dear and there are adequate supplies of most if not all vegies. So my list of what to buy this week is quite long with one standout (that is half last weeks price) that being cauliflowers where the quality is extraordinary and so is the price. Also good value is spinach, beetroot (both bunches and loose), peas and beans, celery, corn (I truly don’t remember a better summer for sweet corn), telegraph cucumbers, baby fennel and baby Lebanese cucumbers.
