IN FRUIT
I am really surprised how well the early mangoes from Darwin are eating. Often the really early fruit is not so good and we have to wait for Katherine fruit to really enjoy a mango. Not so this year. They are good and sweet and they are very reasonably priced. With berries this week I have found the strawberries, though extremely cheap, a bit disappointing to eat. On the other hand, the blueberries are fantastic and also cheap. My recommendation, buy blueberries not strawberries. My other recommendation is to juice or eat a blood orange. A bit cheaper this week we are enjoying the best of the season right now. There’s lots of different ways to use them but as a straight fresh juice first thing in the morning they can’t be beaten. This is the time of the year that some of the less popular pears come into their own. For a change try a Josephine or a brown pear, the flavour is amazing and they make a nice change from the Packhams we have been eating over the last few months. Similarly, Honey Murcott mandarins make a nice change also. They’re a bit harder to peel but are just so sweet they are worth the effort. The next few months all our grapes are imported from the United States. Personally I can do without them but the best eating of them is definitely the red seedless. Spring next week will mean more mangoes, try a TPP mango if you have not done so previously.
IN VEGETABLES
Nothing is really dear and a lot of things are cheap. The best product to me is our Australian asparagus. It is a minimum of two and up to four weeks fresher than the imported product still being sold by some of our major retailers. If the label says product of Peru or Mexico you know you are getting second best. Gourmet tomatoes are probably the cheapest they have been for 5 years and the quality of the truss I have seen is not good, my view is pay less and get better eating tomatoes with the gourmets this week. Lots of other good value in vegetables this week; fennel, Broccolini, broccoli, Iceberg lettuce and Dutch carrots to name a few. However best value for the week is the imported garlic, it’s great, its cheap and there is no satisfactory Australian option at the moment. Half of last week’s price, stock up, it’s two months before the good Aussie product starts. The other real bargain this week is baby or Lebanese eggplant. A very specialised product it is usually double the price of standard eggplant. A lot of retailers don’t stock this line, so when its oversupplied the price collapses. That’s exactly what has happened this week, it could stay that way for week or two, enjoy it whilst it lasts.
