Dave's Market Update
In Fruit
“With both Ramadan and Chinese new year underway this week, fruit is in high demand. Harris Farm is the place to come to source your specialty lines for these celebrations; for the Chinese celebrations Dragon fruit, the white variety have halved in price and are selling extremely well.
Mangosteens also have started in better quantities and are half the price of ten days ago. We are only selling the Australian grown product of both these lines, both are great quality at a fantastic price.
For Ramadan, we have an excellent line of Medjool dates at ten bucks a pound!!!! Yes, you read that right, they are packed in 454 gm punnets cause that’s a pound, for the benefit of Donald and his compatriots who are yet to graduate to metric.
A couple of other of my favourite fruits, both worthy of any celebration that are at their peak are Rockmelons which are always best in mid to late Feb and early March and figs which have now recovered from that punishing heat of a couple of weeks ago. It’s time to buy a $20 tray of figs again - fantastic value, if that’s too many for you, we have some wonderful punnets instead. This next three weeks are when they are in season, cheap and superb quality.
Peaches and nectarines have slowed up a bit however plums are really coming on. We have four or five varieties in every shop. They are all excellent eating, if I had to pick one out them, I would recommend Queen Garnetts.
Grapes continue to be a huge part of our fruit offer this week. We have good eating red seedless in bags and superb loose white grapes which I am pretty sure will have eased in price enough to have on special this weekend.
Williams pears are now well underway and as always size does matter and we have secured a fantastic line of smaller fruit to sell in both states at a price we had ten years ago! This variety of pear is generally acknowledged to be the best eating pear, definitely my favourite it is only around for two three months, enjoy them whilst you can.
- David Harris
In Veg
“Very little movement in veg supply this week. Tomatoes are still well supplied as is corn. The only real bright spot is red washed potatoes which have eased in price. All the salad items are still very good news as we get another burst of hot steamy weather.”
- David Harris
Dave's Pick of the Week - New Season William Pears
“Williams pears are only available for a few months each year. They are the first commercial pear of the year. They have great flavour and are inexpensive and hence they are extremely popular when in season, which is right now.
To enjoy their flavour, they need to be a little soft and starting to turn yellow. In the early part of the season (which is right now), you may have to leave them in the fruit bowl to achieve this. However, once they start to ripen, they move quickly, so into the fridge as they turn yellow.
As always, the smaller fruit is far cheaper so look for real bargains with this fruit but expect to pay far more for the larger fruit. It is shaping up to be an excellent pear season. Unlike last year, it’s going to be a far better year so watch this space for great specials.
- David Harris
HOW TO PICKWilliams pears ripen quickly, once they start developing a touch of yellow they will be ready to eat in a day or two.
HOW TO STORE
Store at room temperature in a fruit bowl. When ripe, store them in the fridge to prolong their life. Doing this should see them last 3 to 4 days.
