Dave's Market Update & Pick of the Week - Roma Tomatoes - 13 December 2023
Dave's Market Update
In Fruit
“Just when we thought Christmas was going to be a dream run, Mother Nature has let us down. The magnificent cherry crop we have been enjoying has suffered huge damage over the weekend. Young district which should have given us a decent percentage of our pre-Christmas stock has been wiped out by hail and rain. Orange has been spared and a significant part of the Victorian crop has been flooded out. There will be some Tassie fruit however that fruit is generally post-Christmas and more post-New Year. So, there will be quite a bit of weather effected fruit and anything top class will command a substantial premium.
Meanwhile up north, a cyclone has just crossed into North Queensland which will affect bananas, lychees and mangoes. It will be a couple of days before we see the damage and can assess this accurately. In the meantime, other Christmas favourites apricots, peaches, nectarines, grapes and watermelon are all well supplied and unaffected by the weather. Again, great bargains to be had with imperfects in the stone fruit and the premium fruit is also cheaper this week.
There is a huge quality range in the berries available this week, from very poor heat and rain effected product through to absolute premium. It appears with the weather coming to the growing areas that next week may well be a better week for berries than this week. So, some lines will be hard for Christmas however there are some excellent options to take their place.
In Veg
This week sees one of those rare occasions when Roma tomatoes are the best value in our stores. Locally grown in glass houses in the Sydney basin we have them way cheaper than either our Truss or Gourmet tomatoes. As a bonus they are also, in my view, the best eating of these mainstream tomatoes. At the price we have them this week, it would make sense to buy quite a few more to have on hand for the holiday period over Christmas.
Lebanese cucumbers, mushrooms, green Shanghai and basil are all very well priced this week as well. I can’t see many if any lines of vegetables being a problem over the Christmas period.”
- David Harris
Dave's Pick of the Week
“This week, a flush from glasshouses in the Sydney basin has created an opportunity for Roma Tomatoes (also known as egg tomatoes) to be at very good value.
Roma tomatoes are a red and firmer-skinned tomato with a sweet, juicy flesh, used both fresh and for processing. They tend to be oblong in shape (hence the nickname egg tomatoes) and heavy for their size. Usually they are dearer than gourmets, but this week they will be the best value of all the tomatoes! They are highly nutritious, sweet and delicious due to their natural sugars content, sucrose and fructose. They are a good source of vitamin C and supply some vitamin E, folate and dietary fibre.”- David Harris
HOW TO PICKSelect those which are bright red for immediate use.HOW TO STORERipen and store at room temperature until they are brightly coloured and slightly soft. We do not encourage refrigerating tomatoes as it will reduce the flavour and ability to ripen well.
Shop Roma Tomatoes
Roma tomatoes are a red and firmer-skinned tomato with a sweet, juicy flesh, used both fresh and for processing. They tend to be oblong in shape (hence the nickname egg tomatoes) and heavy for their size. Usually they are dearer than gourmets. They are highly nutritious, sweet and delicious due to their natural sugars content; sucrose and fructose. They are a good source of vitamin C and supply some vitamin E, folate and dietary fibre.
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