Image: Organic Angels Fruit & Veg box
Stating the obvious, winter is all about vegetables; sure there are some fruits around, but we will gloss over them on our way to the vegetable aisle.
The Glossing over the Fruit Part
July’s fruit offering is pretty much the same as last month and for the next few months to come. Winter is about the basics; lots of Citrus, Apples and Pears. In Citrus we are excited to introduce Blood Oranges and Tangellos. The Cara Cara Oranges are always pretty short, so enjoy them while they are in the market. Tangellos, for the uninitiated, are sort of a cross between a Mandarin and an Orange. Give them a go, you will like them and they peel like a mandarin.
Imperial Mandarins are in and are plentiful. Expect other varieties of Mandarins to hit the market towards the end of July.
Navel oranges are also in and plentiful. Fun Fact: Cara Caras are a variety of the Navel Orange.
Apples as expected are abundant, with all varieties available. It has been a good season this year and quality is great. Pears are similarly positioned and as with Apples should be plentiful into spring and beyond.
Notable fruits in July are Blueberries, Strawberries, Pineapples and Kiwi fruit; put these on your list for a little taste of summer during these cold months. Red Papaya is available but short, North Qld bananas seem to be coping pretty well with the cold and are in good supply. If you really want to buck the winter trend, try some Minilee Watermelon from the Inkerman region far north QLD, Gary and Ange from Mt Alma Organics will be very grateful.
Vegetables July 2020
In mid-winter we are spoilt for choice with our vegies; Queensland growers are well and truly on and most got some rain at the start of the season, so supply is good. Coinciding with this are good supplies of all brassicas and salads coming out of Victoria and Tasmania. This is great for the consumer, but has the effect of driving prices down for the farmer. Fresh produce is a true market economy.
Broccoli, Cabbage and Cauliflower are abundant and coming out of the three regions, this is part of the reason we are seeing record low Broccoli prices at the moment. This situation usually changes when the first frosts hit the southern guys. Until then they will make “Cabbage while the sun shines”. We are seeing some great gourmet lines coming out of Peninsula Fresh Organics, Wayne and Tash have backed themselves and are producing beautiful Purple, Green and Yellow Cauliflower as well as Romanesco. Look out for traditional as well as Purple Baby Broccoli coming out of Cafreshco in the same area.
Carrots and Onions are still coming up from down south, but it is late season quality. Expect the Queensland growers to start with these lines very early July, the quality will definitely improve, and pricing can go either way depending on the scale of the seasonal overlap.
Lots of salad lines are available and quality is usually excellent this time of year. Celery, Fennel, Cucumber, Eggplant and Leeks are all plentiful. Potatoes are finishing in the colder regions and moving north, supply is solid and ranging good with Dutch, Sebago, Nicola and Kifler varieties. The traditional root lines like Swedes, Turnips and Parsnips started appearing mid-June. Expect them to continue through August, although Parsnips are short this year.
Pumpkin both Kent/Jap and Butternut are at full supply, Zucchini, Eggplant and Sweet Corn are also on.
Tomatoes are short and will stay short, one of the bigger growers didn’t plant, so that left a sizeable hole in the market. Other than that it is a buyers’ market.
Enjoy July and remember to eat all of your colours.
The Team at United Organics
