Despite some wild weather ringing in 2024, there is a good supply of fruit and veg for the final month of summer.
“Figs are in at the moment – a lot of local figs and glasshouse figs,” says Tony Polistina, co-owner of Forestway Fresh in Sydney’s Terrey Hills.
“There will be a flush [of] them in the next couple of weeks.”
Polistina sells figs from $20 to $40 a tray. In supermarkets, they can be found at $1.50 each. And when there is a fig glut, you could do worse than rounding up half a dozen to make Tom Hunt’s galette with figs, radicchio, blue cheese and walnuts. Extra-ripe specimens will turn luscious and jammy in Yotam Ottolenghi’s sweet fig and thyme clafoutis.
Polistina says shoppers should also be on the lookout for grapes.
He says new varieties of green seedless grapes, such as ivory, sweet globe and autumn crisp can be found at $15 to $30 a kilo.
“They’re more consistent in their flavour, in their crunch, they’re really a game-changer in the Australian grape industry.”
Familiar varieties such as red globe, crimson and Thompson are more affordable and in abundance, found in supermarkets from about $5 a kilo. If you’ve yet to experience the joys of roasted grapes, take Nik Sharma’s recipe for roast grape, cheese and walnut salad as a sign from the universe.
Summer stone fruits continue their sunny run with Polistina predicting they will continue for the next six to eight weeks. He recommends late-blooming doughnut peaches and nectarines – flatter, sweeter varieties – and says plums are “at their peak”.
“We have queen garnet plums, which are high antioxidant plums. They’re right in season,” says Polistina.
“They’re the ones that are blood flesh red in the centre and a small seed.”
While they can be found for about $7 a kilo, more common black and red plum varieties are about $3.90 a kilo in supermarkets, on par with peaches and nectarines. For a taste of “summer, distilled”, look no further than Meera Sodha’s peach, almond and basil puffy pastry tart.
Many melons, barely any berries
Also falling from the tree are royal gala apples, which are set to continue for the next eight weeks. They’re currently available for $4 to $6 a kilo.
The manager of Melbourne’s Big Watermelon, Thomas Lamanna, says to buy big.
Whole watermelons can be as cheap as 80c a kilo, while cut specimens are going for about $2.50 a kilo. In supermarkets, honeydew and rockmelon halves are about $3.50 each.
Mangoes remain reasonably priced with honey gold, R2E2 and calypsos priced at about $3 to $3.50 each, while Kensington prides lead the pack at about $2.50 each.
Refreshing summer fruits pair very nicely with spice. Georgia Hayden has a shortcut recipe for a watermelon, feta and Tajin salad; scroll further down that page and you’ll also find Julie Lin’s kerabu mangga, a tangy, spicy mango and cucumber salad (it’s an excellent recipe for practising for julienning skills).
Polistina recommends reed avocados, a rounder variety.
“They’re very nutty in flavour and have a beautiful texture” he says. “It’s my favourite this time of year.”
They can be found at some grocers for about $2.50 each, while Hass avocados are in supermarkets for about $1.80 each.
Avocados, black beans, sweetcorn – it’s a combination that just works in Sabrina Ghayour’s spoonable salad; while Yasmin Khan’s “sunshine salad” with Hass avocado, cherry tomatoes, roasted sweet potato and seared halloumi is another example of how joyous salads can be.
Berries, particularly raspberries and strawberries, are a little less abundant, with cold weather leading to a gap in supply, driving up prices to $4 to $5 a punnet.
Source tomatoes, choose choy sum
When it comes to DIY-passata season, it’s better late than never. Says Lamanna: “Sauce tomatoes should be starting – they will come into the picture now. It is a very late start for them because the weather hasn’t really been warm enough to bring them on.”
It’s double-tomato action in Rachel Roddy’s pasta con doppia salsa, which sees the ripe tomatoes cooked down with garlic and dried chilli before the final dish is layered with a “raw” sauce of olive oil-drenched tomatoes (the recipe calls for cherry tomatoes, which are pricier this month; substitute with truss or field tomatoes, which are $3 to $7 a kilo). And is there any greater endorsement than Anna Jones describing this tomato tarte tatin as “wedding worthy”?
Polistina says green beans have finally come down in price, from about $20 to $10 a kilo. But snow pea prices remain high at about $30 a kilo. Instead, try other podded pals such as fresh continental, borlotti and butter beans, which can be found at grocers for between $8 to $15 a kilo.
Corn and cucumber remain summer staples at about $1 to $1.50 each. Pair quick-pickled cucumbers with spicy summer omelette (or anything else hot) or grill your corn with an addition of homemade avocado butter. Serve Yotam Ottolenghi’s quick-pickled cucumbers with a Thai-style deep-fried omelette; or when it comes to corn, char the cobs, green capsicum and spring onions on a hot griddle and top with lime crema and hot sauce.
At about $6 to $7 a kilo, broccoli has risen in price. Expect to see higher-than-usual prices in coming weeks as rain affects crops; the same goes for lettuce too.
Cauliflower, however, is on special in supermarkets for about $3.50 a head; buy capsicums, too – the red variety is good value at the moment. And after a shortage in recent weeks, baby spinach has bounced back.
Asian greens such as bok choy, Chinese broccoli and choy sum are readily available, as are soft, leafy herbs.
Buy:
Apples
Asian greens
Avocado
Beans
Baby spinach
Cauliflower
Capsicums
Corn
Cucumber
Eggplant
Figs
Honeydew
Mangoes
Nectarines
Papaya
Peaches
Plums
Parsley
Passionfruit
Potatoes
Pumpkin
Rock melon
Salad greens
Tomatoes
Watermelon
Watch:
Berries
Cherries (finishing up)
Lettuce
Avoid:
Asparagus
Broccoli
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