If you’re looking for fresh fruits and vegetables, it is September’s time to start a new leaf.
Damian Toscano, owner of Toscano’s supermarkets in Melbourne The owner of Toscano’s grocery stores in Melbourne, says that Iceberg is the best choice in the springtime and is cheaper than the double-digit costs of last year.
“Lettuce has come right back … it’s cheaper than I’ve seen it in the last five years,” he adds.
“[The lettuces] experienced an unforgiving start to the season due to all the rain that fell right after they started planting. Then, everyone started planting simultaneously and they’ll arrive all at once.”
Iceberg lettuce is available at $2.50 to $3 per pound, and they are likely to go down in cost due to the warmer weather. It is the wrap of choice for Lara Lee’s anchovy Bau as well as an ideal garden bed for Yotam Ottolenghi’s wedges of Iceberg stuffed made with almonds and cream of eggplant.
The gem lettuce, around $2.50 per ounce, is the perfect vehicle to enjoy the zesty, punchy, delicious flavors of this salad made of carrots.
The green beans “are a bit of a yo-yo veg,” According to Dino Labbozzetta, the manager at Adelaide Fresh Fruiterers in Adelaide. “There could be a flush or a glut, and then they slow down on the picking side.”
Labbozzetta sells half a kilogram of green beans for $2.99 in the supermarket, whereas they range from $5 to $6 per kilogram.
The farmer says that snow peas are beginning to be harvested locally in Adelaide’s Murray Bridge area, and consumers should anticipate them to be cheaper in the coming months. In the supermarkets, they’re at around $15 per kilogram.
If you stumble on sugary green beans, cook the beans with Ottolenghi’s fluffy eggs and data of spring onion. If you happen to encounter sugar snaps, prepare Ravinder Bhogal’s multi-green dish with peanut sauce roasted with fresh herbs that are also on sale in the supermarkets.
Toscano recommends keeping an eye out for asparagus, which has decreased in price from $4.50 an entire bunch about a week back to $2.99 per bunch.
What he’s really eagerly anticipating this month is the garlic shoots (also referred to as garlic scapes).
“It’s the shoot that is before the garlic transforms into the bulb. It’s similar to the spring onion or shallot. It’s similar to an garlic-shallot,” says Toscano and recommends pairing it with the radicchio.
“It’s great in salads, and it’s got a mild garlic flavour, not too hot.”
Avocado watchers have a good chance. Due to the huge harvest price drop to $1.50 each, the supply is showing that it is not slowing down.
Don’t forget to mention the flower petals.
At Jesmond Jesmond Barn located in Newcastle, New South Wales, The manager of the Jesmond Fruit Barn in New South Wales, Dominic Iacono, says cauliflower and broccoli are still great choices this time of year, and the prices are stable.
Cauliflower is sold at $3 per kilo, and broccoli at $3.50 for a Kilo. Broccolini is also cheap with a price of around $2.90, A lot in the supermarkets.
Iacono believes that tomatoes will decrease in cost as the sun sets. As of now, the cheapest tomatoes he has have are around $2.99 for a kilogram. Find the highest quality at a reasonable price and quality, purchase a kilogram of it, and make it into Anna Jones’s mixed-tomato salads.
Wintry root vegetables like potatoes and pumpkins are in the market and are a popular choice, with Iacono suggesting sweet potatoes. In the spring, for alfresco cooking, you could grill them for Meera Sodha’s sweet potato miso and spring onion salad.
Berries steal the limelight away from citrus
Finally, it is time to welcome back the berries.
“Strawberries are plentiful because the Queensland and West Australian season is in full flight,” Labbozzetta says. Labbozzetta.
“The rule of thumb is that they stay good until around grand final weekend – that’s my memory and I’ve been doing this for 20 years.”
After the teams that won get their awards, the strawberries will be available from warmer, more temperate regions like NSW.
Labbozzetta sells strawberries for about $2-$3 for a punnet. However, they are currently on sale for $1.80 at supermarkets. If you want to make a sophisticated version of strawberries and cream, you can try Ottolenghi’s sumac roast strawberries with straining yogurt cream; if you prefer your strawberries served with custards, it’s difficult to pass up Meera Sodha’s Strawberry Cake (it’s also vegan).
Blueberries are “eating really nicely,” claims Labbozzetta. They are available for purchase at between $3 and $5 per punnet.
The citrus fruits are hanging around, too. “Navel oranges and afourer mandarins are going to be in for the next couple of months,” Labbozzetta claims. Labbozzetta.
The supply of blood oranges is waning and will be gone in October. Keep your eyes open to look for Cara Cara Oranges. They have the vibrant, deep-red flesh of blood oranges but are more sour and seedless.
The pears, too (brown are the best), are on sale for around $2.50 per kilo at supermarkets.
