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It’s a great month for vegetables, with snow peas coming in and whole heads of cauliflower and cabbage at low prices – but watermelons are looking worse for wear
Photograph: Yuki Sugiura/The Guardian. Food styling: Tamara Vos. Prop styling: Rachel Vere. Food styling assistant: Georgia Rudd.
It’s a great month for vegetables, with snow peas coming in and whole heads of cauliflower and cabbage at low prices – but watermelons are looking worse for wear “It’s peak asparagus season,” says Graham Gee, senior buyer at the Happy Apple in Melbourne. When it comes in, and conditions are favourable, “it just bolts” through the soil, he says.
At the Happy Apple, bunches of asparagus are selling for $2 and at the supermarkets they’re between $1.50-$2.50 each.is going strong. And this month large drumhead, or green, cabbages are filling shelves, says Elijah Etri, manager at Skippy’s Fresh Frootz in east Queensland – they have full outer leaves and “really big” heads. Michael Hsu, the operational manager at Sydney’s Panetta Mercato, describes them as being denser and harder compared to the savoy or sugarloaf cabbages.
Hsu is selling large drumhead cabbages for $2 and at Skippy’s, they’re going for $1. At Perth’s Spudshed, they’re $2.50 each.will use up about a quarter of the cabbage – and she has tips for other ways to cook with it. You could also follow her lead andBeetroots are in season and are growing pretty well, says Gee.
“The quality’s been quite good … and they’re nicely firm. ” They’re going for $4.99 a kilo at the Happy Apple, Panetta Mercato and Spudshed. Photograph: Shantanu Starick/Pan Macmillan Spring also brings sweet and crunchy greens, like snow peas. Gee says while the quality has been good, prices are still quite high, around $15 a kilo.
But as the month progresses, he says supply will pick up and prices will drop: “You’ll be looking at half the price or better. ” A 1kg bag of snow peas is going for $4 at Skippy’s, who sell at wholesale prices; and is around $26 at the supermarkets.
Alice Zaslavsky’s tip for stir-frying is to blanch the veg first before throwing them in a hot wok – as she does in this recipe that pairsAfter a “really rough” season, pineapples are finally having their moment in the sun, according to Etri – the warmer weather speeds up their growth. To pick a ripe topless pineapple, Hsu says to look for yellow in between the green grooves on the skin.
Topless pineapples are selling for $1.99 a piece at Skippy’s. At supermarkets they’re between $4.90 and $5.90 each. Photograph: Laura Edwards/The Guardian. Food styling: Benjamina Ebuehi.
Prop styling: Anna Wilkins. Food styling assistant: Lara Cook Hsu says that while all the “boring” fruits are doing well – pears, apples and navel oranges – there’s excitement to look forward to as the month progresses. Etri says we’re coming into stone fruit season, and at the end of the month the Queensland season for mangoes will begin. Australian grape season has also started, says Gee.
While they’re quite expensive at the moment, around $15 a kilo, he says it won’t take long for supply to pick up. He says to keep an eye out for the sweet globe variety, which are a sweet and crisp seedless white grape. There’s no shortage of brassicas coming out of Victoria, with cauliflower and broccoli in “good quality and good supply”, according to Gee. Hsu agrees: “There’s just a lot of them at the moment.
” The Happy Apple is selling broccoli between $3 and $5 a kilo, while they’re around $4.50 at the supermarkets. Whole cauliflower is $5 at Panetta Mercato and $3.50-$4 at the supermarkets. Photograph: Matthew Hague/The Guardian. Food styling: El Kemp.
Prop styling: Anna Wilkins. Food styling assistant: Áine Pretty-McGrath.
“Any Asian vegetables are great for value,” says Hsu. Bok choy and gai lan are in good supply, thanks to the warmer weather. At Panetta Mercato, $2 buys you three bunches of baby bok choy, and gai lan is $4 for two bunches. The Happy Apple is selling packs of two or three bunches for $3, depending on the size.
Watermelons are definitely a “no-go”, says Hsu. Gee agrees – they’re pricey, and not good quality. Hsu attributes this to cyclone Narelle at the beginning of this year which ravaged crops in central Queensland – a key growing region for watermelon. Avocado supply from Western Australia, the current growing region for avocados, has been limited compared to previous seasons, says Gee.
As a result, Hsu says they have jumped up a lot in price. Australia’s cheapest mayonnaise is also the best tasting, Choice test findsThe kindness of strangers: Two helicopter pilots flew down low to wave to my three-year-old son – he was beside himself with joy When a celebrity dies, it can feel like losing a loved one. Why do we get so invested in parasocial relationships?
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