Fresh Produce Report 18 January

There is an abundance of well priced, nutritious fruit and vegetables this week to keep the New Year’s healthy lifestyle eating plan colourful and tasty. In the vegetable lines, beans are plentiful and cheap and there are good supplies of silverbeet and corn.

Look for medium priced, top quality broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, capsicums and carrots. Mushrooms and zucchinis are scarce and expensive.

However, all hard vegetables, including potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions and pumpkin are plentiful and cheap.

Its salad season and the low prices of quality iceberg and cos lettuce, all varieties of tomatoes and cucumbers are making healthy eating easy.

Watch for specials on bumpy skinned, dark green to purple coloured hass avocados.

The first of the smooth green skinned shepherd avocados, with their golden buttery flesh, reach the shelves this week.

Old season apples and pears are still available and a touch tastier than the new season hardy, but woody tasting clapp pear variety that appears this week.

The clapp pear is large, oval and greenish yellow in colour, with a bit of red blush.

Strawberries are weather affected, raspberries are firming in price but blueberries are still the berry buy of the week. Australian valencia oranges are good quality and cheap, as are limes.

Lemons have firmed in price. Prices are falling on menindee, flame seedless, and crimson grape varieties although muscats are weather affected and creeping up in price.

Some of the tastiest and cheapest eating this week include rockmelons, seedless watermelon and all stonefruit, including peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots. Tasmanian cherries are great quality.

Topless pineapples are the best buy. Kensington Pride mangoes are firming in price but honey gold and R2E2 varieties are good value.

Lychees are at the tail end of the season and vary in price and quality.