Autumn is my favourite season of the year
- Don't get me wrong, I love spring, but autumn is a pretty special season for produce. Apples and pears are fresh and crisp as all of the new season fruit comes through, straight off the trees.
- So far we have new season Sassy, Mi Apple, Royal Gala and Ginger Gold apples. Williams, Packham, Bosc, Corella and Nashi are also fresh, sweet and crunchy. As the days cool its time to think about pear flan or maybe apple and rhubarb crumble for a warm sweet to finish your autumn dinners.
- Grapes are also fantastic at the moment and we have some great new varieties coming through. Black Candy Pop is a sweet flavoursome grape along with black Saphire, a lady finger style grape that is big on flavour. Jack Salute is a new variety of seedless red grape and it has great crunch and sweetness. For the traditionalist we have Thompson seedless, natural sultanas and amazing black muscats. Make the most of the grape season as it is over before you know it.
- Supply of most vegetable lines has been pretty consistent with no real supply issues at the moment. Zucchini, tomatoes, eggplant and capsicums are all great value with prices coming back from the Christmas peak. With so many zucchini around why not make our delicious Stuffed Zucchini recipe.
- Autumn also marks the end of the summer fruits. Peaches and nectarines are shortening up in supply and there has been a slight jump in price as we come to the end of the season. Plums though are still in good supply and quality is excellent
- Autumn is also when we see local potatoes return and our first batch Dutch creams from Little Hampton have landed. See below for an Irish take on Mashed Potatoes and take your mash to the next level. Most veggie lines are in good supply and excellent quality. We will have Victorian sweet corn for a while longer and the brassicas, cauliflower, broccoli, broccolini, Tuscan kale etc, are all very good and prices are fairly even compared year on year.
- The fuel crisis is making it tough for farmers to make ends meet along with the rising cost of fertiliser. Farmers have also had to bear the increasing costs imposed by the state government. Increased land tax and the souring Emergency Services Levy tax. The state government has also significantly increased rents and passed on land tax to growers and agents in the wholesale market.
- I understand that this is just a market update for produce but I think its important to try and bring an understanding to our customers where the pain points are for farmers and business. For ourselves for the shop site this year we have seen the state land tax increase to $11,000.00, this is on top of rates of a little over $8,000.00 of which almost $3,000 is the emergency services tax. As growers, green grocers, farmers and butchers work hard to provide food for your belly, perhaps these numbers will provide food for thought as the year progresses.
- As always we will work closely with our growers and team to deliver great food as affordably as possible and we thank all of our customers for their amazing ongoing support, without you we don't exist.
- Stay tuned for more updates to see Watts Fresh!
- Cheers, Dean.
For the recipes listed above, see our Recipes tab on this site
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