Falling rain, rising inflation – when it comes to fresh produce in November, greengrocers are advising shoppers to grab what’s good before it’s gone.
With widespread flooding predicted to drive up the cost of fruit and vegetables, Mark Narduzzo from Pino’s Fine Produce in Prahran in Melbourne, says the price of produce is fluctuating “like the share market at the moment”.
But while best buys may be hard to predict, spring is still putting on a good vegetable show.
“Silverbeet, broccoli and zucchinis are plentiful, and local snow pea and sugar snap growers have started,” Narduzzo says.
Broccoli is the best pick at about $3.50 a kilo or between $1 to $2 a head, alongside other hardy greens like silverbeet and celery, which can be found for $3.50 or $4 a bunch.
Lettuce remains at $2 or $3 a head; put the crisp leaves of the iceberg variety to good use in san choy bow.
To celebrate salad season, Jason Sun, farmer at Sun’s Fresh Farm in Horsley Park in Sydney, recommends beans, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes.
“Cucumbers are great at the moment … because they’re hardy and they’re grown in glasshouses,” Sun says. In supermarkets, Lebanese cucumbers are the best value at $4.90 a kilo and continental cucumbers are $2 to $3 each.
October’s headliner, asparagus, remains affordable at about $2 a bunch. They’re readily available alongside a good supply of green beans.
Make smashed avocado on toast – prices are ever steady at $2 per each – but if you need a change, how about mushrooms on toast? White mushrooms are good right now, starting at $9.90 a kilo in supermarkets.
Smashing pumpkins, not onions
Butternut pumpkins are cheap and can be used for far more than a bowl of soup. They’re in supermarkets for about $2.50 a kilo (or you could use up any leftover Halloween carvings). Try a nutty and sweet pumpkin and noodle salad, served hot or cold.
But avoid onions, which have “gone through the roof”, according to Narduzzo, who is relying on imported onions as the rain sets farmers back.
“A lot of the crop should be halfway through the picking … the farmers are two to three weeks behind, so that second picking has been washed away.”
Potatoes too are best left aside for now, with vendors seeing the wet weather increase from $1.50 a kilo to $3 or $4 a kilo.
Mangoes holding up but strawberries hit hard
While summer plums, apricots and apricots are not quite at their peak, so far mangoes are holding up.
“Mangoes can be hit and miss at the moment if a growing area has been hit by rain,” says Gary Gardiner, owner of Sawtell Paradise Fruit on the New South Wales north coast.
“At the moment they’re between early and late crops, so they’re about $3 each.”
While Kensington Pride mangoes are ripe and currently $2.50 each in supermarkets, supply remains unpredictable.
“Prices should drop … but if you have two weeks of rain, disease will just go through the crop,” Gardiner says.
Most in flux and susceptible to weather are berries, with farms losing mature crops from even a short period of rain.
“Strawberries have been hit the worst. You are looking at $5 or $6 for 250 grams now because they get waterlogged and bruised,” Sun says.
Strawberries can be found in supermarkets for $3.90 a punnet, and while blueberries and raspberries are in better supply, they can range from $2 or $3 a punnet to $5 or $6 a punnet depending on the weather.
The rain has also affected citrus, but navel oranges are the best buy at $3 or $4 a kilo.
Gardiner says right now the availability and quality of fruit and vegetables is “up to the gods”.
“My advice is shop by price and stick to the basics.”
Buy
Broccoli
Cucumbers
Zucchinis
Silverbeet
Asparagus
Pumpkins
Capsicums
Sweetcorn
Celery
Avocados
Lettuce
Mushrooms
Beans
Snowpeas
Mangoes
Cherry and truss tomatoes
Oranges
Bananas
Limes
Watch
Stone fruit: wait a week or two for prices to come down
Melons
Blueberries: easily weather-affected
Raspberries: easily weather-affected
Avoid
Onions
Potatoes
Lemons: increasing in price from now until Christmas
Strawberries: likely to be bruised by the rain
