Produce Notes: August

Heavy rains in Queensland are currently making it difficult to harvest some crops, but there are loads of excellent local choices, most winter vegetable staples are now local. We compiled a 100 mile local meal as the first in a series, you can check it out here: Winter 100 mile dinner menu.

Vegetables

Stemmed Beetroots, Brussels Sprouts, Kale, Black, Red, Green Cabbage, Chestnuts, Turnips, Onions, Spring Onions, Ginger, Russian Garlic, Sweet Potato, Cauliflower, Pumpkin, Pak Choi, Rainbow Chard and Silverbeet, Broccoli, Carrots, Mushrooms.

Check out our guide to Potato Varieties, to help you choose which variety is best for your dinner. Most of our potatoes are grown locally this winter, at Wombat Forest Organics.

Herbs such as parsley and corriander are worth remembering at this time of year, they are in good supply and are packed with vitamins. Parsley is a rich source of antioxidants, and can help to boost the immune system. Chop parsley finely, and add to your cooking right at the end, after you've taken it from the heat, to preserve the maximum nutrients. Excellent for making winter pesto, try with macadamia nuts or cashews, olive oil, garlic and a splash of lemon juice.

Beetroots are a great winter vegetable, and are in good supply now. Look for beets with the stems still attached and make use of the stalks and the leaves, which are just as edible as spinach or chard. Add small leaves to salad, and steam or stir fry the larger ones.

Black Cabbage (aka Cavolo Nero, Black Kale, Dinosaur Kale) is available through Winter, and is a very versatile vegetable, packed with essential nutrients. Try this yummy Italian Soup recipe.

Russian Garlic is a variety that has been harvested and is now available, a good substitute for regular garlic as this becomes very scarce now. The variety (grown in Australia of course), has huge bulbs, and is somewhat milder than regular garlic. Excellent for roasting whole, where it becomes sweet and caramelised, and looses much of the spicy heat it has when raw.

Red and Green cabbages are available now, as well as succulent asian greens, pak choi, tatsoi, bok choi. cauliflowers are often available, and broccoli and broccoli shoots. Broccoli shoots are the shoots that grow after the main head from the broccoli plant has been harvested, and are just as tasty! They are quick and easy to prepare for cooking, and are generally less expensive than the standard broccoli. Make use of broccoli this week with our  yummy pasta recipe.

Parsnips are available, and are a tasty but often overlooked vegetable. Choose parsnips that are of average size, and with skin that looks fresh and fairly smooth. Parsnips are great for adding an earthy satisfying sweet flavour, to anything from risottos, soups, casseroles pastas and roasts. They are delicious when roasted, try this recipe for Roasted Parsnip with Ginger.

Swiss brown Mushrooms are great in Winter, they grow best in this cooler weather (and last longer) and are a traditional cool weather  food. Look out for the flat open swiss browns, they are lovely grilled with walnuts and goats cheese.

Celeriac is sometimes available now, and is such a tasty vegetable. It can be boiled along with potatoes (cut a bit smaller, as it takes longer to cook) then mashed for  very tasty mashed potato. Celeriac is also a great flavour boost for soups, stews, and pasta sauces, it pairs well with fish (it tastes much like celery, but with a distinctive smooth texture, ) also complements ginger, and works well added in with garlic and onions when making a risotto.

Silverbeet is great, and an excellent - value for money vegetable. Slice the white stems away from the leaves, and cook separately. The greens are best cooked for a very short time, so if you saute or steam the stems first, then just cook the greens for a moment, you'll avoid the nasty overcooked green slime effect.

Winter Staples such as onions, pumpkin varieties (JAP, butternut, etc) are plentiful this year, with good supplies of red and brown and spring onions. 

Brussel Sprouts are around for a while longer, the secret to making them delicious is not to cook them too long. Try them cooked with garlic and parsley (click here for recipe). These little members of the brassica family grow on tall stalks, and pack a nutritonal punch. (Read more about them)

Fennel is a great vegetable for adding some flavour and sophistication to a range of dishes, and pairs well with fish, beetroots, potatoes and is an essential ingredient in many stews and hot pot dishes. It can also be served raw in salads - slice finely and dress with lemon and olive oil.

Fruit

New Season Organic and Biodynamic Citrus is available now, with, Limes, Navels and Lemons all in store now. The first of the Navel Oranges are here, and will drop in price soon as the quantities increase.  Tangellos are just around the corner.

Mandarins are beautiful now, we have Imperial mandarins, and we have smaller varieties and the Honey Murcott available now too.. Honey Murcotts are an incredibly sweet and juicy mandarin. Check out this delicious recipe for Mandarin chocolate brownies.

Passionfruits are a delightful treat at the moment, though it seems not many people know how to pick good ones. The sweet juicy part of the passionfruit, around the seeds continues to ripen off the vine, and as the outside of the fruit starts to wrinkle. With the current drought conditions, we occasionally see passionfruit with absolutely nothing inside! what a disappointment. To avoid this catastrophe, choose fruits that are heavy and wrinkly.

 Pears - this season we're seeing beautiful pears, with many varieties available. Buerre Bosc, Packhams are still available. (read more about pears...)

In the apple department, you'll see Fuji, Pink Ladies, Grannies, Golden Delicious and Lady Williams. A new fuji variety - Striped Fuji; are a yummy variety with good flavour and a beautiful stripy green and red skin.

Bananas are good now, with Lady Fingers also plentiful. The smaller size of the Lady Finger variety make them good for children, and they are a good variety to slice for desserts as they don't go brown like the cavendish variety.