“Cauliflowers really are at their best over winter,” says Graham Gee, senior buyer at the Happy Apple in Melbourne. “They’re big, they’re dense and they’re weighty.”
At the Happy Apple, whole cauliflowers are selling for $3.10. At The Good Grocer stores in Perth they’re going for $4.99 each, and at supermarkets they’re $3.50 each. In terms of quality, the “really good stuff” is coming from southern Australia, says Gee, specifically the Werribee and Peninsula regions.
Gee’s favourite way to use the hearty brassica is in a “traditional” cauliflower cheese – and Felicity Cloak has the perfect recipe. If you have a whole head on your mind, Tom Hunt turns the entire veg a vibrant orange courtesy of red leicester cheese, while Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe serves the roasted florets on a bed of harissa pilaf. You can also throw cauliflower into a curry, like Thomasina Miers does.
Gee recommends trying fioretto, also known as caulilini. It’s a cauliflower hybrid that looks like a slender-stemmed version of the brassica.
“It’s a sweet, mild flavour, but with a creamy sort of crunch,” says Gee. Unlike cauliflower stems which can be woody, fioretto can be eaten from stalk to flowery tip, and Gee likes to use them in stir-fries or served as a side. The Happy Apple is selling them for $5.99 per kilo.
In praise of pears
New-season pears, readily available and ripe for eating, have arrived on shelves. You’ll find packhams, reds, boscs and corellas. At The Good Grocer, they’re between $8.99 and $9.99 per kilo depending on the variety, or roughly $2 a piece.
Try to seek out piqa boo pears. They’re smaller, red-tinged and particularly juicy, according to Michael Hsu, operational manager at Sydney’s Panetta Mercato, where they’re selling for $4.99 a kilo.
For a low-effort, high-reward breakfast, try Anna Jones’s porridge with a warm spiced pear and maple syrup. Though if it’s savoury you’re after, any firm variety works beautifully in Alice Zaslavky’s parsnip and pear soup with a cheesy gratin top.
Citrus fruits remain front and centre for June, mandarins in particular. Carrying over from last month, Gee says to expect “really good” imperials and afourers. The Happy Apple and Panetta Mercato are selling mandarins at $3.99 per kilo, while imperial mandarins can be found for between $4.50 and $5.30 per kilo at supermarkets.
If you’re sick of peeling imperials only to reveal dry and withered segments, try honey murcotts. They’re a darker orange and a little harder to peel, but Joshua Brindle – the fresh produce buyer for the Brindle group, which owns The Good Grocer – finds they are sweeter and juicier, and are his favourite variety. Hsu says they should be coming in two to three weeks.
Top brassica
Gee says there is a “great” supply of broccoli around, thanks to favourable growing conditions in the southern regions, and Brindle says the local broccoli season in western Australia will yield larger sizes and a deeper green hue. The Good Grocer is selling them for $9.99 per kilo, at the Happy Apple they’re about $6.30 per kilo, and about $5 per kilo at supermarkets.
Take a couple of broccoli and whiz them into broccoli pesto, or use a whole head in Meera Sodha’s one-pot broccoli, fennel and chickpea stew with orzo.
Hsu says butternut pumpkin is also in good quality and supply. Brindle agrees – in the town of Donnybrook, south of Perth, pumpkin crops are doing well. At the Good Grocer they’re going for $2.99 per kilo or about $4.50 each. At Panetta Mercato they’re about $8 each, and in supermarkets they’re between $7 and $7.80 each. For a two-in-one pumpkin meal, Alice Zaslavsky serves up pumpkin fritters and pumpkin pickles, with a chickpea couscous.
Slow down on strawberries
We’re right at the cusp between the southern season ending and the northern season beginning for hass avocados and strawberries, says Gee. As a result, he recommends holding off until more supply from Queensland starts to come through.
Avocados are $2 a piece at his store and the supermarket, but Gee says prices will probably come down within the next couple of weeks as supply increases. “There will be heaps of that to come,” he says.
Hsu says to avoid grapes. “Last month there may have been six varieties of grapes, but now they’ve all sort of finished up.”
Buy:
Apples
Artichokes
Broccoli
Butternut pumpkin
Capsicum
Cauliflower
Corn
Fioretto
Green beans
Mandarins
Navel oranges
Pears
Watch:
Hass avocados – too early
Strawberries – too early
Avoid:
Asparagus – imported
Figs – end of season
Grapes – end of season
Pineapple – end of season
Rockmelon – end of season
