Have you moved your clocks forward an hour? For all of 30 seconds on Sunday I had the joy of thinking that we had all slept in! That is until I was gently reminded that although I was on the Queensland side of the bubble my phone was set on Sydney time and had automatically moved forward an hour.
So I hadn’t woken at 5.30 – it was really 4.30!! 😂
Don’t forget that this week – if you are coming over the border to enjoy our market – come an hour earlier.
Last Thursday afternoon we all had a lucky escape from a severe hail storm. Those who did get hail, luckily only had small stones, not the huge ones that usually come from a severe weather warning. Fortunately Grumpy Grandma’s olives are still mercifully intact as are our blueberries and more.
What’s News at the Market this Week?
This week we are shining the spotlight on Grumpy Grandma’s Olives. Their delicious range of olives and olive oil are available every week from Rob and Lella at their Spice Palace stall.
Back in 1998 Alan and Denyse Hodgson, the original owners of Grumpy Grandma’s, planted a mixed variety olive grove in sunny Jiggi in the hills of the Northern Rivers hinterlands. Through their hard work combined with study trips to Sicily, sheer perseverance and lots of trial & error Grumpy Grandma’s established their reputation with awards for products such as their semi-dried Tuscan olives. Tuscan Treat olives will have you dreaming of the vista’s of Italy. Herbs like oregano, rosemary and thyme add to the full flavour of this semi-dried Kalamata olive.
New owners, Tim Stone & Lynne, took up the reins in 2017 carrying on Grumpy Grandma’s legacy of freshness and deliciousness, as well as trialling growth of new, speciality varieties on their grove at Rosebank. For example their Kalamata olives are pitted, brined, washed and then dried for 20 hours at around 65 degrees. The olives then rest for a further 24 hours before being seasoned with quality Australian ingredients. This results in a soft, melt in your mouth, flavoursome, moreish olive.
Add these to a cheese platter and yummo! Their semi-dried olives work especially well sprinkled through a chunky Mediterranean salad. There are a few different flavours that can be eaten as a snack on their own and I can say from personal experience – they can be quite addictive!
The Kalamata olives (pitted or unpitted) are perfect in a Greek salad and are delicious on pizza.
What’s GREAT at the Market this Week?
Tomatoes are just coming into their new season now. However The Bio Organic Farmhas continued to supply us with a variety of delicious tomatoes throughout the cooler months because of their unique greenhouse arrangement growing conditions and years of experience.
Over many years Avi and Zehavit have grown diverse varieties of tomatoes but have slowly condensed their summer and winter varieties to those with the most natural resistance to pests and other negative impacts. To continue growing tomatoes and cucumbers so effectively throughout the year they have refined their successive planting regime and greenhouse management processes. Oogie and Basil are pleased to be able to offer their customers a consistency in quality that they can enjoy every week of the year.
Their planning now enables them to harvest approximately 250 kilos of truss tomatoes and 80 -100 kilos of cherry tomatoes EVERY week. WOW! What a magnificent achievement!
I am enjoying the plump juicy sweetness of their Tommy Toe cherry tomatoes – the best ever. Combined with delicious Grumpy Grandma’s olives they are perfect in a Greek salad They are also THE perfect tomato for Yotam Ottolenghi’s quick and simple Charred Tomatoes with Greek Yoghurt Many of his recipes are available on line at The Guradian.com.
Pop one of their cherry tomatoes in your mouth this week and you will understand what I am saying. It is hard to stop at just one!
