YES WE ARE ON and with new season macadamia nuts, Fuerte and Shepard avocados and Buerre Bosc pears that are in. 👏😋

I feel so very fortunate that we have an open air market and such deliciously fresh locally grown produce. We can all enjoy the seasonality of our produce picked especially for us by our farmers or made by our local producers. Especially during this crazy unsettling time.

New season macadamia nuts are arriving this week. It will be a gradual return as harvesting capacity increases during this month and next. It really is an achievement that Ian and Leone McRae have macas for us this year particularly after such a prolonged dry last year through vital months for flowering and fruiting. The harvest potential is certainly less with lots of nuts lost BUT as experienced farmers they have some delicious new season nuts for us. How lucky are we?  

 

Did you know Nudgel Nuts macadamias are grown in the picturesque fertile valley known as “The Pocket” in Billinudgel.  The property covers 200 acres and also runs beef cattle and a herd of elite alpacas – all contributing to Ian and Leone McRae’s farming style. They place a high value on using an environmentally friendly and sustainable farming practice with minimal exposure to pesticides and other sprays.

Growing the tastiest macadamia nuts is tricky but Ian and Leone from have perfected the process and we are lucky to have THE BEST flavoured and freshest nuts here at our Market.

 

New season avocados have arrived and we have both Fuertes and Shepards. Do you have a favourite variety of avocado?

Fuertes grown by Jumping Red Ant are a very buttery avocado that is . slightly larger than a Hass.

 With its bright green skin and flesh that is buttery in texture and nutty in flavour the Shepard is an avocado variety that is growing in popularity

It is one of a number of varieties grown by Narbey’s Best Avocados. It has an excellent flavour, medium oil content and does not turn brown when cut making it my all time favourite avocado but the season is short so I love it to bits while it lasts.

And finally new season PEARS have arrived. The Buerre Bosc variety is the one that Costanzo Apples has right now. It originated in France in 1835 (‘buerre’ is the French term for butter, and is meant to symbolise the melting quality of the pear!) They are a dessert pear with cinnamon brown skin. They have a white, juicy flesh, and a sophisticated and eloquent flavour. This particular variety has a fairly firm texture at the stem end (this is the best indicator of ripeness because pears ripen from the inside; the softer they are, the riper they are). 

 

TIP: They should ripen at room temperature within a few days but you can speed up the process by storing them in a brown paper bag with an apple or banana – just like an avocado really!!  

What's great at the market this week?

So much is great at the market this week and every week.  Our fresh air market with delightfully fresh local produce – fruit and vegies including lots of organically grown produce, gourmet mushrooms, plus fresh sourdough bread, pastured and organic hens eggs, artisan pasta, dairy – cow and goats milk and cheeses, olives and oils, blueberries and raspberries, new season nuts, apples, pears, avocados and tropical fruit, delightful flowers, gut healing kefir and kombucha bottle for your convenience. raw and healing honeys and so much more. 

Every week outside on the grassed area we have delightful musicians; this week Naomi Connell is back by popular demand when our scheduled muso became unwell. AND we have so much deliciousness with coffees, chai teas, Super Smoothies and brekky bowls, Vietnamese fusion and Japanese fusion foods plus plus and plus. 

All these with beautiful fresh air circulating throughout the entire market and hopefully healing sunshine if we are lucky weatherwise. For our full newsletter please sign on via the link on the side of each of our website pages or via 

COVID 19 Update
Recommendations for all stallholders (in brief): 

  • Sanitizing hands between customers
  • No food sampling using open food.
  • Sneeze guards at stalls requiring this level of protection such as open prepared food.
  • NO KEEP CUPS – shopper provided cups for all onsite beverage service is recommended.  Disposable cups (recyclable) are favoured. Individual keep cups are not necessarily washed to an acceptable standard and food service staff therefore should not be handling these.
  • Two hand wash stations with antibacterial hand wash + a detergent for hand washing + a spray bottle with diluted tea tree and or eucalyptus oil for choice – will be provided within the market precinct.

 
Things to know and/or recommendations for all of us (based on internally distributed advice from St George Hospital – therefore unofficial) summarised here.

The virus hates heat and dies if exposed to temperatures greater than 27 degrees so sun and hot drinks are both great.
Ensure your mouth and throat are always wet so drink and sip water every 15 minutes as this flushes the virus directly to your stomach acid where it is destroyed.
Social distancing of 3.3 metres if sneezing or coughing is occurring around you to allow the virus to fall to the ground.
It survives 12 hours on hard surfaces so money, appliances, railings and clothing etc can transmit the virus. Wash hands really well regularly.
Common detergents can kill the virus.

Here is the site for official advice: https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert.